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TOFS marks fifty years on the high street with DATS!
Retail PR.
We have now been appointed as retained consumer public relations agency for value retailer The Original Factory Shop.
The partnership comes after we delivered a series of campaigns for The Original Factory Shop last year, originally targeted at bringing in new customers to the budget favourite’s 168 high street stores, and focussing on developing home and garden range plus ongoing beauty and sportswear events with national media coverage and influencer engagement.
As 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the brand, we will focus the activity in the first half of the year on community engagement and celebrations within the 168 stores across the UK. This will run alongside an ongoing media relations press office and bespoke campaigns focussed around key trading periods and the retailers’ support for charity Make a Wish.
You might remember that last year we handled a campaign for The Original Factory Shop fronted by Corrie star Helen Flanagan to promote the retailer’s range of pyjamas which were sold in the run up to Christmas to raise money for Make A Wish UK, the charity which grants wishes for seriously ill children.
Alison Palmer, head of marketing at The Original Factory Shop, said; “Since we started working with Down at the Social we have seen a marked growth in our reach as we have connected with a much wider audience who love our products and create such brilliant content around them. ”
We are really pleased to be working with The Original Factory Shop on a retained basis this year. Between the great value beauty products and on-trend homes range the brand is offering, we have a fantastic and varied offering to promote to enable us to support the business to smash its targets in this its 50th year of trading
The Original Factory Shop offers affordable, functional and stylish products and top quality household brands in their 168 stores across the UK. There are thousands of products available at low prices, including fashion, beauty, home and more; with up to 70% off RRP on big brands.
We LOVE Festive Didsbury Gin!
Alcohol PR.
We like to drink gin as much as (if not more) than everyone else, but we’re definitely partial to a bit of Manc born Didsbury Gin.
Their original and raspberry & elderflower flavours have got us through many a busy Thursday (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday) evening, and it was much to our delight, when they mentioned they were working on a Christmas flavour.
We then proceeded to drink every bottle we had in the office to make way for the new festive stock, helped a little (a lot) by Liam and Mark of Didsbury Gin who, it’s fair to say, are happy with their own product.
The liqueur, served over ice or in a warm glass embodies everyone’s favourite yuletide treats of mince pies and Christmas pudding! With a heady combination of festive flavours, cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice and a couple more seasonal ingredients which are kept strictly under wraps, the Didsbury Gin Christmas Liqueur has become our absolute festive favourite.
Although we would very much like to keep it all for ourselves, we knew that as the Christmas markets draw closer and the sun has permanently disappeared, this would most definitely be a hit amongst other gin lovers throughout Manchester and further afield.
We spoke to our pals at Lovin Manchester who are also partial to a gin or two and they were just as excited as us! With very little persuading they tried a couple of samples for themselves and put together a festive video, complete with dried oranges, Christmas stockings and fairy lights.
The video hit their socials at 5pm on a Thursday evening – some say prime time for a gin – and by the end of the day had reached 40,000 views. It has now been viewed 75,000 times with almost 500 shares.
Fantastic content that drove measurable results including immediate direct sales.
A record 47M bottles of gin were sold in 2017, with this year set to be no different. We’re a nation of gin lovers and the Didsbury Gin Christmas liqueur seems to have really hit the spot.
Watch that video here.
Is it Christmas yet?
DATS launches Treetop Adventure Golf in Manchester
Leisure & Destination PR Launch.
From the streets of Manchester, up to the canopy of the Amazon rainforest! We’re proud to say we have been appointed to launch Treetop Adventure Golf in The Printworks this summer.
Having previously worked with The Printworks, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, SEA LIFE Manchester and other visitor attractions in Manchester, the UK and globally, we are now working with operator Discovery Adventure Golf to position the attraction at the heart of the city’s ever growing leisure offering.
Having already seen huge success at the original site in St David’s Cardiff, the new attraction will be the first Treetop venue in England, benefitting from an investment of £2,000,000 in the 20,000 square foot space.
The attraction will whisk visitors away from reality, into a world of mini golf adventures. Open now, Treetop Adventure Golf has made its new home on the second floor of the city’s premier entertainment venue with its own entrance off Dantzic Street. The new attraction features two Amazon themed indoor, 18-hole mini-golf courses, and village market bar and café in a tropical rainforest world that sits high above Manchester.
