Strategic social & creative communications success for the Catapult Network
The Innovate UK Catapult Network sits at the centre of nine sector-specific Catapults, each working at the frontier of high-tech innovation — from offshore wind and satellites to high-value manufacturing, energy systems, digital, infrastructure and healthcare.
Between them, they represent some of the most significant technological breakthroughs happening in the UK today. The communications challenge is making sure the right people hear about them.
Since 2021, Leopard Co has worked with the Catapult Network as a strategic and tactical communications partner, helping to coordinate cross-Catapult activity, sharpen the Network's collective voice and tell the success stories of the whole — not just the parts.
Challenge
The Catapult Network's core purpose is to engage with stakeholders across central and local government, in business, research, academia and industry to enable awareness of how cutting-edge technology is making a difference to society, places, jobs and the UK economy. That is a wide and varied audience, each part of it needing a different version of the same story — told with credibility, clarity and consistency.
Its key communications challenge is to engage and coordinate cross-Catapult activities and updates to tell the success stories of the whole network. With nine Catapults each generating their own news, milestones and wins.
Solution
Strategy Development
Working at a strategic level, Leopard Co has been responsible for delivering a functional communications strategy to facilitate more efficient and impactful routes to showcase the value Catapults add to the UK economy, employment and sustainability.
Central to this has been the creation of an Intranet using Monday.com as a collaboration platform. This aims to streamline communications and reduce email traffic, plus make it easier and faster to share important information.
The underlying principle in this new comms approach has been to make the transition as easy as possible, through the creation of simplified and branded boards as well as supplementary guides and drop-in sessions to aid easy adoption for all users including those unfamiliar with the Monday.com platform. Implementation was treated as a communications task in its own right, so that the platform is genuinely used rather than simply launched.
Always on Communications
Our robust social media strategy includes the creation of monthly calendars which feature key cross-Catapult themes, together with stories fed through from the nine individual Catapults. This gives the Network a steady, recognisable rhythm of activity rather than periodic bursts.
We utilise a tiered stakeholder targeting strategy, identifying key individuals to engage with through the Catapult Network's content, updated regularly to reflect government reshuffles, keeping outreach relevant as the political landscape shifts.
Supporting this is a reactive, always-on news monitoring service. We identify topical stories where the Catapult Network can contribute to the conversation as a thought leader. Examples include Net Zero, COP, government announcements and research and innovation developments. Each of these enable us to positively reinforce the purpose and impact of the Catapult Network, positioning it as a source of genuine expertise rather than a passive commentator.
Creative
To facilitate the content calendar, our in-house studio has created a suite of templated graphics to accompany reactive content, including short-form video content that captures monthly achievements across the network. Having a ready-made visual toolkit means the Network can move quickly while still looking consistent and considered.
We have also delivered other brand assets, including re-designing the Catapult Network's prospectus and supporting in transitioning the brand to Innovate UK Catapult Network.
Impact
This has resulted in creating an effective platform for communicating key activity and impact from across the nine individual Catapults, as well as Innovate UK, highlighting the excellent work they are delivering and raising awareness of how cutting-edge technology is making a difference to society, places, jobs and the UK economy.
In practice, the Network now benefits from:
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A single, coherent narrative connecting nine Catapults into one story
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An internal collaboration platform that cuts email traffic and speeds up asset sharing
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Always-on social communication supported by a reusable design toolkit
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A live view of the stakeholders that matter, refreshed as government changes
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A reactive capability that places the Network in national conversations as a thought leader
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A refreshed brand and prospectus aligned to the Innovate UK Catapult Network identity
“We’ve worked with Leopard Co for a number of years now and continue to be impressed with the results they achieve and how seamlessly the agency feels like an extension of our own internal team. Through their social strategy focusing on sharing high-quality and engaging information, Leopard Co has helped us to grow massively, particularly on LinkedIn, supporting us in targeting key stakeholders and increasing the understanding of the fantastic work the Innovate UK Catapult Network does.”
Dr Megan Ronayne, Director of Catapult Network Office at the Innovate UK Catapult Network