Empica

05/10/2026

Empica as a business stretches back to 1989 - long before businesses had websites. It was fun to find in our archive the postcard we sent out to people telling them we had a website!

Yes, that's right – the best way to inform people that they could find out about us on the web in those days was by snail mail. Back then Empica was called Martin Powell Communications and the postcard encouraged people to look up our website with the words "Happy Surfing" and the incentive of winning a bottle of ch*****ne.

Today we create and manage websites for many clients, but we definitely don't advise that they send out a printed postcard whenever the website is updated!

02/10/2026

Today we say a fond farewell to Nicki, who is retiring after 13 years working for Empica!

Nicki has looked after many clients over the years and has been a safe pair of hands for some of our long-standing care and fertility clients. We're so grateful for everything Nicki has achieved whilst working at Empica – her work has spanned media relations, strategic comms and public affairs, which took her to the House of Lords with one of our care clients.

Wishing Nicki the best of luck as she embarks on an exciting new chapter. 💜

01/10/2026

Last night we were down at Bristol Harbour managing an ITV News West Country interview that we'd organised for our client The Matthew of Bristol.

Chair of Trustees, Richard Sandwell, and the ship's captain, Rick, spoke to the team live on air about the recent news that the Plimsoll Swing Bridge will no longer open when temperatures reach 30C. Richard explained why this will negatively impact the charity that runs the ship and why they need two new volunteer Trustees to help secure the future of the ship.

Live broadcast interviews can be daunting, but ITV have been so supportive of The Matthew, and have helped us get the message out there about the issues the charity faces. Well done to both spokespeople!

23/09/2026

Over the past year our founder Martin has worked closely with SAMeR to organise for Louise Brown to attend the 22nd Argentine Congress of Reproductive Medicine.

As well as handling contract negotiations and content creation for the event itself, Martin attended the event in Buenos Aires alongside Louise and supported her as she:

- Delivered a keynote speech about her experience of being the world’s first IVF baby
- Was interviewed by Argentinian media – at a press conference and in individual interviews
- Met with scientists, patients and IVF children

Our latest blog looks at exactly how we made headlines for Louise at an international conference: https://tinyurl.com/32pv6v3b

SAMER. Sociedad Argentina De Medicina Reproductiva

09/09/2026

We’ve helped create a children's book called Petri Dish Princess, which is all about the origins of IVF and tells the story of Elizabeth Carr, the USA’s first IVF baby.

Our founder Martin Powell has been working with Elizabeth, as well as Ali Prato, journalist and founder of the Infertileaf Podcast and Fertility Rally, who has written the book as a means for parents to explain the origins of their IVF child. It’s the latest in the Work of ART book series created by Ali.

As part of the project we helped secure eight sponsor partners, who feature in the book.

Elizabeth is known online as the Petri Dish Princess and we also work with Louise Brown, the world's first IVF baby, who Elizabeth calls the Petri Dish Queen. The title comes as a kick back to the term Test Tube Baby given to the early babies by the media - in fact, a petri dish was used not a test tube.

You can pre-order the book here: https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

27/08/2026

We're delighted to announce that Empica has been appointed to promote an amazing project that will see the iconic World War II Mosquito aircraft return to the British skies.

The People's Mosquito, which is a registered charity, is building from scratch to original de Havilland drawings, a DH.98 Mosquito FBVI.

Designed by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland in 1940, the twin Merlin-engined aircraft was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder" due to its airframe being built primarily of wood and was the fastest plane of the era.

With no airworthy Mosquitos based in the UK, The People's Mosquito is aiming to raise around £10 million to redress this, with an ambition to see the aircraft in flight by 2030.

25/08/2026

Our Founder and Agency Head Martin Powell has contributed two stories from his days as a newspaper reporter to a new book "What A Story".

The book, compiled by journalists Nigel Heath and Peter Gibbs, is a collection of humorous and quirky tales from journalists.

The book raises money for the Journalists' Charity, which was started by Charles Dickens in 1864 to support journalists through hard times.

https://tinyurl.com/mu7kzf73

18/08/2026

We are delighted to have strengthened our senior team with the appointment of Katy Garland as head of strategy and digital.

Katy brings more than 15 years’ experience across agency, in-house and charity communications, with a background spanning consumer campaigns, digital development and brand projects. She began her career in London agency PR, working across consumer and lifestyle campaigns before moving into the charity sector working in-house at UNICEF UK and Diabetes UK. You can read more about Katy here www.empica.com/post/empica-appoints-katy-garland-as-head-of-strategy-and-digital

Bristol-based PR agency Empica has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of Katy Garland as head of strategy and digital.

25/07/2026

Happy Birthday

and IVF!

10/07/2026

More on our work at ESHRE, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, which held its 42nd annual meeting in London.

Martin Powell and Judith May attended and worked with clients the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) and Louise Joy Brown, the world's first IVF baby. Louise spent the day appearing at the IFFS booth meeting and greeting people from all over the world in her role as an ambassador for the IFFS More Joy campaign.

The Empica team worked closely with IFFS event management to ensure it was a great success raising awareness of how fertility rates are falling around the world jeopardising economic growth and social stability.