Daisy Whitehouse, MD at Down at the Social, said; “Having worked with a wide range of visitor attractions since we first launched in 2011 we’re always excited to see something new come to the city. Treetrop Adventure Golf will offer a brilliant, high quality experience packed with fun and excitement to entertain putters of all ages. Not only will it be an excellent addition to the city’s growing leisure offering but the food and drink will be equal to that of any stand alone bar or restaurant. Much better than we have grown to expect from an attraction such as this.
“Our campaign is tailored to generate awareness for this brand new experience with a wide range of audiences including families, couples, groups of friends and colleagues across Manchester. It is important that we harness the power of media, influencers and social and physical activations to bring this exciting brand alive and make it a huge success from day one.”
Elizabeth Stanway, CEO of Treetop Adventure Golf, said; ‘Down at the Social has a strong catalogue of proven experience in managing successful launches in Manchester making them the perfect PR partner for us. It’s vital to us that we introduce our brand in just the right way to reach the broad spectrum of audiences that we hope to see in Treetop when we open this September. We’re excited to meet as many people as possible and show them what Treetop Adventure Golf is all about.”
For more information visit https://adventuregolf.com/manchester.
DATS expands to Lancashire!
DATS Launches A Lancashire PR Office.
As you may have seen from our recent news Down At The Social has a new Manchester home in No.1 Spinningfields. However we weren’t content with having one new office, we wanted two!
We are delighted to announce that we have opened a new Lancashire base so that we can better service our clients from further afield. As a team with a passion for tourism and hospitality, we couldn’t think of a better place than Lancashire to expand into.
Full of amazing destination restaurants, artisan food and drink producers and some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK, Lancashire has plenty to shout about. With its food and drink industry having grown by nearly 20% over the last few years it is becoming a foodie’s dream destination!
Our new Lancashire offices are in a glorious converted mill in Rawtenstall, with views of Lancashire’s rolling hills surrounding us.
The team will be working out of both of our bases continuing to expand our hard work and services, delivering the same amazing social and PR services to all of our clients further afield.
So come and visit us in our new digs, and chat to us about our event management, social media marketing, news generation content strategy and more. Stop by for brew as our new neighbours so beautifully put it!
Find us at Suite 32, Hardman Mill, Rawtenstall BB4 6HH.
Manchester Pride Festival 2018 – Press Accreditation and What to Expect...
LGBTQ+ & Festival PR.
It’s that time of year again, where The Manchester Pride Festival is almost upon us! Having been appointed to represent the charity back in 2014, the Manchester Pride team are now pretty much part of the DATS family and it’s an honour for us to work with them again this year.
While the Manchester Pride team carry out great work every single day, helping and supporting Manchester’s LGBT+ community all year round, The Manchester Pride Festival is one of Manchester’s must-attend events each year. Not only is it Mancunians who gather in the heart of the city for four days of festivities, but supporters travel from far and wide to join in and see how Manchester celebrates all things LGBT+.
So now we are pleased to announce the press accreditation for this year’s event is officially open, so journalists, bloggers, writers and photographers from all over the world can sign up via the link here to apply to get involved and cover one of the city’s biggest annual events. But be quick as applications are only open for a few weeks and press passes will be in limited supply.
Each year The Manchester Pride Festival gets bigger and better and 2017 was no exception – over 5,200 miles walked by the Parade entrants, 211 volunteers and 125 acts in total performed across The Big Weekend, and not a drop of rain in sight!
And we certainly played a part in getting out the good word of Manchester Pride for last year’s event too, whether it was hitting the screens, broadcasting on the radio or showcased across some of the UK’s biggest publications. In total, we achieved a media reach of 171,448,135 in August alone for The Manchester Pride Festival including 308 TV and radio broadcasts too – a huge success for the client and another August bank holiday weekend well spent for DATS.
With 2018 already boasting an amazing line-up, this could be the biggest year yet for Manchester Pride. It’s always one of the busiest weekends in the DATS calendar but I for one can’t wait to get stuck in this year and make the most of what will be an amazing four days of celebrations – see you all there!
Introducing Future Rooms
Homes & Travel PR.
