Seventy7 Ventures feigns credibility with fake "Best of British Business" award
Seventy7 Ventures, the new majority shareholder of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC, state on their website that they have “been awarded Best of British Business by The Independent.”
This claim has been repeated by other outlets and Scottish soccer fans.
A biography of Seventy7 Ventures Director Ketan Makwana includes a similar and more specific claim: “Seventy7 Ventures was awarded the Best of British Business 2023 by The Independent for its impact on British Businesses.”
Jimmy Nguyen, Executive Board member of Seventy7 Ventures, stated that “Seventy7 Ventures awarded Best of British Business 2023 by @BiznessReporter for The @Independent”.
However, the Independent does not administer the “Best of British Business” awards. It is, according to the Independent, a “campaign” run by the Business Reporter. A marketing campaign.
Business Reporter creates “high-quality video, imagery and articles” to showcase their client’s business, i.e. sponsored content. Business Reporter has contracts with larger and more reputable organizations that allow them to publish the sponsored content on those platforms. Their two biggest contracts are with Bloomberg and the Independent.
Seventy7 Ventures paid Business Reporter to create sponsored content marketing their business. That article is clearly marked “Sponsored by Seventy7 Ventures” and tagged “Best of Business”.
The sponsored article was then cross posted to the Independent with the “sponsored” indicator replaced with an opaque notice: “Seventy7 Ventures is a Business Reporter client”. That cross post is dated May 31, 2023, the same year that Seventy7 Ventures claims to have received the “award”.
The “Best of British Business awards” is a marketing campaign for companies who pay Business Reported for sponsored content. The content, as part of the paid package with Business Reporter, is cross posted to the Independent. But stating that the “award” is “by the Independent” or “for [Seventy7 Ventures’] impact on British Business” is false.
By linking the “award” to the Independent, Seventy7 Ventures is either unintentionally misrepresenting the truth or deliberately deceiving the public to give their business credibility.
Seventy7 Ventures and Business Reporter were reached for comment but did not respond.