A young entrepreneur from West Cumbria is setting his sights on international growth in 2024, following four years of success with his PR and communications firm Platinum Live.
Oliver Hodgson launched the business in 2020 shortly after leaving school at the age of 16.
Whitehaven-based Platinum now has a team across the UK supporting clients from all over the world providing PR, social media and content creation services.
Oliver has led the firm’s work with clients including Mitie, Porsche, Kendal Calling, BBC and Sky.
As founder and director of the Whitehaven Alive festival, he has brought the likes of Sophie EllisTinie Tempah, Jake Bugg, Scouting For Girls and Chris Moyles to the west coast of Cumbria. This week, Oliver announced he was stepping back from the festival to focus on growing his marketing business.
He also works as a consultant to public sector bodies and local organisations advising on their PR strategy.
Oliver said: “I began my journey of entrepreneurship in March 2020, launching Platinum Live from my bedroom.
“I grew up watching (and still do) the likes of Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice. I also followed Steven Bartlett from the get-go before he became a household name, and his vlogs in the early days of Social Chain provided me with such motivation and excitement to launch my own business.”
Much of his success is down to the support and hard-working ethos of his family, although the plunge into the world of business was a risk he took independently.
“My parents and grandparents have always been inspirations to me, their work ethic is admirable and inspiring.
“My mum works in the fire service and has done so for decades – I have seen first-hand her passion and commitment to the job serving the people of Cumbria despite life challenges along the way.
“But nobody in my family has ever run a business or been self-employed before and I haven’t had someone telling me how to go about certain business processes and routines or showing me best practices, nor have I had any financial backing.
“I bootstrapped Platinum Live starting with £25 – and we now exceed a six-figure revenue,” said Oliver.
The business began by creating social media content and writing press releases for local businesses such as taxi firms, nightclubs and cafes.
Now employing seven people full-time, Platinum has worked with global brands including Porsche and the BBC, as well as local organisations such as BEC, Kendal Calling and local authorities.
Oliver said: “Our portfolio is dynamic, and our services have grown arms and legs, offering award-winning and impactful creative output across PR, social media, and content creation.
“We’ve started building our client base outside of Cumbria, and we see that growing in 2024, as we focus on expanding our footprint across the whole of the UK.
“We’re also looking ahead to being involved in delivering packages of work to some of Cumbria’s blue-chip organisations later this year.”
Like many business owners across all sectors in Cumbria, addressing the recruitment and skills challenge is a top priority.
“Recruitment will be on our agenda, including our desire to launch an apprenticeship programme.
“We regularly host interns at our agency and personally, I’m keen to ensure we provide opportunities in the media and marketing industry that haven’t existed in Cumbria up until very recently.
“The digital skills gap is one of the biggest challenges. We’re not quite as technologically advanced as other regions, perhaps we are within some of our bigger industries; nuclear and engineering but outside of these I don’t believe we have the same tech and digital skillsets as other places.
“Raising the aspirations of our Gen Z workforce is also a challenge and perhaps a hidden one right now. Retaining young people to live, work and play in Cumbria is incredibly important to safeguarding industries and all our futures.”
Oliver’s confidence and determination is perhaps what has made his first four years in business so successful – the future is certainly bright for a young entrepreneur that has the world at his fingertips.
If his can-do positive attitude is shared by other young entrepreneurs in the county, we’re in good hands for the challenges to come.
“A good friend and client of mine Gary McKee once said to me, choose wisely and select good people to be around from the get-go, your later self will thank you. It’s a solid piece of advice, which I have echoed to others,” said Oliver.
