SOME of Dorset’s top creative and digital businesses are coming together to promote the area as place for talented people to combine fulfilling careers with an enviable lifestyle.

Eight leading creative agencies are joining up for the work,life.better campaign, which will include a webinar promoting the Bournemouth area’s strengths alongside those of rivals Bristol and Brighton.

Organisers from industry network Silicon South say Bournemouth has too often been seen by outsiders only as a retirement village or a stag and hen party destination.

Silicon South director Anthony Story said: “As an industry network, we’ve seen incredible work coming out of Bournemouth for years. With clients from US start-ups to global brands – like Porsche, Lakeland and Osprey – agencies across the region are producing cutting edge tech, design and content every day.

"Frustratingly, too few people know it’s created here.”

The campaign includes an online “window” to display some of the work being produced by local agencies, with 16 videos and new content every day.

On Monday, February 6, Silicon South will team up with Bristol Creative Industries and Wired Sussex for a webinar and podcast that will introduce frustrated Londoners and others to the perks of working in Bournemouth, Bristol and Brighton.

Mr Story said: “I think by trying to position Bournemouth in that way and by aligning it with Bristol and Brighton, I think we start to say that we’re doing very similar things, offering very similar opportunities and that you should be adding this extra city region into the mix so it’s Bournemouth, Bristol and Brighton in one breath.

“We’re not trying to say we’re better than Bristol or Brighton. We’re just an alternative and we have our own merits and that’s going to suit a large number of people. They just aren’t as aware of it as they ought to be,” he added.

Silicon South programme manager Megan Bagnall said there was a particular need to attract “midweight” talent to the area.

“We’re looking at people who may be at the stage where they’re looking to start a family, they’re looking for a different lifestyle and one of the key things that came out was people felt they were going to need to compromise if they were going to move to Bournemouth,” she said.

“They felt they might have to work for an agency that doesn’t necessarily have such high profile clients or they might not get the same sort of career progression. What we want to show is that you can have the high profile clients and you can still have an incredible career but you can get those family elements as well.”

Matt Hammond, software architect and founder of Wimborne-based tech firm Talk Think Do, said: “I founded Talk Think Do in 2014, and now have a 30-strong team of software engineers and tech specialists. Knowing first-hand the potential BCP has to offer, we are proud to support this campaign that champions the breadth of innovative organisations thriving along the coast.”

Sam Smith, managing director of April Six, said: “We’ve been based in Bournemouth for more than 25 years, but this is the first time so many agencies have come together to support and promote our amazing creative and advertising talent.

"It’s not just that we work with clients at some of the world’s most iconic brands; our teams all enjoy near instant access to walk, cycle, run, swim, eat, drink and spend proper time with friends and families in the most beautiful locations in England.”

The other agencies supporting the campaign are Appius, Beep, CHS, Cold Banana, EPM and Make Studio.

Details are at siliconsouth.org/uk/work-life-better or by searching for #BournemouthBetter on social media.