The Hard Hat

Satsuma is the creative visionaries behind a multi-award-winning magazine for the construction industry called The Hard Hat, created on behalf of our clients MAP and MACL, formerly known as Anderson. The project started when we were asked to create an internal communication stream to unite internal staff and external partners and raise the reputation of the business as an exceptional company to work for and with.

Return on investment

The results speak for themselves

Following a survey of employees and contractors we estimated the magazine had an RPC of 3 with approximately 4,500 people reached by each publication in hard copy format.

The average number of downloads per edition has been 2,272, increasing significantly in 2022 when we enhanced the design approach and increased content.

people reached per edition

downloads

increase in social media followers

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Our work

Anderson was a multi-disciplinary construction and property development company, with operations across London and East of England when we started working with them in September 2020.

It has since been split into two separate entities – Anderson Development Group Ltd and Hard Hat Construction Group Ltd (named after our magazine).

HHCGL comprises of MACL, the construction arm of the business, and MAP, the plant division and is now employee owned. The Hard Hat magazine belongs to this company.

As well as the magazine, we are the PR function for the business and manage all social media output. Our work has produced tangible results in the last four years including significant and impressive national and regional media coverage, an increase in social media followers, a clear tone of voice across all communications and a raft of award wins.

But it is The Hard Hat that has become a real beacon in their communications efforts.

We created this magazine to be distributed in hard copy format and available as a download on the company website – with three editions a year.

The magazine planning was led by our Managing Director Ellen Widdup – a former journalist with extensive experience curating and editing publications and writing dynamic content with storytelling at its heart.

She wanted to put the business on the map – setting a benchmark to others in the industry in how it communicated internally and externally while meeting the primary goal to unite the audience.

To do this, we chose The Hard Hat as a title – something relevant to all stakeholders while being synonymous with everything HHCGL stands for.

The first magazine in April 2021 had 20 pages but pagination has grown with each issue and the latest stands at 44 pages.

The magazine has scooped dozens of awards in both the PR and communications sector and in the built environment industry.

Results

A snapshot of success

The business intended to raise its reputation externally as well as internally with this publication, helping it win new work, improve recruitment and retention and celebrate its family-friendly culture,

In the time we have worked with them, they have won multiple phases on multi-million projects with its clients with a record turnover in 2023/24 and it continues to scoop dozens of industry awards. It’s Apprenticeship Scheme attracted a record number of applicants last year and retention stands at an average tenure of seven years compared to 2.8 across the industry.

Meeting objectives

We had clear objectives for this piece of work and have surpassed these, with tangible benefits seen by the company in terms of work won, reputation raised and recruitment and retention at an all time high.

Let’s get the stats

25 awards won
7-year staff retention rate
17 live contracts with a £200 million contract value

“Satsuma has delivered everything we required and more – and we have seen tangible results including impressive national and regional media coverage, an increase in social media engagement, a clear tone of voice across all our communications and a raft of awards."

“Our productive working relationship has also led to the creation of a ground-breaking publication – The Hard Hat – that celebrates our business successes and our people."

“They have worked on every edition from its inception – improving and enhancing the product as we evolve and increasing pagination to include the growing number of incredible stories from our team on site to our staff in the office and from our contractors, our clients and our suppliers."

“It’s constantly praised by the thousands of people who read it and I am immensely proud of the magazine and all it stands for.”