Wavemaker UK has collaborated with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), responsible for promoting UK trade across the world, on a five-part documentary series to be premiered and hosted on LinkedIn’s ‘Live Events’ platform.
The campaign, titled ‘Big in America’, aims to encourage more businesses to export and to take advantage of the free expert advice offered by the UK government to help them on their international trading journey.
‘Big in America’ will follow five small businesses that are determined to crack the American market and export their goods and services. Each fifteen-minute episode will see British hotelier, businesswoman, and television personality Alex Polizzi mentor the businesses as they learn the ropes of the US market in preparation for a pitch to a major US business in New York City. The series, launching on 14th August, was developed and produced by television and content creation company Zinc Media Group, in partnership with Wavemaker UK.
LinkedIn was selected to host the series for the unrivalled access to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and business decision-makers the platform provides. As part of its global professional community of 930 million members, there are more than 70 million decision-makers on LinkedIn today, and more than 94 million global SMB professionals are LinkedIn members. Through its ‘Live Events’, DBT will bring together this large base of SMEs in real-time, driving awareness of the opportunities around exporting and encouraging businesses to pursue international prospects.
‘Big in America’ is the first time LinkedIn has partnered with an external channel (DBT) to stream an exclusive ‘made-for-TV’ entertainment content series via its ‘Live Events’ solution. Wavemaker was responsible for the conception and delivery of this original and innovative campaign, as well as for the content creation and planning of the paid amplification through LinkedIn.
The series has been commissioned by DBT as part of its wider flagship campaign, “Made in the UK, Sold to the World”. Wavemaker UK has been the agency of record for DBT since 2017 and was reappointed to continue handling its domestic and international B2B media planning and strategy earlier this year.
Oliver Halliwell, Managing Partner, Wavemaker UK, said: “We have been conceptualising ‘Big in America’ for the Department for Business and Trade since 2022, so seeing it come to life this year is truly rewarding for the whole team. It’s an added bonus that we’re streaming this first-of-its-kind TV-quality documentary series on LinkedIn Live Events via the DBT page since there could not be a more ideal environment to drive awareness around exporting opportunities amongst UK SMEs.”
Lord Malcolm Offord, Minister for Exports, Department for Business and Trade, added: “The US is our largest trading partner, with total trade worth £279 billion in 2022. Thanks to campaigns like ‘Big in America’, we’re helping British businesses unlock new opportunities to sell their products in the US, supporting jobs and growing the economy.
“We are proud of our great British exporters and want to see more businesses take advantage of the potential they could achieve if they get onto the exporting ladder.”
Tunji Akintokun, Head of Enterprise Solutions UK & Ireland, LinkedIn, said: “With UK SME engagement on LinkedIn up significantly year-on-year, it’s exciting to see the Department for Business and Trade’s efforts to get more UK SMEs exporting through their Big In America series. We believe this is the first time an advertiser has run a TV quality ‘docutainment’ series on our platform, targeting SMEs across LinkedIn’s 35+ million UK members. We look forward to seeing these stories shared, and inspiring many new UK SMEs to connect to opportunity.”