Future Rooms – creators of innovative accommodation solutions for homes and businesses – has appointed us to work with them on PR and social media.
The company which designs and builds garden rooms and camping pods for both business and domestic use is also set to launch an exciting new product into the wedding, festival and event market later this year.
Our brief is to tap into the massive lifestyle appeal of these beautiful products and drive awareness to new audiences of what a Future Room could do for them. They are so instagrammable right now!
Think garden offices, gyms, even swimming pools and on the other side of the business easy to install camping solutions for campsites or farms looking to tap into the enormous boom in Glamping here in the UK. Rural diversification is a massive buzzword right now and our job is to make sure that anyone thinking about getting into the holiday business knows that Pods by Future Rooms are the solution for them.
You can expect media relations, influencer engagement, live event activations, digital content creation and news making to position Future Rooms as the authority in space solutions.
Richard Kocerhan, creator of Future Rooms, said; “We’re really excited to work with Down at the Social to take our business to the next level. We have an exciting new product to launch and know that Daisy and the team are perfectly placed to help us make it a massive success.”
A Bit More About Future Rooms:
Future Rooms designs, builds and installs an exciting range of garden rooms and camping pods for a wide variety of work, leisure and domestic uses.
Garden Rooms by Future Rooms offer a practical and affordable solution to the need for extra space, with different styles, features and designs to suit any area and any budget.
Pods by Future Rooms design, build and install stunning and unique pods that are ideal for glamping, and for creating additional accommodation; their uses are versatile, and therefore perfect for a variety of leisure needs.
A nation obsessed with Didsbury Gin!
Alcohol & Product PR.
We’ve recently started work with a lovely new client Didsbury Gin, a big focus of our content driven campaign is news story creation to get this new artisan brand out there on a wider scale.
Listening to media trends, Instagram feeds, Facebook posts and Twitter chats, we couldn’t ignore that the drinks trolley is well and truly back as the 50’s resurgence continues! As ‘gin is in’, more and more people are collecting bottle after bottle, expanding their collections and broadening flavour horizons – we are a nation obsessed with gin!
Together we commissioned a survey to find out how much Brits really spend on alcohol and how much gets stashed on their (very stylish and expensive) drinks trolleys at home, awaiting the occasional sunny Sunday BBQ or dinner party that you never really get round to.
The results showed that Brits are not only buying a couple of bottles here and there, they are spending thousands, up to £3K to be exact, on building their at home bars. Getting the right set up – trolleys to match the decor and glassware to match the trolleys.
Along with an array of spirits and emergency bottles of Prosecco for those unexpected Fridays in, Brits splashed out on craft beers, liqueurs, cocktails shakers and every other bar accessory, including in house beer taps and personalised bottle openers, all so they can serve up the perfect people pleasing potion, when they finally get round to it of course.
We issued the release to national press and gained a huge reach of 3,352,889 people in print, with news coverage in The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Mirror, with an additional online reach of 186,093,325 people.
So that’s a total of 189,446,214 people now questioning if they have a shopping problem and counting how many bottles they actually have at the back of the cupboard, or thinking about what else they should go out and buy to complete their collection. Gin anyone?
News generation is essential within our PR toolkit. Product placement, whilst vital, can take time and results aren’t immediate.
We always utilise creative story generation to drive mass brand awareness in the front end and online pages of the national newspapers. Not only does this drive brand recognition and website traffic but it’s a great way to generate social content and ensure campaigns are fully integrated.
Locke Living Comes To Manchester
Hotel Launch & Community Engagement.
When I set up Down at the Social my biggest priority was to work with brands and people that I felt genuinely passionate about.
It’s always exciting when a new brief comes in but the Whitworth Locke brief in particular was just perfect for us.
As a brand they’re committed to building community and creating genuinely usable spaces that both their guests and the people in the cities around them can integrate into their lives.
I’m a massive fan of flexible working and co-working spaces and the fact that Whitworth Locke will offer desks that can be used by anyone free of charge is such as nice touch to making this commitment a reality.
Plus there will be yoga classes, an artist in residence and an espresso martini bar! What’s not to love.
So what will Whitworth Locke be? It’s a disruptive design-led concept from Locke Hotels in Manchester.
