Invested Friends: Building visibility for a purpose-led platform

Invested Friends is a community-led platform tackling one of the UK’s most pressing and least understood issues – male loneliness. Founded by men’s coach Ben Davies, Invested Friends reframes friendship as a practical, preventative solution. I supported Invested Friends during a key growth phase, helping to sharpen positioning and build visibility through timely, culturally relevant storytelling.

The challenge

Male loneliness is both widespread and underrepresented. While the statistics are stark - with suicide the leading cause of death for men under 50 - the conversation often starts too late, once men are already in crisis. My challenge was to:

  • Position Invested Friends clearly as a preventative, community-led solution, not therapy

  • Communicate a serious issue in a way that felt practical, hopeful and engaging

  • Build visibility without sensationalism or tokenism

  • Anchor the story locally, while signalling national relevance

  • Establish Ben as a credible voice on male loneliness and friendship

The strategy

The strategy focused on credibility and timing. There were three core strands:

  • Founder profile and spokesperson credibility: Build Ben’s profile as a thoughtful, grounded voice on male loneliness and friendship - rooted in lived experience, coaching practice and community action

  • Local action as proof, not performance: Ground the narrative in real-world community activity across Devon - showing friendship in action, not theory - and using this as proof of concept for wider relevance

  • Cultural hooks and timely relevance: Use Men’s Mental Health Day and Men’s Mental Health Month as strategic entry points to introduce Invested Friends into national and regional conversations in a way that felt relevant, responsible and newsworthy

This approach ensured visibility was built on trust, authority and community impact.

Delivery

Story & positioning

  • Clarified Invested Friends’ core narrative - friendship as prevention, not cure

  • Refined language to feel practical, relatable and male-friendly

  • Anchored the story in lived experience, place and community

PR & visibility

  • Introduced Invested Friends to regional and national media, building key relationships

  • Established Ben as a credible, trusted spokesperson on male friendship and connection, including spokesperson coaching to ensure effective message delivery

  • Developed media angles aligned to Men’s Mental Health Day and Month, supporting a local campaign that framed real-world events - from fire and ice challenges to walks, swims and shared meals - as moments of connection rather than fundraising stunts

  • Secured coverage across national, lifestyle and regional press and broadcast, reaching hundreds of thousands of readers and listeners through high-trust media

  • Highlights include two high-profile national media founder story features, including front cover of the Sunday Times’ Property & Home section

  • Established Invested Friends’ founder Ben as a credible, trusted voice on male friendship and connection

  • Increased visibility during Men’s Mental Health Month through timely, relevant storytelling - driving attendance at events and engagement with the community

  • Generated fund-raising contributions through campaign-led media coverage, supporting local men’s wellbeing initiatives

  • Created momentum for future events, partnerships and wider growth of the Invested Friends platform

Results & impact

✔ Story and narrative development

✔ Positioning and messaging refinement

✔ PR strategy and media pitching

✔ Founder profiling

✔ Spokesperson media coaching

Services

2025 Q1

  • Platform profile – SouthHams.com

  • Radio slot – BBC Radio Devon

2025 Q2

  • Founder coverage – The Sunday Times and The Evening Standard

  • Radio slot – BBC Radio Devon

  • Local event features – The Devon Daily, Totnes Times, Kingsbridge & Salcombe Gazette, Ivybridge & South Brent Gazette and SouthHams.com

Timeline

What the press says

“Invested Friends — a grassroots movement that blends practical activities with genuine connection…under a Devon sky in a simple field, there’s a quiet revolution happening. Men are making friends, one bear hug and one activity at a time.”

— The Times

“Ben is passionate, sharp and full of insight on why friendship - not therapy - might just be the missing piece for so many men. With Invested Friends launching in the coming weeks, now is the perfect time to meet him and here all about how this new platform is going to help Devon's modern men.”

— The Devon Daily

“Ben has become a life coach specialising in coaching men. He has also founded Invested Friends (coachben.me), a men-only group to promote male friendship and combat loneliness, a concept he would like to see rolled out across the country.”

— The Evening Standard

Client testimonial

“As someone whose job is to help people get the most out of themselves, in work, play and health, I’ve been genuinely bowled over by Suzy’s ability to get the best out of me, for me. From the outset, she held our work to a standard that clearly comes from years of operating at a high level with corporate clients around the world.

By working through the Seaflowers Studio framework, I was able to narrow my story, get clear on who I was actually speaking to, and approach publications and journalists with real precision. The results speak for themselves: moving from very little media attention to two appearances on BBC Radio, a cover feature in the Sunday Times, a full-page spread in the Evening Standard, and what looks like another feature in Devon Life Magazine (fingers crossed). For a relatively young project like Invested Friends, those results are gold and have directly supported my wider mission as a Life and Business Coach for Men. 

I’ll admit, I was probably one of those people who would have scoffed at the idea of PR and questioned its value. Taking the plunge quickly proved otherwise. Suzy’s approach is both professional and reassuring, giving me confidence that the work was being handled properly and with care at every stage.

Finally, having watched Suzy elevate the Seaflowers brand to a level that stands apart locally, it’s clear this is the standard she aims to bring to every brand under her guidance. On that basis, I would highly recommend putting your trust in her.”

— Ben Stafford-Davies (“Coach Ben”), Founder, Invested Friends

Why this matters for Seaflowers Studio clients

Invested Friends demonstrates how I work with purpose-led, community-focused initiatives – helping founders tell important stories in a way that cuts through and creates real-world connection. It shows the power of:

  • Clear positioning

  • Thoughtful timing

  • Story-led visibility grounded in place and purpose

Ready to build something that lasts?

If you’re a founder, property owner or creative business looking to grow with clarity and credibility, I’d love to talk.