bluesoup

Founder & CEO

I’ve worked in the advertising industry for 25+yrs, spending my early career in large London media agencies; Lowe Howard-Spink, The Media Business, MindShare & MediaCom.  I worked on brands such as Tesco, Wickes, Ford, RAC, Audi, Ruddles Brewery, HMRC/COI, etc etc.
 
I relocated to Devon and launched Bluesoup in 2008, I wanted to bring my big agency experience and offer something truly special for brands both big and small. Since then the agency has grown from strength to strength with our team of 12 talented, strategic, creative and insightful individuals. 
 
I continue to head the agency and get involved in the creative and solutions process, keeping our fabulous clients and team happy.
 
What makes us different?
 
-Response focused
-Experience & Expertise 
-Accountability
-Creative
-Transparency
-Relationship
 
Bluesoup’s Directors maintain a direct and hands on approach with the clients of the agency. On a RAR survey, Bluesoup averaged in excess of 90% for client satisfaction, we don’t roll in the big guns to win business then walk away and leave you with junior staff. 
 
When it is safe to do so our kettle is always on, you’re always welcome to nip in to meet the team and see examples of our work.  And if you give us some notice you can even experience a locally baked scone along with lashings of Devon clotted cream.  Life doesn’t get any better. 
 
Alternatively we’re happy to jump on a Zoom call or come to meet you at your offices.

Founder & Managing Director

Edukid

Edukid is a UK charity that helps children living in acute poverty abroad. Support is given through educational scholarships, therapy and long term sustainable, self sufficient initiatives.

Edukid currently support around 3,500 children in Asia, Africa, The Middle East and South America.

Edukid also run a UK Schools Global Citizenship Programme for UK schools. This links students in the UK with their counterparts in Edukid projects, providing a two way learning platform. The programme links heavily into the UN Sustainable Development Goals and seeks to educate and empower a new generation to explore their own identity and role in the world.

Chair Of The Board Of Trustees

Artavia Advertising Ltd

I was brought into strengthen the operational Board and develop the media offering outside of the core classified press competency.  I worked closely with the 10 offices on their key clients, on pitches and on developing their media strategy and media planning skills.  I also worked hard to establish stronger relationships with key media suppliers as well as introducing creativity to planning, together with an awareness and understanding of accountability. The highlights of my time at Artavia were using 10,000 daffodils to prove a point for Cornwall Tourist Board in London and sending pots of clotted cream through the post for a cottage agency...(email me if you'd like to hear more!)

Media & Planning Director

Interactive Digital Sales

Working across a portfolio of digital TV channels such as UK Gold, Bravo, UK Style etc, I worked directly with clients and stations trying to develop innovative sponsorship packages as well as working on the launch of new stations.

Commercial Development Manager

ids - Virgin Media

Client Sales Manager

Mediacom

Brought back (having been at Media Business previously) to work on the newly won VW/Audi account as a result of previous motors experience.  I headed up the media strategy & planning for the Audi account on a day to day basis.  Whilst at MediaCom I was on the successful pitch teams for the Greene King, RBS/NatWest, Met Police & HMRC accounts and went onto manage the media strategies for these.  Also helped develop the annual staff training programme run by Associate Directors.

Associate Director

Mindshare

Part of the media planning team working on the Ford Account.  Whilst at MindShare I worked across the complete car range, commercial vehicles and Motability as well as helping execute and maximise the sponsorships of the Millennium Dome and Rugby World Cup.  I worked on the launch of the Ford Focus and Ford Cougar and for both developed innovative solutions involving readers of Top Gear Magazine whereby we took readers to Le Mans or held a track day with Tiff Needell.

Media Manager

Media Business

I worked across a broad portfolio of clients including; Mazda, Babyliss, Arniston Bay and was part of the "virtual agency" created to rebrand & relaunch the RAC.  I planned and bought all media from press to radio, cinema to outdoor.  I left as I was headhunted to work on the Ford account due to my motors experience.

Senior Media Planner/Buyer

Lowe Howard-Spink

I worked primarily on the Tesco account.  I began by managing the regional activity for new store launches as well as the ongoing local store support before being promoted to assist with national advertising.  I also managed the Wickes account given my knowledge & understanding of regional media and assisted with the planning & buying for Reebok.