What does that mean? Basically it’s got the design features and amenities of a high-end hotel but with the flexibility of self catering. Staying in hotels when you travel with work can be a pain when you need space to work, chill, sleep and more.
Set to open this October the 160-unit lifestyle aparthotel will be located on the corner of Princess Street and Whitworth Street and will offer some of the most beautiful studios and one-bedroom suites that Manchester has seen.
Check out the brand’s Instagram account if you don’t believe me.
Our team’s job is to manage a community engagement campaign to position the brand at the cultural heart of Manchester.
Through creative content driven campaigns tapping into influencer engagement, media relations, and events we’ll work with Locke to identify and introduce them to the key audiences they want to engage with.
And I will probably be going to the odd yoga class too! We can’t wait…
Say HI to Lovetree Design!
Product & Gift PR.
We’re really excited to reveal that we’re working with personalised gift company Lovetree Design to our small business content consultancy SocialLite.
Lovetree Design is a brilliant young company specialising in modern giftware design led by a husband and wife team who have a passion for quirky design and cool typography.
In 2013 Mike and Teresa had a baby boy and felt that there was a gap in the market for personalised baby grows that had an element of cool. So they started designing clothing and prints for their son George and friends and family. Not long after George was born, Mike who had worked in the printing industry for 10 years, was diagnosed with chronic arthritis which meant reconsidering our lifestyle to suit their new family and health and they launched Lovetree Design.
The fledgling business, which started on Not On The High Street in 2015, has become one of the site’s most successful small sellers for its baby clothes, kids clothes, adult clothes, aprons and accessories which are all lovingly handmade. Each one is designed to be photographed and make memories that will last forever. You will LOVE them.
Since starting with nothing in 2015 the business now turns over in excess of £250k and has 5 staff, and is still growing at around 100% year on year.
Our team will be working with Lovetree to support this growth and help reach new audiences through a campaign focused on product placement and influencer marketing.
There’s also the launch of a new range of homeware on the way!
Mike Treverton Jones, owner of Lovetree Design, said; “We have had a really successful start to the business and have naturally grown through our affiliation with Not On The High Street, and we’ll continue to grow that relationship, but we would now like to also focus on driving growth in a more targeted way. We decided to work with Down at the Social because we felt that they have a genuine understanding of what is important for a small business such as ours, they have a brilliant relationships with key influencers and their campaigns get results. We are excited to see what they can achieve for us.”
For more information about Lovetree Design visit https://lovetreedesign.co.uk.
Facebook – what are they up to now?
Social Media Changes.
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is making some changes to Newsfeed and marketeers across the world shuddered!
Your first challenge is understanding what this change means and then building a plan to make it work for you and your brand. Don’t worry we can help.
Luckily we PR professionals are perfectly positioned to make the most of these changes because we’re all about making sure that brands are truly social.
We believe that the real success in social media marketing comes from creating engaging channels with genuine audiences that love your brand, service or product. People that want to hear what you have to say won’t be put off that easily.
So what are they going to do?
Starting as soon as this week, Facebook is going to prioritise News Feed items from friends and family over public content, including posts from businesses, brands, and media. It will also focus on prioritising community engagement in the form of ‘posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people’.
Zuckerberg and his team are out to improve the user experience of the world’s biggest social network. And why not? Surely that should be our aim too? Marketing is about content and social is no different.
What do you need to do?
If brands start conversations about subjects, products or services that users are interested in, share great photos and videos and listen to what their fans have to say – what’s not to like?
There isn’t any value in tricking potential fans on to your page with click bait – it won’t deliver you the sales or other results you need in the short or long term.
So in summary we think that if you have something your audience wants and you package it in the right way you shouldn’t have too much trouble negotiating these changes.
Some simple tips you can employ:
Don’t use capital letters – real conversation and compelling content instead please.
Don’t ask your fans to offer up their friends for your benefit – TAG A MATE WHO won’t be making an appearance in your newsfeed any more.
Do ask questions and encourage your audience to talk to you.
If you want to push a product or service and want to guarantee that your audience see it, for now at least, you’re going to need an ad. And there’s a chance it’s going to cost you more than before so make sure you’ve got your audience right and monitor and evaluate all the time.
