Working Word is a Cardiff-based PR company offering individual PR services or integrated PR…read morepackages to a range of companies and organisations. This ranges from the more obvious media relations and event management type of services to crisis communications, internal staff communications, and web content. Their client list includes several well known Welsh bodies including the Welsh Assembly Government, Careers Wales Gwent, UNESCO Cymru Wales and the Welsh Language Board, and they've worked with private sector companies in a range of industries - including managing S4C's digital switchover campaign. Their website provides a decent range of case studies showing the results achieved for a range of their clients, and latest news from the company. Apparently, last Saturday the Working Word team were part of an attempt to break the record for the world's largest language lesson at SkillsCymru, Wales's largest careers and skills event - but there's no update yet as to whether or not they succeeded!

'Fresh ideas and creativity produce award-winning brand communications, which is where we come in.'…read more Peter Gill Associates is an advertising, design and digital media agency based in Canton. They specialise in brand design and corporate identity programmes, literature systems, information campaigns, exhibition design, signage systems, web and interactive solutions for corporate and marketing communications. Since their launch in 1981 the agency has grown a reputation through talent and sheer hard work. Their portfolio spans a selection of creative work for small and medium size enterprises, public organisations and for large international businesses. Clients include a number of top notch businesses and prizes in The Arts including Artes Mundi, Cool Cymru, Fflics, and Welsh Journals Online.

This is a small Cardiff branch of the global public affairs consultancy Grayling. Though there are…read moreno more than five members in the team, they are experts in the field of welsh politics, and are held in high regard throughout the UK. Their office is ideally situated in the 2 Caspian Point building in the heart of Cardiff Bay, thus guaranteeing that close links are kept between themselves and the Senedd (The National Assembly of Wales building). This additionally ensures that team members can attend assembly committees, and First Ministers' questions on behalf of their clients at ease. Finally I would just like to add that through my own experiences with Grayling, I've found the Cardiff team to be incredibly friendly and very easy to get on with (very important qualities).

This communications company was founded by Andrew Weltch, an award-winning editor and public…read morerelations professional with more than 25 years' experience. He has written books; taught media studies; provided sports coverage for regional, national and international media; and continues to be the company's senior consultant. Together with his team in Cardiff he works with a network of associates in journalism, public relations, broadcast production, design and event organisations to provide a comprehensive range of communications services. Sport is one of Weltch Media's specialist areas, with many years' experience of sports reporting for print, television and radio, as well as providing a range of public relations and editorial services for the sports sector. Clients in this sector include Tennis Wales, Autospeed, and ClassicRallyPress (who organise international historic rallies). They also have quite a few clients in the education and health sectors, such as Cardiff University, the Welsh Assembly Government and Health Challenge Wales - plus smaller, local companies such as Rhiwbina Hypnotherapy. For sports communications, they certainly seem to have the edge over other communications companies in Cardiff - but it's a shame their own website looks a bit dated.

Audiences Wales works with all sorts of arts organisations such as opera companies, musicians, and…read moreart galleries to help them market themselves more successfully - all with the aim of building up loyal audiences for their productions, and helping more people in Wales to get out and enjoy the arts. It's a really good idea because there are many artists who are brilliant, but don't know where it starts when it comes to all the PR, marketing and publicity side of things. Whether you're a professional, amateur or community-based arts organisation, or even an individual artist, Audiences Wales can help provide tactical and strategic marketing services. In 2009-2010 alone, the organisation directly supported some 176 different arts organisations and local authorities. So, if you're involved in the arts, it's well worth looking into what Audiences Wales can do to help - even if it's just using their online training guides covering marketing and publicity techniques. All of this is aimed at increasing participation in the arts, including boosting attendance at events - something virtually every artist or arts organisation is keen to do!

