STV : gives entrepreneurs the edge for growth

STV and Scottish EDGE today announce a new partnership to further support Scotland's entrepreneurs. In 2020, STV will gift two competition winners £75k airtime and a launch commercial to help grow their businesses; as well as £100k worth of airtime to Scottish EDGE to further drive awareness of the competition.

Scottish EDGE has so far awarded over £15m to 395 up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth potential entrepreneurial businesses, which in turn have boosted the Scottish economy with a further 1858 jobs and an additional £151m turnover. This year Scottish EDGE will launch the new STV Growth EDGEAward, which will be open to consumer-facing businesses in two rounds of funding - round 16 - the first round of 2020 which opens today - and round 17 later in the year. Collectively, the competition will award around £1m in funding to entrepreneurs operating across all sectors of business.

Applications for the first STV Growth EDGE open on Tuesday 21^st January. Round 16 of Scottish EDGE and the first STV Growth EDGE will be accepted until 2pm on Thursday 27th February. In addition to the £75,000 advertising package, the winner will attend a bespoke STV Growth Academy Masterclass at STV studios in Glasgow. Harnessing STV's wealth of experience in media planning, creative brand development, consumer insight and driving a return on investment, the finalists will also be able to access support and advice on effective marketing, communications and lead generation to support their ongoing business ambitions. This will be repeated for the second winner, who will be announced in the winter of 2020.

This investment from STV is part of their successful Growth Fund which launched in 2018 and was set up to support SMEs and help boost the Scottish economy. To date, STV have awarded £8.9m across 341 deals.
STV's Chief Executive Simon Pitts said: 'We're so excited to partner with Scottish EDGE to launch the STV Growth EDGE award as part of our successful Growth Fund initiative. I'm continually impressed by the wealth of entrepreneurial talent in Scotland and I look forward to working with Scottish EDGE to learn more about the innovative new firms about to set the Scottish business world on fire.

'We're committed to driving the Scottish economy through our support of vibrant new SMEs and the STV Growth Fund which has awarded nearly £9m in subsidised TV advertising campaigns since launching in 2018. Through Scottish EDGE, we're offering free airtime and we look forward to building a relationship with the winning businesses to help supercharge their growth.'

Scottish EDGE CEO, Evelyn McDonald, said: 'With consumer-exposure being more critical now than ever to business success, one of the key areas we often see our winners invest in is marketing and advertising. So, launching Round 16 of the competition with the announcement of the new STV Growth EDGE Award really has been an exceptional way to start what we hope to be another strong year both for EDGE and the businesses we'll go on to support.

'I have no doubt that this new partnership signifies a significant step in achieving our joint vision of building a stronger economy for Scotland and I am confident of its lasting impact both on EDGE and our winners.'

In addition to the two STV Growth EDGE winners, a £100k campaign for Scottish EDGE will be screened on STV as part of the broader partnership to promote the organisation, the competition and to encourage entrepreneurs from across the country to apply.

Details on how to apply are available at scottishedge.com ahead of the deadline of Thursday 27th February at 2pm.

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For further information, please contact the STV press office:
Katie Martin, 0141 300 3109, [e-mail]
Kirstin Stevenson, 0141 300 3886, [e-mail]