NWDA

Consumer PR Campaign – Great Days Out for Northwest Regional Development Agency

The NWDA appointed SKV to support the pre-launch activity of a six part TV series emphasising the North West region’s cultural gems. Best Of The Northwest was a programme celebrating locations nominated by stakeholders but also by the public. Our job was to maximise PR around the public’s involvement in the research and filming of the show throughout the summer.

Launch: Searchlight Tour Of The Region A giant World War II-style searchlight was taken on a tour through the key towns across the region to light up the skies and various buildings and landscapes. TV personality Loyd Grossman appeared in the photo “shining a light on the region to uncover its gems” and photocalls and interviews were set up in advance of his tour of the region, gaining publicity wherever he went. The launch raised awareness and served to encourage people to ‘get involved’ and contact the website, the hotline, and via mail.

The searchlight was transported on a low loader and allowed us to localise the launch story for a number of key media in towns – Preston Citizen, Carlisle News & Star, Lancashire Evening Post, Liverpool Daily Post and Manchester Evening News.

Call For Nominations The agency issued a localised press release to all media within the region calling for local people to participate in the process of finding gems in their area and encouraging them to email/write/phone in with their ideas. We also contacted editors of local papers encouraging them to champion one attraction in their area.

TV Series Announcement Due to the unprecedented success of the campaign, Granada decided to make a TV series showcasing the attractions with the highest number of votes. A release was issued to all local media with details of the TV series and the public were urged to cast their final votes if they wanted to see the attraction in their area appear in the series.

Media Coverage: Broadcast BBC Radio Lancashire, Granada TV, BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC GMR, The Bay FM, BBC Radio Cumbria, Lakeland Radio, and Border TV. Print Preston Citizen Series, Lancashire Evening Post, Liverpool Daily Post, Middlewich Chronicle, Northwich Chronicle, Northwich Mail, Stockport Express and Times, Cheshire Life, Liverpool Echo, Wirral Globe, Didsbury Magazine, Bolton Evening News, Wigan Evening Post, Bury Times, Chester Chronicle, Crosby Herald, Middleton Guardian, Warrington Guardian Series, Winsford Chronicle, Blackpool Gazette, Southport Visiter, Runcorn World Series, Oldham Evening Chronicle, Mersey and Southport Reporter Series and Carlisle News & Star.