A lot of creative types today know all about how to do the hard sell and use social networking etc…read more to get people along to their gigs or buying their albums/ books/ paintings. Still, this is not enough to get deserving numbers of audiences along to see the best of the cultural scene in Wales. Step up Audiences Wales, an organisation dedicated to increasing access to the arts and cultural sector in Wales and helping us arty types to reach wider audiences. They can help. Here's how: 1) They can provide strategic and tactical marketing support, services and expertise to enable arts organisations to build beneficial relationships with current and future audiences. These include distribution, mailing labels, cultural research and consultancy, campaign management and free listing son What's on Wales. 2) They can also provide a range of tactical and strategic marketing services for professional, amateur or community based arts organisation or artists. All of these services aim to support the business performance of arts organisations and help them to understand and reach audiences, and to encourage greater levels of engagement in the arts in Wales. Nice one. Thanks for that!

Effective Communication is an all singing and all dancing multi media, Marketing and PR company…read morethat even provides media training courses for their clients. Their area of expertise is vast, including established media, such as the press, and other published / printed material, all the way through to 'new media', essentially the burgeoning digital media market that we access via the internet, which includes social media websites like this one. It is becoming increasingly common for agencies of this nature to handle established media as well as the newer digital media formats. Those that don't have probably got a limited lifespan. Digital media is where it is at, with social media forecast to be the ultimate way forward for companies, of all kinds, to advance their position within their respective markets. This is why all printed media producers now has a strong on-line presence to augment their present position as well as ensuring that they don't get left behind. What is unusual about Effective Communication is that they offer 'the most incisive media training in Wales today'. Calling on some of the most experienced journalists in the country, Effective Communication are able to tailor specific courses to clients' needs. Courses include: media interview training, crisis communication training to presentation planning training. Effective Communication has two offices, one in Cardiff and another in Swansea, and will consider all types of client, regardless of scale and whether they be a manufacturing concern or a player within the service industries.

Apparently, Effective Communication is one of the fastest-growing communications agencies in the…read morecountry. With offices in both Cardiff and Swansea, they have a team of about ten professionals offering public relations, marketing, new media, media training, and - interestingly - a public affairs service, which can include lobbying and campaigning the Welsh Assembly on behalf of your organisation. The company is also part of the UK's leading regional media relations network, ReMne, which focuses on reaching consumers through the most trusted news source: regional newspapers. Their client list includes some big names such as Acorn, Camelot, Cardiff Blues, Careers Wales, Marriott Cardiff, Orange, Principality, Starbucks, and many other brands. Their website is not particularly stylish, but it's very clean and simple, and provides all the information you need to help make a decision about whether they're the right communications company for your organisation.

Blanket Communications has gone for a kind of retro look and feel with its brand, and describes…read moreitself as a 'boutique' communications company - yet still provides the full range of services from PR to print, advertising to design, and copywriting to online provision. Their team is made up of PR people, editors, marketing specialists, designers, web experts and print experts. They have quite a few smaller clients, including several independent Cardiff restaurants, featured in their portfolio, including the very well respected Mint and Mustard (see separate review of that!), its sister Indian eatery Chai Street, plus Lebanese and Moroccan restaurant Mezza Luna. They were also chosen to launch the Cardiff branch of the Yo! Sushi chain. Outside of the food industry, they have worked with South Wales Police to create an anti-burglary campaign, and created an award-winning waste awareness campaign for Cardiff schools called The Really Rubbish Campaign. Although this company doesn't have as broad a range of clients covered in its online portfolio as some of its local competitors, I like their clean, waffle-free website copy which comes across as very honest, and their funky design comes across as forward-thinking.

Yogi is a four-year-old creative communications and digital agency based in Cardiff Bay, producing…read morewebsites and iPhone applications, brand identities, print and packaging designs, and even exhibition displays. The company's three founders all come from very different backgrounds: one from print, another from graphic design, and the third from software and web development. This gives the company a good all-round foundation to produce the goods right across the digital and creative spectrum, and they've certainly produced some great work. Their client base to date includes many well-known public sector organisations and private sector companies, particularly leading Welsh names such as the Wales Tourist Board, the Welsh Language Board, the Sports Council for Wales, Careers Wales, Age Concern, and NHS Wales. Their own website is sleek and contemporary, and their funky introduction to their team members reveals a good sense of humour as well as design savvy.