MIDAS
Corporate and Financial PR - Manchester Takes Manhattan, for MIDAS, Manchester’s Investment Agency
Corporate & Financial PR - Gold award winner, NW CIPR Awards 2006; Gold award winner, CIPR Grand Prix Award 2007
Background: Manchester is competing with other European cities to attract the attention of US site selectors scouting for corporate America.
In Summer 2005, following the Bank of New York’s (BONY) announcement to open a European Call Centre in Manchester, MIDAS approached SKV to devise a PR strategy targeting both UK financial and professional titles, and US-based corporate relocation media.
Objectives: To raise the profile of Manchester among US corporate site selectors; To increase awareness of Manchester as the UK’s second business city, an alternative to London and other global business locations; To raise awareness of Manchester’s burgeoning financial and professional community among UK-based trade media.
Planning and Research: MIDAS arranged a Manchester financial and professional sector delegation to visit New York in November to meet counterparts from US organisations. SKV transformed the trip into a media event, presenting the visit as further evidence of Manchester’s increased global stature. SKV advised the client to focus on the arrival of The Bank Of New York in Manchester, as a powerful hook to entice journalists from both countries to attend the seminars and report on Manchester’s growth.
UK corporate trade press were judged crucial as they play a critical role in informing UK opinion which is monitored by site selectors in the US. Cuttings generated in UK media would also be used by MIDAS in compiling dossiers for US site selectors.
Highlights: roundtable discussions resulting in extensive, detailed coverage, and return trips to Manchester by FDI and Site Selection editors; all target media reported key messages with front page coverage in four titles, Site Selection, FDI, Accountancy and in the Manchester Evening News; coordinated ITN News, SKY News and BBC Radio 5 Live interviews; managed photo call with over 30 photographers.
UK Journalists in attendance
- Claudia Deutsch, New York Times, Business Reporter
- Jack Marks, Wall Street Reporter
- Matthias Rieker, Reporter, American Banker Magazine
- John McCurry, Editor, Site Selection Magazine
- Rupal Parekh, Journalist, Business Insurance magazine
- Sheila Jones, New York Correspondent, Financial Times International
- Keir Ashton, Reporter/Analyst, Bloomberg
- Lisa Maclellan, Reporter, Institutional Investor magazine
- Courtney Fingar, Editor, FT’s Foreign Direct Investment Magazine
UK Journalists in attendance
- Lesley Bolton, Accountancy Magazine
- Harry Mount, New York Correspondent, Daily Telegraph
- Katherine Griffiths, New York Correspondent, The Independent
- Chris Barry, Deputy Editor, Manchester Evening News
- Paul Unger, Property Week and Insider
