PR and social media agency Down At The Social has been awarded the contract to deliver a full service PR campaign for Manchester-founded, female-led ‘word-of-mouth app’ Circle of Trust.
Founded by award-winning Manchester entrepreneurs Tracy ‘TJ’ Johnson and Susanna Lawson, the Circle of Trust is already hyped as one of the most exciting tech launches of 2023. A digital word-of-mouth app, it instantly connects consumers with trusted personal recommendations from their own network.
The business, part of the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator program, is headquartered in Manchester and is pursuing growth throughout the UK, with long term plans to expand globally.
The DATS team is briefed to channel its digital PR, copywriting and brand marketing skills to support Circle of Trust, which launched in October.
The campaign is further supported by a business and tech press office to drive brand awareness throughout the UK.
Circle of Trust founder Lawson has a long-standing relationship with DATS founder Daisy Whitehouse, having both being active players in the Manchester business community for many years. Appropriately, given the nature of the app, Down at the Social was also recommended to Johnson and Lawson by other contacts that are already clients of the consultancy.
Johnson said: “It was so important to me to work with people that I either have an existing trusted connection with, or someone who is introduced to me via a trusted connection of mine. It’s the entire ethos of the Circle of Trust, the thread that runs through the business.
“When we were putting together our team we knew that Down at the Social were the ones we wanted to work with because so many people had recommended them to us along the way. I knew I could count on them to deliver the launch of the Circle of Trust, something that has been my passion project for some time.
“My aim is for the Circle of Trust to not only change the way that consumers search for recommendations but also to change the lives of more than 5.5 million SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) across the UK.”
Whitehouse added: “At DATS we work hard to find clients that have true synergy with our values and the Circle of Trust is one that I am particularly excited about. Tracy’s infectious enthusiasm for this project is quite something and the team and I are so happy to help her on her mission to grow the Circle of Trust throughout the UK and beyond.
“As a business much of our work comes from personal recommendations as a result of the successful relationships we have built with clients and suppliers so the thinking behind Circle of Trust makes perfect sense to us. The app is like no other and I am confident that it is going to revolutionise how people search for services. It will benefit not only people like me, searching for a hairdresser, a plumber but also offers the millions of small businesses in the UK a low cost marketing tool that actually works.”