Still not sure what to do next? We offer a Sociability Profiling service which might help. We’ll review your existing strategy, results, content plans and help you evaluate if it will help you negotiate these coming changes.
It’s not all about Facebook…there are plenty of channels out there which might even be better for you when reaching your target audience. We have a blog on Instagram coming next – sign up to our newsletter here to be the first to read it.
Teens go bananas over new social media app – Monkey!
Social Know How.
When you think about social media, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Facebook right? Well according to two new social geniuses, that is not such a common thought with today’s teenagers.
Isaiah Turner, 17, and Ben Pasternak, 18, have created the next step in the ever growing social media landscape with their new iOS app, Monkey. Described as “Omegle except for making new friends” on the App Store, the platform will see random users connected for a set period of time. If the pair wants to stay in touch once the time is up, they can add more time to carry on the conversation. As well as extra time, users are able to mutually add their new friends to social powerhouse Snapchat.
The idea came after Isaiah and Ben found out that not all teenagers are big fans of Facebook and wanted to give them something to replace it. The duo says the app is a way to meet new people from around the world rather than school mates or your neighbours.
Speaking to Mashable, Pasternak said; “The way I look at it is Snapchat’s for your real-life friends and Monkey is for your internet friends. With internet friends, you can be whoever you want to be, and I think Monkey is really pushing that.”
In just five weeks, the app has reached around 215,000 users and as of Jan. 23 is sat at 62 in the top free apps in the App Store.
While the thought of a new social channel being compared to Omegle and Chatroulette might put people off, Pasternak has claimed that Monkey is so far a clean and safe community. Just to be on the safe side, the pair has a public Snapchat account that enables users to directly address any issues they may have stumbled on.
What are your thoughts on the new step for social media? Have Turner and Pasternak hit a gold mine or will this join the likes of Meerkat in the social scrapheap? Whatever your thoughts, we’d love to hear them. Tweet us – @DATSPR, or come find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DownattheSocial
SINKING THE JANUARY BLUES WITH A CELEBRATION OF ALL GOOD THINGS IN 2016!
2017, what have you got in store for us? It may not be hoverboards and robots taking over as some people will have liked, but we still think it’s going to be pretty bloody exciting.
And why? Because we’re still riding high on 2016 and here are our highlights.
The beginning of the year saw us welcome Claire to the team as our brand spanking new Account Director, plus our lovely Graduate Account Executive Emma joined shortly after!
The Mirror Ball raved in March, with attendance from stars including Catherine Tyldesley, Shane Ward, Jamie Lomas, Nikki Sanderson, Helen Flannigan and Anthony Quinlan. The evening was a huuuuge success, and saw the total for Forever Manchester over its 6 year history raise to £350,000.
Shortly after, The Printworks appointed us as its new PR and Social media agency after a pretty competitive pitch process – and we were BUZZING. (We still are).
June saw us fill a paddling pool full of Manchester Gin, amongst other things, in aid of Forever Manchester Week, as well as the start of our initial project with skills, rehabilitation and employment specialist Seetec, in which we have so far received great coverage for, including a piece on BBC Radio Manchester.
We then brought on board brand new and revolutionary baby carrier brand Kiddihug, ahead of its October launch at the Baby Show. The product launch went national with pieces in Reveal, Now and OK! magazine.
August bank holiday. Manchester Pride 2017. Fleur East and Will Young. 801 pieces of coverage. £149,000 raised. The most successful Manchester Pride yet? Enough said.
Before she could even recover, MD Daisy then headed out to Ethiopia with fellow industry professionals from across the North of England, for a tough 80k trek in aid of Action Against Hunger, where they raised over 70k! Proud.
The end of the year did not fizzle, that’s for sure. After securing work with Flint plus Flint, Rum Festival 2017 and The Beauty Guru, we then went on to launch the first Shoryu Ramen outside of London, kitch Christmas pop up Miracle on Edge St and authentic beer hall The Bouncing Czech.
And basically, overall, every 2 out of 3 pitches we did we won….happy days.
Finally, to round it all off, four of our campaigns and clients featured in this fabulous 2016 overview from the MEN.
Now, 2017, lets be having you!
Facebook to introduce the dreaded ads!
Social Media Know How.
