Childhood friends Joe Lawson and Alex Simpson have achieved a lifelong ambition to go into business together.
And now the entrepreneurial duo, both 25, have put their business up in lights – literally – on the front of the Kingsgate shopping centre in Huddersfield.
Joe and Alex, pals since they were just six years old, have launched Bee Outdoor, which sells out-of-home digital advertising.
The duo have pulled off a coup in landing what they believe is one of the best sites in the region for their first digital billboard.
The company’s screen was installed last Friday on the frontage of the Kingsgate centre facing the Shorehead roundabout, and opposite Sainsbury’s and the University of Huddersfield.
Joe estimates that at least 500,000 vehicles and 100,000 people a week pass by that location.
Joe said: “We’re a start-up business and this is our first site. We emailed a few local shopping centres and Kingsgate came back and said they already had planning permission for digital advertising.
“It was coincidental the way it came about but it’s a prime billboard site, as good as any town or city centre site in the region.”
Joe said the company wants to help local businesses first and foremost get their message across.
“We are a start-up business, this is our first business and our first media site,” he said. “We have decided to do this in our home patch and we are passionate about helping business thrive.
“Our pricing will be competitive and we won’t price out local businesses. The big digital media companies want to focus on the big brands but we want to help local businesses and we have the advantage of being really flexible, and can work with whatever budget a client has.
“There is still a place for newspaper advertising and poster billboards but whereas a poster billboard could be in place for two weeks our message can be changed every day.”
Joe and Alex, from Brighouse, both have other jobs but are determined to build their business.
“The ambition is to grow, and grow across the North,” said Joe. “It would be great to give back to the local economy by becoming an employer.”
Bee Outdoor can be found at www.beeoutdoor.co.uk