Media Planner/Buyer

Carlsberg-Tetley

Media Executive

Experienced Travel & Tourism Media & Advertising Expert | Helping companies sell holidays and amazing days out. Eden Project, Exodus Travels, Journey Latin America etc

I’m Ben Duhig, the Managing Director of Bluesoup, a leading full service advertising agency for travel and tourism brands with a soft spot for ethical, responsible and sustainable businesses. 
 
The agency has an enviable wealth of experience; we’ve worked with Ford, Tesco, Wrigley’s, Natwest, Audi and BP Castrol. Career highlights include launching the Ford Focus, developing pan-European TV campaigns for Wrigley’s, being part of the team that rebranded the RAC and winning a New York advertising award for Audi’s media strategy.
 
Based close to the glorious Atlantic coast in North Devon, we have clients from Scotland, to West Wales, Cornwall and London and we work across multiple sectors including FMCG, Property, Travel and Education. 
 
What we do:
 
- Advertising strategy development
- Design and branding
- Offline media planning & buying
- Online media planning & buying; PPC/Digital Display/Paid Social/Retargeting/Programmatic
- Organic Search
- Online content creation
 
Results mean everything to us, our clients success is always a key driver in what we recommend, by delivering the greatest return possible. 
 
Some examples of our work:
 
1. We helped Farm & Cottage Holidays (now The Travel Chapter) increase sales by 71% on the back of a regional TV test
2.     The Eden Project enjoyed its best summer ever thanks in part to a 96ft aerial banner which registered the highest ever recognition for a paid medium
3.     We increased clicks by 18% whilst also driving down CPCs by 17% within 4 months of taking on the PPC account for Imagine Ireland, an Irish holiday cottage company (from a specialist PPC agency!)
4.     Our regional focused campaign for Journey Latin America contributed to a 47% surge in new website visitors, resulting in a 56% uplift in goal conversions
5.     We were behind a new TV campaign for TGA (mobility scooters) which resulted in their first ever £1m month of sales
6.     We increased the CTR for Marjon University’s PPC by 145% - which resulted in a jump of 144% for people registering for clearing
7.     We secured 1st page SEO rankings for KWs such as “Mobility Scooter” for Monarch Mobility
8.     We’ve won international packaging design awards for our work with Lyme Bay Winery
 
We’re experts at what we do, if you are looking for an advertising agency that’s a breath of fresh air, puts clients first, has plenty of ideas, solutions and a track record of success I’d love to have a chat, please feel free to drop me a message.

Ben Duhig

James Parkes

Founder MyDay App: Where wellbeing meets sustainability - Every Day | Health & Wellness Advocate | Former premiership rugby player & coach

ImpactOS solves your Social Value RFP headaches. 

The public sector bidding process feels like a full time job. Collecting data from dozens of sources, complying with audits and connecting bid writers to on the ground management efforts are just a few of the potential pain points you need to mitigate.

Using a simple query chatbot, ImpactOS simplifies every step of social value creation in public sector delivery. By keeping all your data in one place. We make demonstrating your commitment to doing good and winning more government contracts easy. 

Automatically stay on top of big promises with AI powered nudges and turn your disconnected data points into tangible, trackable KPIs. To put it simply, we’re revolutionising the way businesses prove their worth. 

Sign-up to learn more at: impactos.tech 

myday is an intelligent workforce support, compliance, and social impact platform that connects daily positive actions to global impact initiatives that matter to the people supporting them. 

By creating impactful support communities and touch-points, providing daily opportunities to self-manage health and wellbeing, and facilitating workplace community through kudos on an in-app social feed, we’re building teams that drive healthy business performance. 

The impact of these efforts is brought to life with employee stories and KPI data easily surfaced on our interactive dashboards for reporting to investors, employees, and the global community.

Take a look at our website for more details, or reach out to me here on LinkedIn to arrange a demo.

www.myday.health

Founder

LONDON

Can you handle this ? 

Excited to be heading up to see Thomas Power  and Penny Power OBE for the BIP 100 lunch 

Never mind seeing James Alexander and Meliora Group with Tom Pringle 

Let’s go rockstars

No alternative text description for this image

Everyone’s arguing about words.