Are Facebook ads a clever or costly idea? Now, depending on the angle you’re looking, this could either be the best news you’ve heard today or potentially ruin your Facebook viewing habits!
Announced today (Tuesday 10th January), Facebook is looking at adding adverts into video content as a means to fully compete with streaming giant, YouTube. Like the Google-owned social network, Facebook will be offering 55% of the revenue generated to makers of the video content while holding on to the other 45%. Great news for those that make daily videos such as British prankster Ben Phillips, whose videos rack up millions of views.
However, there is a slight oversight in the social giant’s plan. It is currently suggested that adverts could be placed 20 seconds into videos that last 90 seconds or longer, a clear difference from YouTube’s ads which play before a video. This means while watching a prank unfold or beauty guru, you could be interrupted by an ad for a toilet cleaner; which we’re sure you’ll agree with, kinda kills the vibe.
The question remains, should Facebook pursue the idea of ads? How would this affect your viewing habits? Would you, as the viewer, be happy to sit through an ad to finish your video or would the idea totally put you off, forcing you to look for content elsewhere? Let us know your thoughts over on our Twitter – @DATSPR
Flint + Flint arrives in Harvey Nichols
Beauty PR Launch.
Back in 2014 we launched Flint + Flint, an all English skincare range and now we are excited to have been appointed to launch the brand’s new concept clinic in Harvey Nichols.
We are responsible for media relations and blogger outreach for the new innovative salon, as well as assisting with event organisation. Basically we want as many people to come in and experience the clinic as possible – we are confident that anyone that does will love it and be back.
Passionate in providing customers with the best skin care health, Flint + Flint has created its uber clinic offering customers state of the art technology and treatments, which will be performed by doctors, nurses and aestheticians – in short, only the best will do!
We launched the Flint plus Flint range in 2014 with a product placement and brand awareness campaign. We made headlines both nationally and internationally with the findings of our survey revealing that four out of five British women don’t wash every day. The story made every single national newspaper, was discussed on four key broadcast channels including BBC Radio Two and The One Show and was a hot topic on Mumsnet in just two weeks. Plus it saw an 800% increase in website traffic for the brand. Check out our case study here.
Flint + Flint was created by Adam and Maxine Flint, a husband and wife team. They developed the products based on their twenty year combined experience of providing over a million treatments in the clinics, selling countless lines of skin care ranges in over 64 countries and working with a team of dermatologists. Flint + Flint’s skincare range, indulgent candles, washbags and gift vouchers are all also available to buy from the clinic.
Adam Flint, co-owner of Flint plus Flint said, “For us there was no other option of PR agency, the Down at the Social team is well established and connected in the North West, and we have worked brilliantly with them in the past. We feel very fortunate to be opening a clinic in such grand surroundings, and for it to be based where our roots are in Manchester!”
WE’RE BRINGING SHORYU RAMEN TO MANCHESTER!
National Restaurant Launch.
Our big news right now is that we’re going to be working on the launch of Shoryu Ramen in Piccadilly Gardens!
This will be the first site opened outside of London, and we are TOO excited to be a part of it.
Shoryu is a Japanese restaurant specialising in authentic Hakata cuisine, and already has six amazing restaurants across London, as well as Shoryu Go, a tonkotsu ramen take-out bar.
The VIP launch is the first thing we’re working on which will be on Tuesday 29th November, before it officially opens its doors the following day.
So we hope to see you all there next month!
It’s A Christmas Miracle
Manchester Pop-up Launch.
We’re so excited to be launching Miracle On Edge Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Think Christmas songs, drinks in a variety of Christmas vessels and more tinsel and baubles than you have ever seen before. Check out the pics we shot with Carl Sukonik for a taste of what’s to come.
Set to launch on December 1, this four week pop-up is from the people at The Pen & Pencil and promises to cheer even the biggest of scrooges.
Look out for launch deals on the opening night – @NQMiracle.
Check out what the media have to say about the bar here:
Welcoming Dino-shores to Freeport Fleetwood!
Event Promotion.
We love working with our client at Freeport Fleetwood – the centre sits on an tranquil marina, which is especially beautiful on a bright, sunny day. This week we decided to disturb the peace all in the name of Halloween with two giant, animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you can’t scare people on Hallow’s Eve, when can you?
