Brighter Comms are a savvy team of creative communicators. Dedicated to their craft and clients,…read morethey are award winning for this very reason. Sara and her team are tactical with a real passion for PR and digital communications, delivering results time and time again.

From the owner: We help you achieve your most ambitious goals through brighter communication…read more We create brighter PR strategies for business development. Our dazzling social skills help you become social superstars. Our brighter digital strategies help you shine online. Our tailored training shares our knowledge and experience.

This digital marketing company offers a pretty comprehensive service to companies looking for web…read moresite design and management, 2D and 3D animation, illustration, marketing strategies, brand development, video production, graphic design and print, CD and DVD authoring, photography, PR and even search engine optimisation. That's quite a list, and may leave some worried that they can't possibly deliver it all to a high quality. Yet looking at the broad skills of their team, and the resulting portfolio, it seems they can. Big names such as ITV, BBC, BP and Microsfot are amongst their client list, and their portfolio is impressive, with video presentations showing some of their work with CNN, Crystal, Transcanada and others. Very slick.

Atticus is an inventive, creative, strategic digital design agency that works with boutique…read moreindependents and global companies. Their team of dedicated, experienced professionals can fix it for you whether in print, motion graphics, video production, multimedia, web design or 3D animation. They have worked within the film and media industry for many years. They like to get up close and personal with their clients, which include Abbey Road Studios, BP, BBC, CNN, ITV, Microsoft, Pinewood Studios, and the Welsh Assembly. They are pretty darn good at delivering on time and on budget too. If I were you, I'd use them for all things 3-D. Design Capabilities: Exhibitions, Graphics, Branding, CDROM, Multimedia, Photography, Web, Web E-Commerce, Web CMS, Web Bespoke

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.

= A communications agency specialising in digital, brand and print design. They believe in helping…read moreclients to communicate more effectively with their audiences. With over 15 years' experience, they specialise in delivering corporate communications, on and off line, using a combination of consultancy, design and technology. Their client list includes: The Cabinet Office, Kingsley Napley, Age Concern, Mazars, Improvement and Development Agency, Insight Investment, and Department of Culture, Media & Sport. Most recently they've worked with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to create an iPhone app to help promote their "Healthy Heart Recipes". The app is an evolution of the online recipe finder, also designed by Precedent, which is part of the Heart Matters toolkit on BHF's main website. Precedent also offer free breakfast seminars designed to keep your thinking fresh - and keep them on their toes. You'll get practical tips, insightful ideas and a good dollop of inspiration mixed in. Oh, and some coffee, no doubt.

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!

As soon as you arrive at the website of this public relations company you know they're aiming to be…read morea bit more fun and funky than some of their more traditional peers. Love or hate the in-your-face website design, it's nonetheless eye-catching and far removed from the corporate look and feel of most Cardiff-based PR agencies. However, just like their rivals they work with clients who want to enter new markets, raise funds, launch new products, or simply raise their profile, offering PR consultancy and media relations campaigns, business communications, consumer communications, marketing, design, and new media services such as blogs, podcasts, webcasts and viral marketing. I found it hard to discover what experience they have, though - or which clients they have worked with, and the results they have achieved for them. There's lots of talk about what they can do for clients, but when I've chosen PR agencies to work with in the past it's been their portfolio and results that have persuaded me to work with them - rather than persuasive website copy.

Shwmai! Hoffi are an award winning design business who work with large and small companies and…read moreorganisations on their branding and brand communications projects. Companies like Wales Millennium Centre, LaBelleRouge and Gwent Enterprise. I discovered their work through their branding for Wales Book of The Year. The annual prizes, administered by Academi, are awarded to the best Welsh language and English language works in the fields of creative writing and literary criticism. Hoffi produced literature that utilised strong colours, bold patterns and typography. The agency has also worked on brand identity for the Museum Wales and the colourful brand for Cardiff Design Festival. Hoffie also work digitally - they produced a fully content-managed interactive learning platform for the West Wales Eco Centre, which has enabled them to manage and provide learning materials to students and teachers throughout Wales. Mostly Hoffi specialise in combining creative design with bilingual ideas.

These guys are pretty slick! But not in a bad way! Being a branding agency, it's essential that…read morethey get their presentation right, and these guys get it righter than right... An aside: shit, that's a quote form a song... but what song? This is going to annoy me! Is it a Sly and Robbie track? I'm sure it's a tune with a reggae flavour... or should I say flava...? Can someone please let me know before I send myself half demented...? Now, where was I? Yes, Hoffi! They're a lot more professional than... well... um... me, (for the want of a better example... as for sure this is patently clear!) This is an agency that goes for optimal impact, allowing them to use an economy of printing ink. Everything from the innate design through to the use of images and words to present an overall impression are sparing but incisive. I'd love to know who writes their copy... it's exceptional. It's small wonder that they have won a suite of awards and are contracted to handle some of Cardiff's big accounts. They're a class act!

ProMo-Cymru is a youth enterprise organisation that specialises in the cultural industries and…read morecreative projects. Their work focuses on youth consultation and research, Toolkit development, skill development and workshops, an advisory service, and project management. Perhaps more interestingly, they work with Attic Studios to offer recording services for up-and-coming musicians in Cardiff who are inexperienced in the analog recording environment. The organisation has carried out a number of developmental projects for clients including the Welsh Assembly Government, working with community groups, Children and Young People's Partnerships, County Councils and Youth Forum's across Wales. Through these they have gained a strong reputation for their clear direct consultation with young people in Wales to find and respond to their needs. ProMo-Cymru was established in 1982 as Cardiff Co-operative, and despite rebranding, still bases its ethos on Co-operative principles and a user-led approach with future-focused ICT skills development and training. They supply media and cultural products to a wide range of clients that include the BBC and the private sector. They are also the organisation behind Cardiff young people's info hub of wonder, The Sprout.