Tern Television, part of Zinc Media Group, has collaborated with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on a five-part documentary series to be premiered and hosted on LinkedIn’s live ‘Events’ platform.
The series, titled Big in America, is fronted by Alex Polizzi and 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.
Developed and produced by Tern, 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 made in partnership with Wavemaker UK.
Lord Malcolm Offord, Minister for Exports, Department for Business and Trade, said: “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.”
Dominic de Terville, Co-Executive Producer and Director of Branded Content, Tern & Zinc Media Group, says: “At the heart of this series is a diverse range of bold and innovative SMEs from across the UK, which we are thrilled to showcase in such an entertaining and informative way. The very best branded content offers utility, and the Department for Business and Trade has embraced that emphatically – not only providing new real-world opportunities for the featured companies, but also by working with us to create something packed with take-out that will benefit anyone watching who has not yet fully embraced the opportunity exporting offers.”
The production follows Tern’s Sky Arts TV series, My Greatest Shot, developed with and funded by Adobe; and Red Sauce’s digital content series, #PowerSwitch which was developed in partnership with E.ON for Independent TV.
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 Event solution. Wavemaker was responsible for the conception and delivery of the 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”.
Tunji Akintokun, Head of Enterprise Solutions UK & Ireland, LinkedIn, added: “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.”
Jon Creamer
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