Barbour ABI

More than 485 high-impact media articles in 2024

More than 14m online coverage views

Barbour ABI is a construction intelligence company which helps contractors build business pipelines through access to planning data. It provides data on market trends, planning applications and contract awards to clients, and informs official data for multiple Government departments and industry bodies.

Challenge

LMC’s objectives were to raise Barbour ABI’s profile as an expert in construction data, to match the media presence of competitors already established in this space, and to help the industry increase its understanding of the value of robust, data-based decision making.

At the heart of our work was the mining of a vast store of data surrounding planning and spending on construction in the UK. We worked with Barbour ABI to take these large, complex data sets and turn them into high-impact, easy-to-understand stories that would appeal to the media and help potential customers understand the value of Barbour ABI’s data.

Strategy

Key to our work with Barbour ABI has been developing our own in-house data analytics and visualisation expertise. This has enabled us to work with Barbour’s data team on equal terms, identifying data-driven, newsworthy insights together and building a truly collaborative relationship.

Our strategy involved communicating regular monthly analysis of industry performance, as well as deep diving into Barbour’s data sets to identify insights we could share with journalists, tracking trending issues and highlighting topics that would gain the most traction.

One of the first data sets we identified for media outreach was planning data relating to wind turbines and solar panels. We used this data to take part in the media debates on the UK's transition to green energy, including the planned locations of renewable energy farms and speed of delivery against Net Zero targets.

We built strong relationships with data-oriented journalists at the BBC, The Times, Daily Telegraph, and the Daily Mail, to name a few. This has moved us far beyond the usual '30-second pitch' to deeper collaborations with journalists who understand that we have gone the extra mile to bring them something unique and insightful.We developed in-house data analysis capability specifically for Barbour and created media-focused dashboards that highlight newsworthy insights. These included housing delivery, infrastructure investment, and, most significantly, contractor financial performance, a topic often featured in trade and national media.Our established media relationships ensured national journalists viewed Barbour ABI as an authoritative and reliable source.

Results

On the day of the ISG collapse in September 2024, we ensured Barbour’s data was with national journalists before the morning news conference. Media results included 268 media mentions for this one story - up from a monthly average of 30, across the BBC, national media and key trade titles.Working closely with the BBC, we secured a top-of-site lead story about data centre growth on BBC News in July 2025, generating almost 700k online views and 1,818 user comments. The story also featured in 7 TV shows and across 35 high-profile national and trade publications.Year on year, LMC has secured Barbour ABI multiple mentions in almost all national media. Meanwhile, monthly industry insights gain regular coverage in trade media, ensuring Barbour ABI’s name is always in the news when it comes to industry data.

Group Marketing Director - Barbour ABI

“The strategic element LMC has brought and keeps bringing to how we all deliver communications is just top class. The team consistently goes beyond our expectations. LMC is the best PR partner I’ve had across all the verticals I’ve worked in, because it’s a partnership rather than a transactional relationship. PR like this helps us win deals - we won a big consultancy project last week and they cited seeing us in the news all the time as an influencing factor."