Sundae does the Bees-ness…. one last time!
Providing a beautifully fitting end to an incredible Bee based summer for Sundae Communications was the Bee in the City auction. The extra special night saw 77 (and a secret 78th) of the Bee in the City sculptures which featured on this summer’s art trail auctioned off to raise an unbelievable £1,128,250 for The Lord Mayor of Manchester’s We Love MCR Charity.
Celebrity auctioneer and TV personality Charles Hanson (Bargain Hunt, Flog It!) and Briony Harford hosted the charity auction, which took place at the HSBC UK National Cycling Centre. The Bees went under the hammer in front of guests digging deep to bid, as well as online and telephone bidders.
The most popular Bee on the night was Bee United painted by Joseph Venning, sponsored by Manchester United Football Club and adorned with Manchester United footballing legends, which raised £31,000 at auction plus an extra £5,000 donated by the club, totalling £36,000 raised. Other highlights included A Worker Bee’s Work is Never Done by Laura-Kate Chapman, which raised £25,000, and Dazzle Bee by Liz Faram which also raised £25,200. A surprise 78th lot was added to the end of the auction on the night; a blank Bee to be painted by the winners’ choice of a Bee in the City artist, which raised £22,000.
This rousing finale to the Bee in the City initiative was the most rewarding part of the campaign for us, as we saw the fruits of our labour, alongside the Wild in Art team, come to life in the form of a huge amount of cash raised for an amazing cause so close to our hearts.
As the results came rolling in, we got to work and proceeded to spread the word about the money raised to key media, live, direct, as it happened. Prior to the event we lined up Granada Reports to head along and cover the auction alongside the MEN who were live blogging about each and every lot straight to their website.
In addition we gained key regional and national coverage in outlets such as BBC North West Tonight, i Newspaper, MSN.com, BT.com, Mail Online, ITV.com, MEN, Design Week, Hits Radio, Manchester Confidential and I Love Manchester taking the overall reach of the campaign to over 1.2 billion.
We are so, so proud to have been a part of Bee in the City and to have delivered one of our finest campaigns to date; it has been an absolute rollercoaster and one that we would ride every single year if we could! We shall miss it dearly and it will forever Bee the cherry on top of our Sundae.
x
(Images: Bee in the City / David Oates)
Nickelodeon: Find Me In Paris
Sundae Communications delivered the campaign for ground-breaking new teen drama Find Me in Paris as it premiered on Nickelodeon UK in September 2018.
The gripping drama featuring amazing dance sequences is produced by Cottonwood Media and filmed on location at the Paris Opera Ballet.
The show stars up and coming British talent – Jessica Lord (CBBC’s The Next Step), Hannah Dodd (Harlots), Eubha Akilade (Eve, Clique), Rory Saper (The Legend of Tarzan) and Canadian actor Castle Rock (The Descendants 2).
The series also boasts UK director Matt Bloom, best known for his 2018 International Emmy and BAFTA nomination for the hit series Hank Zipzer.
This show is trail-blazing youth content and the first time young people’s content has been given the high end international budget now associated with adult content.
Working with the Nick UK press office, Sundae delivered an extremely well attended press junket in central London that achieved key coverage across an extensive list of national titles with 22 pieces of coverage across print and digital with an overall reach of 60,116,174.
National coverage included previews, features, fashion features and listings The Daily Mail, Radio Times, TV & Satellite Week, express.co.uk and BT.com. There was strong kids coverage in Fun Kids, Kidzcoolit, Girl Talk, Shout, First News and Top of the Pops and great regional coverage in the East Anglian Daily Times.
There was strong interest in the Scottish cast, Eubha Akilade and Christy O’Donnell which led to interview features and news stories in Scottish Sunday Express, The Scottish Sun, The Herald and The Scotsman.
Working with the team at Nickelodeon is an absolute pleasure and their strong support and collaboration was fundamental to delivering such a successful campaign… this isn’t one we’ll forget in a hurry!
x
(Images: Nickelodeon UK)
Sundae gets Manchester buzzing for Bee In The City art trail
After a whirlwind Bee In The City VIP launch at the Manchester Town Hall in November last year, we were absolutely delighted to be taken on by global art producer, Wild In Art to deliver the full press and publicity campaign for this summer’s major Bee In The City art trail in Manchester.
