Celebr8

Case Study - celebrating diversity


The brief - Equality is not a minority concern - the average person is part of at least two diverse communities, or will be at some stage in their lives. Diversity is an asset which contributes to the region, socially, economically and culturally.

The North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) issued a tender to PR companies to see what could be done to communicate the above facts, showcasing the wealth of diversity across the North West and highlighting its positive impact on the social and economic framework of the region.

Objectives

  • Encourage people to see diversity as an asset
  • Raise media awareness of diverse communities and their contribution
  • Encourage participation by stakeholders
  • Ensure the event 'touched' each sub region and involved each diverse community

Audience/s

  • Everyone in the NW

Approach

The Tangerine response, based on the objective and the budget, was to use the minimal budget in a high profile but short 'festival' of activity, which would engage and enthuse a wide range of people right across the region. The celebr8 (don't discrimin8) festival was born!

The '8' came from the fact that there are eight key diverse communities... race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, age, transgender, faith/beliefs, refugees/emerging communities... and the festival would take place over eight days (1 - 9th June).

In order to ensure we had multiple hits with the media, we had to have different themes running on the eight days of the festival. As well as planning and organising the event, TPR's task was to manage the media around each of the 20 events over the eight days, including:

  • Choir - a diverse choir made up of 20 choirs, coming together to tour the sub regions and launch the festival (see photographs)
  • School activities - including artwork classes and exhibitions
  • Business - two business networking events were held and hosted 100+ people
  • Sport - many sporting events took place, including diverse individuals
  • Poetry - workshops and poems
  • World Cup Photoshoot - one NW resident from each of the 32 countries in the footy finals with Hazel Blears MP (see photographs)

Results

  • ROI of &pounud5.7:1
  • Number of festival sponsors/supporters arranged by TPR = 9
  • Number of cuttings = 60+
  • Prior to the festival, Tangerine PR and The NWRA agreed a range of targets through Tangerine's unique MERIT system which agrees targets prior to the campaign. Throughout the eight day festival, these targets were smashed! Not only did TPR hit every one of the identified key media targets ensuring over 60 individual pieces of coverage, we achieved multiple hits including:
    • 12 x BBC Radio Manchester
    • 6 x BBC Radio Lancashire
    • 4 x Manchester Evening News
  • Tangerine ran the festival again in the following year

I’m Cerys