Powering up PR and brand for Wolseley UK

Challenge

Wolseley Infrastructure, home to specialist utility brand Fusion Utilities and civil engineering brand Burdens, had no PR support in place. With ambitious growth plans, the business needed to ramp up its media presence and strengthen its position as a trusted industry leader.

The challenge was to raise awareness of Fusion Utilities and Burdens among target customers, enhance visibility across the utilities and civil engineering sectors, and establish both brands as credible thought leaders.

Alongside this PR brief, Wolseley UK also needed brand and design consultancy to create an identity for its new Wolseley Renewables brand. The new brand needed to sit naturally alongside Plumb Centre, communicate specialist expertise in renewable heat sources and feel distinctive without competing with existing Wolseley UK brands.

Solution

Building Wolseley Infrastructure’s PR presence

Leopard Co devised a strategy designed to make Wolseley Infrastructure synonymous with industry expertise. The focus was on identifying the issues that mattered most to its target sectors and ensuring the business consistently led the conversation.

At the heart of the approach was harnessing Wolseley Infrastructure’s internal expertise to create PR content rich in insight and authority. Working closely with the business’s technical teams, Leopard Co built an editorial calendar around key talking points within the utilities and civil engineering sectors, including climate change, digital transformation and workforce development.

This enabled the team to pitch to target trade publications such as Plant & Civil Engineer, Installer Magazine and Builders Merchant News with thought leadership articles, technical features and reactive commentary.

Thought leadership, trade PR and reactive commentary

The PR strategy combined planned editorial activity with a sharp reactive news approach. Leopard Co monitored national events and sector developments that could impact the built environment, then developed timely angles for trade media. For example, during a period of flash flooding across the UK, the team pitched commentary around water drainage methods that could help combat the increased flooding linked to climate change.

Alongside thought leadership articles, Leopard Co secured people profiles, business-led news and product announcements. This created a diversified PR output that helped both Fusion Utilities and Burdens build authority with target audiences.

LinkedIn and employee advocacy

To support wider brand visibility, Leopard Co also delivered LinkedIn training for Wolseley Infrastructure teams. This included a profile audit of senior teams and sales departments to assess their online presence, followed by an in-depth training session on LinkedIn best practice.

This helped employees become more confident and active on LinkedIn, strengthening social engagement and supporting new business conversations.

Creating the Renewables by Wolseley brand identity

In addition to the Wolseley Infrastructure PR brief, Leopard Co was tasked with creating a renewables brand that could sit alongside Plumb Centre while clearly communicating specialist expertise in renewable heat sources.

The brand and design brief covered:

• Logo development

• Brand guidelines

• Brand asset packs for employees

• External activation assets, including posters, leaflets, creative advertising concepts for print and digital, and technical content 

The final concept brought Wolseley UK’s vision to life and created a springboard for Renewables by Wolseley to launch with a strong identity and compelling visuals.