ESG.
Social value.
Impact.
Sustainability.
Responsible business.
Ethical business practices.

Different labels. Largely the same conversation.

And right now, a lot of leaders are quietly avoiding the acronym “ESG” because it’s become politically radioactive in the US — even when the underlying work hasn’t changed. A Conference Board survey found 52% of executives are reframing communications away from the term. And you can see it in public reporting too: “ESG” is getting deleted and replaced with “sustainability” and “impact.”  

Here’s how I think about the language (quick and practical):

ESG = the risk and governance lens (how you manage material issues).
Sustainability = the long-term operating model (resilience of the business and the world it depends on).
Social value = the measurable benefit to communities (often procurement-linked in the UK).
Impact = the outcome, not the activity.
Ethical business practices = the behaviours underneath it all (how decisions get made when nobody’s watching).

My take:
If you’re changing the label to avoid noise, fine.
If you’re changing the label to avoid accountability, you’re storing up risk.

Because the market hasn’t stopped caring — it’s just got less tolerant of vague claims and more focused on evidence. Even with the backlash, research is pointing to “quiet continuation” rather than a full retreat.  

Sustainable + ethical business isn’t a comms strategy.
It’s how you build an organisation that lasts:
more trust, more resilience, fewer surprises, better retention, stronger licence to operate.

So yes — language matters.
But delivery matters more.

If you can’t explain what you measure, what you’re committing to, and how you’ll prove progress…
it doesn’t matter what you call it. Doing good will always matter. 

This is exactly why we’re building ImpactOS.

To turn whatever language your organisation is using (ESG, sustainability, social value, impact) into the same three things:
	1.	Clear evidence you can trust
	2.	Commitments you can actually manage
	3.	Delivery you can prove — continuously, not once a year

If you’re rebranding the words, fine.
Let’s make sure the substance gets stronger, not softer.

Imagine a world where your sustainability, social value and supply chain evidence lives in one place — always up to date, mapped to frameworks that decide tenders and define audits.

Well no need to imagine any more. It’s time to officially unveil our latest release at ImpactOS. 

Our team has had the great privilege the past year of getting to know better both our customers who supply the UK public sector and many dedicated social value professionals who are leading their organisations’ delivery of outcomes.

Their daily workflows. Their biggest pain points. Their visions for the future.

Building ImpactOS has been a real team effort, with our early adopters helping refine the solution that will help transform social impact programmes and their outcomes.

Today we are very excited to go live with our latest solution, starting to serve some  world-leading organisations, and help guide the process of putting social value on a more equal footing to financial results.

Up until now, institutional challenges have impeded many social value initiatives. Disorganised, disconnected data and manual entry keep programmes in sustainability, wellbeing & safety, supply chain ethics and community involvement from hitting their goals and, increasingly, meeting regulations – risking lost contract bids, audits, financial clawbacks and reputational damage along the way.

At ImpactOS we’ve found a way to capture the data that teams need in whatever format it’s currently in, guided by the latest regulatory frameworks and standards around the UK and allow for immediate discovery and goal-setting using intuitive AI-powered automations. Making the process – from policy to procurement and proof – immeasurably easier, and with far better results: focused on outcomes delivered, not just good intentions.

Using ImpactOS, bid writing, social responsibility and sustainability teams – at law firms, services providers, healthcare, property and much more – can prove ethical business practices with maximum accuracy while giving human employees back invaluable time.

Consider it your new “social value engine” helping accelerate and prove your social value outcomes The outcomes that will keep your business compliant, winning public sector - and other social value-focused businesses - bids and scoring higher with talent attraction, marketing, investor relations and positive press. 

And - critically - knowing you’re doing good in the world, beyond just making a profit. 🏆

If you’re drowning in impact data that should make sense but doesn’t, missing your competitive edge with contract bids and losing employee productivity to too many spreadsheets and templates, or just don’t even know where to start, get in touch at the link in the comments to take ImpactOS for a spin.

Right then, let’s get cracking. 🍻

taplio

The Battle

Ben Duhig

James Parkes

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The Battle

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}James Parkes's LinkedIn Performance

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