As our friends and clients will know, we are an agency that LOVES art and LOVES celebrating our wonderful city so when we came on board, we were so excited and brimming with ideas.
The bees have all been designed by different artists and include the likes of Hilda Bugden, I Wanna Bee Adored and Hac Bee Enda. One achievement we are incredibly proud of is our collaboration with legendary Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. In the lead up to the trail, we developed a partnership with Liam to create a Rock ‘n’ Roll Bee alongside artist Julie Dodd. In June, Sundae took a special trip to Parklife festival so Liam could meet and sign his finished bee for the first time which ultimately received global coverage. Press titles include NME, ITV News, Hits Radio, Radio X, Manchester Evening News, Hollywood.com, Female First, plus much more.
From Liam Gallagher to Bez, The Rolling Stones to Sting, celebrities and press from far and wide have been gravitating to towards Bee In The City campaign in more ways than one.
Fast forward to July and here we are having just delivered a huge VIP press launch with the likes of Press Association, The Guardian, BBC News, Manchester Evening News, Granada Reports, Gaydio and BBC Radio all in attendance with some incredible results. To say we are BUZZING with the result would be an understatement and its only just the beginning.
Make sure you catch the bees around the city from 23 July to 23 September, after which they will be auctioned off to raise money for the Lord Mayor of Manchester’s We Love MCR charity.
We are expecting thousands of visitors to be writing, sharing, snapchatting, tweeting and posting about these wonderful creations so make sure you check them out!
MC x
(Images: Charlie Lightening / David Oates)
Donmar Warehouse Presents: Julius Caesar
Sundae was thrilled to be asked to handle the publicity campaign for Donmar Warehouse’s Julius Caesar. This was the first in the on-screen versions of their phenomenally successful, groundbreaking all-female Shakespeare Trilogy, both directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The film was released in cinemas on 12th July, and had its World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it was nominated for two awards.
The diverse all-female cast was a unique and important angle for the trilogy, one that we were really keen to emphasise throughout the campaign. The meta element of the play, with the cast assuming the role of prisoners who were acting in the Trilogy, came about as a direct result of the Donmar Warehouse’s association with the remarkable prison charity Clean Break, which aims to rehabilitate female prisoners and women with experience of the criminal justice system through the restorative power of theatre.
The three plays were recorded in October 2016 at the Donmar Warehouse’s pop-up theatre at Kings Cross with Phyllida Lloyd directing. The on screen version was shot live over two nights, and used separately shot hand-held material to break up the formality of the live camera ‘capture’, and GoPros hidden in the stage or worn by the actors.
The critical reception for the original theatre run gave us a fantastic foundation to build on. We secured a wide range of fantastic film reviews, with 4* reviews from outlets including The Stage, and Screen International.
We delivered a targeted campaign reaching the national film and entertainment press, whilst harnessing the Donmar’s Young + Free which offered reduced price tickets to under 25s , was carried through to the cinema release, intended to diversify Shakespeare’s audience. The cast was led by our greatest living Shakespearean actors Dame Harriet Walter, with Jade Anouka, Karen Dunbar, Jackie Clune and Jennifer Joseph.
We achieved a great spread of interviews, including a major double page spread interview with Dame Harriet in the Radio Times, leading to print and online pickup in the Guardian, an interview with Phyllida Lloyd on Monocle 24 Radio and a feature with Shiloh Coke for British Blacklist,
A junket at the EIFF gave us an opportunity to really amplify the regional ties to the film, namely through Scottish comedian and actress Karen Dunbar, winning coverage on BBC Radio Scotland and a double page spread in The Sunday Mail.
The first phase of the campaign was a huge success, with 64 pieces of coverage achieving a total potential reach of over 460 million.
(Images: Julius Caesar by Helen Maybanks)
A very Sundae Sunday running the BBC Sports Personality Red Carpet
On the weekend before Christmas the Sundae team headed down to the vibrant city of Birmingham, where Andy Murray was crowned once again as BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016 for a record breaking third time.
The prestigious awards ceremony was held at Birmingham’s Genting Arena and after a massive year of Olympic success in Rio, we were proud to run the biggest SPOTY red carpet ever seen!
