Invested Friends: Creating 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
Invested Friends is a community-led platform tackling male loneliness by reframing friendship as a practical, preventative solution. Founded by men’s coach Ben Davies, the platform had a compelling idea and a strong purpose. The challenge was turning that into a clear story that people could understand, believe in and want to talk about. I needed 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
Establish Ben as a credible voice on male loneliness and friendship
Build visibility without sensationalism or tokenism
Anchor the story locally while signalling its wider relevance
Strategy: Finding Ben’s story
The starting point was finding the story that could make Invested Friends distinctive, credible and relevant beyond its immediate community. I worked with Ben to sharpen the proposition around a simple idea: friendship as prevention, not cure.
From there, we defined:
A distinctive position rooted in friendship, connection and community
A practical and hopeful way to talk about male loneliness
Ben’s role as a credible founder and spokesperson
A story grounded in real-world activity rather than statistics alone
The cultural hooks that could take the story into wider conversations
This gave Invested Friends a clear story to tell, and a strong foundation for building its profile.
Delivery: Building the brand and earning attention to grow the community
With the story and positioning clear, I turned the strategy into a focused programme of profile-building and PR for Ben and Invested Friends:
Building the brand
Clarified Invested Friends’ core narrative: friendship as prevention, not cure
Refined the language to feel practical, relatable and male-friendly
Anchored the story in Ben’s his experience and community
Developed Ben’s founder positioning and spokesperson profile
Prepared and coached Ben to communicate the story confidently and consistently
Earning attention
Introduced Invested Friends to regional and national media, building key relationships
Developed media angles aligned to Men’s Mental Health Day and Men’s Mental Health Month
Framed real-world events, from fire and ice challenges to walks, swims and shared meals, as stories about connection rather than fundraising stunts
Pitched founder stories and secured national, lifestyle, regional and broadcast coverage
Used timely, story-led communications to build visibility, drive attendance and create momentum for future growth
Results and impact
Profile and reputation
Coverage across national, lifestyle and regional press and broadcast
Two high-profile national founder stories, including a cover feature in the Sunday Times Property and Home section
Coverage in The Evening Standard, BBC Radio Devon and multiple regional publication
Hundreds of thousands of readers and listeners reached through high-trust media
Invested Friends moved from a relatively new local initiative to a credible, nationally visible platform, with Ben established as a recognised voice on male friendship and connection.
Platform growth
Established Ben as a credible and trusted spokesperson on male friendship and connection
Increased visibility during Men’s Mental Health Month, helping drive attendance and engagement
Generated fundraising contributions through campaign-led media coverage
Created momentum for future events, partnerships and wider growth of the Invested Friends platform
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 and a full-page spread in the Evening Standard.
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
Services
Find Your Story: Discovery, audience competitor insights, messaging, founder positioning, tone of voice and communications principles
Earn Attention: Communications and PR strategy, media pitching, thought leadership, including ghost writing, founder profiling, spokesperson coaching
2025 Q1
Discovery - understanding the platform and its audiences
Story - messaging development, spokesperson coaching
Engagement:
Platform profile – SouthHams.com, radio slot – BBC Radio Devon
2025 Q2
Engagement:
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
Ready to find your story?
If you know you’re great at what you do, but struggle to articulate what makes your business different and why people should choose you, let’s talk.