Three graduate start-ups from Liverpool’s first business accelerator programme are taking centre stage in Liverpool this week as their businesses are showcased on Europe’s biggest out of home media wall alongside some of the world’s biggest global brands.

Advertisements for trike tours Triketastic Ltd., stylists Russell and Brown’s Vintage Hair and baby products company Izzy Melody are playing on Ocean’s Liverpool Media Wall, an iconic full motion digital screen opposite Lime Street train station, as part of a graduation prize worth around £11,000.

The three were awarded the advertising opportunity after they showcased their businesses in just two minutes to an audience of 430 of the city’s leading business names at last year’s Liverpool and Sefton Chamber’s annual dinner.

The best pitch under the Spark Up scheme took home £5,000 worth of funding for their business courtesy of NatWest and adverts for all three businesses are now greeting thousands of Liverpool residents and visitors.

Chamber chief executive and founder of the Spark Up programme Jenny Stewart said: “It’s great to see the adverts for our Spark Up graduates up on the big screen. It is quite literally a huge reminder of what Spark Up is all about – driving early stage Liverpool businesses to success.

“I’d personally like to thank Tim Bleakley and his team at Ocean Outdoor for generously donating this prize which will go a long way in promoting our start-ups.”

Tim Bleakley said : “Ocean is delighted to support the Liverpool chamber of commerce in this project. Every great business starts with a good idea and hopefully in the future we will be seeing these winners becoming Liverpool success stories, maybe even becoming full time advertisers on the iconic Media Wall alongside other leading global brands.”

Measuring more than 30 metres long and almost seven metres high, the Liverpool Media Wall is the largest full motion out of home digital advertising screen in Europe reaching more than one million people.

Spark Up launched in January 2014 with 15 businesses selected to take part in the pilot 20 week programme. Between them, participants have generated an extra £205,000 worth of investment opportunities, increased their collective turnover by around 103% and created jobs for 17 local people.

The winning graduates and founder of Spark Up

The winning graduates and founder of Spark Up

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