The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire September 2014 Edition | Page 4

BUSINESS NEWS

A LINK FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

Left to right: Sue Roberts, James Phipps,
Ruth Ogle, Anita Jaynes & Roger Ogle

The Business Exchange and Swindon Link Magazine have
joined forces following the purchase of Swindon Link by
TBE director, James Phipps.
Swindon Link magazine previously owned by Roger
and Ruth Ogle has been in existence since January
1979 and is very much part of the town’s community,
being delivered to more than 25,000 homes and a
further 2,000 copies left in public places like libraries
and leisure centres for people to pick up. It’s second
only to the Swindon Advertiser locally, but the largest
free publication in the region. The Link also has a
strong web presence with tens of thousands of
unique visitors per month.
James Phipps, also CEO of Swindon based
Excalibur Communications, is Swindon born and
bred and is highly passionate about the town he calls
home. A sense of community is important to him
and this is why he decided to secure the future of the
publication and website.
James commented: “As someone locally who
has received the Swindon Link and used the website,
I know what an important part it has played in the
Swindon community for the last few decades.
Roger was keen to expand it further and with
significant investment in the coming months, the
team is already growing from four to eight in the
first month with a new website on the way. This
allows us to offer an even better service to our
readers and our advertisers and to a much wider
audience in the whole of Swindon.”

Wiltshire Business
Hub

4

THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2014

James and the team have big plans in the
coming months and are currently recruiting a highly
experienced team to take the business to the next
level. The Business Exchange magazine and online
offering has been a huge success story, with the
company celebrating a year in business this month.
The group is being widened to include Swindon Link
to provide an unrivaled offering in terms of consumer
and business press across Swindon and Wiltshire.
Fellow director of TBE Anita Jaynes will work
closely across the publications as group editor
managing the new team and working on the
development and expansion of the company. Roger
and Ruth Ogle will be staying in the business for the
next few years at least with their valuable input and
passion for both Swindon Link and the town itself.
Anita commented: “I can’t believe how far TBE
has come in just a year and joining forces with
Swindon Link is the icing on the cake. We really have
some fantastic plans in the pipeline and its great to
have the support of a team behind me. We have
just employed three new journalists and we’re also
recruiting sales staff.”
“In the next few weeks we will be launching a
dedicated sports website for Swindon, which will
quickly become the go-to place for everything to do
with sport in the town. Exciting times ahead.”

Little Miss Cakemaker
helped the TBE team have
their cake and eat it
Little Miss Cakemaker, otherwise
known as Samantha Whitting
delivered TBE’s first birthday
cake and cup-cakes to our office
and before it was devoured we
thought it would be great to have
a few shots taken to use the fab
design as our front cover image
this month.
Lis MacDermott of Headshot
Diva kindly came to the rescue
and helped us secure some
professional shots worthy of
front cover prominence.
Samantha’s cake making
business is based in Bowman
House Business Centre in Royal
Wootton Bassett and the company
is growing quickly having only
launched in February of this year.
Perhaps this is due to Samantha’s
unique skill set. She has a
degree in advertising design and
has worked for both Swindon
Advertiser as a sales advisor and
Future Publishing in Bath, working
on the Craft portfolio
of magazines.
Samantha said: “My specialty is
corporate cakes and catering for
business events as I can bring a

unique blend of cake-making and
advertising/branding together –
I understand businesses needs in
a way that other bakers may not,
as my career was established in
that environment.”
Sam has recently launched
a specific area of her website
just for corporate orders, with
a discounted pricing structure
based on the quantity you require.
Cupcakes start from £2.50 and
go down to £1.50 each when you
order a larger amount. The larger
sponge cakes are also priced with
a simple structure - so that you
can be as creative as you want
with the design, and not pay
ridiculous prices. The sponge cakes
range from £35 to £65.
Visit www.littlemisscakemaker.
com for more information.
Samantha recently entered a
national business competition and
is shortlisted in the top 100 new
businesses in the country. To vote
for Little Miss Cakemaker to win
the Digital Marketing Award visit
www.thepitchuk.com/shortlist/
little-miss-cake-maker/701