We headed to Freeport on Monday to watch the dinosaur’s be let loose around the centre. BBC Radio Lancashire met us there to discuss all things pre-historic with our Centre Manager, Amanda Elliott, and created some great video content for their own social channels. The dinosaurs were manned by the highly-trained dinosaur experts on hand, who also stopped to chat with the BBC about the work they’ve done with Freeport and with the local schools.
We live streamed the activity on Facebook for the best instant impact. The day was a huge success with families looking for a different alternative to the usual gore and grunge expected for Halloween, and ended with both reptilians being captured and returned at 4:30pm, some great prime time coverage for us, and a happy client.
Halloween Spooktacular
Event Promotion & Charity Support.
Here at Down At The Social we love a good do and what better night for a party than Halloween.
As ambassador for Forever Manchester (and sometime PR agency for that matter) I organise two events a year that are huge highlights in the city’s social calendar.
First is the Halloween Spooktacular. This year the party was held at Old Granada Studios and sponsored by the incredibly generous ANS. Fancy dress is compulsory and our guests always make such a huge effort.
The event sits alongside the Halloween Lockdown which is a Forever Manchester Halloween institution. We lock unsuspecting celebs in a dark scary place somewhere in the city and they have to raise money to buy their escape…
In the past we have welcomed Brooke Vincent from Corrie alongside DATS client Ross Mackenzie from Black Dog Ballroom. This year saw Scott Fletcher MBE from ANS and gorgeous actress Faye Brookes hunting for ghosts in the underbelly of the Old Granada Studios. Most Haunted filmed a show here once and they confirmed plenty of unexplained activity…
The event raised £13k for Forever Manchester and we generated some brilliant coverage to raise the profile of the event, the charity and our amazing sponsors.
You can see the outfits on the Mail Online and the Manchester Evening News.
Next is The Mirror Ball in March. It’s a sit down dinner with 300 guests, amazing entertainment and it’s not to be missed. If you want to get involved get in touch.
Vote For Us!
Award Winning PR Agency.
So, The Talk of Manchester awards are coming up and guess what? We’ve been nominated for two awards!
We’re in the running for both Best PR Company and Best Social Media Company, which is absolutely amazing.
We know we’ll be up against some tough competition as the Manchester PR industry continues to boom, but it’s been a great year for us with new clients, new team members and even a brand new office, so we’d love to round off 2016 with a couple of new awards too!
Voting closes on Friday 28th November, so if you’ve worked with us and feel like this is deserved (or you’re just feeling kind!!) then please cast a quick vote for us here: http://www.thetalkofmanchester.co.uk/awards
Thank you, and fingers crossed!
Help Us Help Action Against Hunger
Action Against Hunger.
At the beginning of October I joined a selection of the region’s best chefs, restauranteurs and hospitality industry experts on the trip of a lifetime to Ethiopia.
We trekked in the wild’s of Africa’s oldest country, sampling the local food and testing their limits with a 80km trek in 40 degree heat!
This was part of a trip organised by Action Against Hunger (ACF) to raise funds and awareness for the incredible work they do to combat child hunger across the world.
It was tough but we had a humbling and inspiring time meeting some wonderful people and experiencing this beautiful country. I’m a mum and I hate the thought that there are children going to bed hungry and even worse that there are children who are dying because they are not getting the right food and hygiene.
Plus I met some amazing people who really made the trip (I have stolen some of your photos for this post Steve, Tom, Caz and Lisa as I haven’t got mine off my camera yet I hope you don’t mind).
So far we have raised just over £70k and we have a little bit further to go to reach our target of £100k.
Firstly I would like to thank all of our contacts and clients who helped out with prizes – Shoryu Ramen, Hotel Gotham, The Pen & Pencil, Vapiano, Dog Bowl, Penelopes, Cau MediaCityUK, On The 7th and Solita.
Also thanks to Beauty Guru at MediaCityUK who has already bagged herself a PR MOT with my team. We can’t wait to get stuck into your project.
Want to help? You can donate or you could take a look at my auction with plenty of fab things to bid on including 2 nights glamping, 6 Nations tickets and dinner with the cast of Corrie! Bid here.