200
1.2bn
£1.1m
The Bee in the City trail was on display throughout the city for nine weeks from July to September 2018 for Mancunians and visitors to enjoy whilst taking in the city’s landmarks, cultural gems and areas they may not have explored before.
Each super-sized bee sculpture was decorated with its own unique design, created by regional professional, emerging and amateur artists – making an unforgettably stunning spectacle when the trail went live.
As we looked back on our experience in campaigns for creative not for profit organisations and projects, we created the strategy we needed to generate a strong multi-layered media relations campaign that aimed for international, national and regional coverage with high quality content and partnerships.
The announcement was a huge success, setting the tone for the campaign, with a live segment on Granada Reports, and features on BBC North West Tonight, BBC Radio Manchester, the Manchester Evening News, BBC News and many more.
We delivered a multi-layered campaign, going above and beyond to ensure the trail hit the headlines, including approaching Liam Gallagher to collaborate with artist Julie Dodd, creating the ROCK N ROLL Bee with his own design, and even taking it to Parklife so he could personally add the finishing touches.
The campaign delivered over 200 pieces of coverage across print, digital and broadcast with an overall reach surpassing 1.2 billion opportunities to see, whilst the auction itself raised over £1.1 million for the charity.
National coverage highlights including a segment on Channel 4 News, a photo story in The Guardian, design coverage in Creative Boom and Design Week, travel coverage in The Times and the Sunday Mirror, Families Online, BBC News Online, ITV News, NME and coverage for the auction on the Mail Online.
There was also huge support from the Manchester press, including a media partnership with the Manchester Evening News, leading to three front covers, Manchester’s Finest, Creative Tourist, Prolific North, BBC North West Tonight, Granada Reports, BBC Radio Manchester, Hits radio, Key 103 and Heart North West.
(Images: Bee in the City / David Oates)
The bee symbolises the industrious, creative and energetic spirit of Manchester and its people
It’s a fine way to make your way around the city this summer rediscovering places and finding new favourite spots