The atmosphere was electric as some of the biggest names in the sporting world arrived to walk down the carpet. It was an honourable experience being able to chaperone the likes of Judy Murray, Jamie Vardy and England rugby star James Haskell through the hustle and bustle of flashing photographers, live television crews and journalists. It gave me a brilliant insight into how hectic their showbiz lifestyles must be.
We welcomed press from near and far onto the carpet including the Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Star, P.A., Birmingham Mail, Style Birmingham and Radio 1’s Newsbeat who were joined by Olympic medallists, Jason and Laura Kenny, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Premier League cup winners, Leicester City Football Club, plus a rich selection of non-sporting celebrities like Eddie Izzard, Laura Mvula, Bake Off’s Candice Brown, Gareth Malone and Strictly Come Dancing 2016 winner, Ore Oduba.
In front of a 12,000-strong audience, the show was another huge success, with performances from Robbie Williams and Laura Mvula, a lifetime achievement award for Michael Phelps and a surprise appearance from Prince William! Murray accepted the award via video-link from Florida as runners up Alistair Brownlee and Nick Skelton collected theirs in person.
It was an amazing feeling to see all the blanket entertainment coverage the next day in the Daily Mail, Daily Star, Mirror Online, The Sun and The Times and making the front page of the Metro! Here’s to 2017!
Marie-Clare x
Scream Street asks, what are the grossest things that PARENTS do?
Voiced by John Thomson, Debra Stephenson and Tyger Drew-Honey, Scream Street is Coolabi Group’s hit comedy-horror animation.
Scream Street is packed to the bat-filled rafters with hilarious gross out stories centred around Luke Watson (Tyger Drew-Honey) and his best friends, (almost) vampire Resus (Rasmus Hardiker) and sassy 4,000-year-old mummy Cleo (Tala Gouveia), as they deal with everyday problems, and super-natural situations, in the spooky underworld of Scream Street.
We are HUGE fans of the show, which we first launched back in October 2015, and so we wanted to create a huge buzz around 13 spooky new episodes of the show, which launched on CBBC last week.
Everyone knows that parents thinks their kids do gross things, so what better way to get them back than a nation-wide survey to find out the grossest things that PARENTS do? Now there’s a comedy-horror story.
We worked with a national survey company to ask 1,300 kids the things their parents get up to that really gross them out.
Getting kissed at the school gates, holding hands and being told off in public were high on the list, along with wiping food off their face, seeing their parents snog and getting called pet names in front of their friends.
And our friends over at Coolabi rightfully said, “UK families have great fun grossing each other out, and that no matter your age, parent or child, being gross is universally funny.”
The press loved it; from The Sun, the Daily Express to Entertain the Kids and Good to Know , who even put together their own gross quiz from our findings, Scream Street hit the headlines and told parents a few home truths in the process 😉
(Images: Coolabi Group)
A festive Red Carpet at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2015
On the Friday before Christmas, Sundae’s bags were packed and headed for Belfast to BBC Sports Personality of The Year 2015.
This year’s much talked-about, prestigious awards ceremony was held at Belfast’s SSE Arena and we were very excited to be running the SPOTY red carpet for the fourth year.
Andy Murray was crowned the BBC’s Sport Personality of The Year, after walking the red carpet with his Davis Cup-winning Great Britain squad, who also picked up the award for Team of The Year.
We welcomed press from near and far onto the carpet including the Guardian, The Daily Mail, P.A., Reveal, Closer and The Belfast Telegraph who were joined by guests including Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford, Becky Adlington, James Nesbitt, Eamonn Holmes and Ella Henderson to name a few. I loved seeing Northern Ireland’s golfing great Rory McIlroy walk the carpet with his star 1D caddy Niall Horan, sending photographers into frenzy.
For the first year, BBC2 were on the carpet filming a live red carpet show, which was great to watch back and spot the team! It was also the perfect place to see some of the glittering outfits close-up, including Lizzie Armistead’s gorgeous Stella McCartney dress.
With amazing performances from Ella Henderson and Sigma, and an on-stage gymnastic routine from Max Whitlock, which was my favourite moment in the show (followed closely by Jess Ennis-Hill picking up third place), the show was another roaring success.
It was fantastic to see entertainment coverage appear the next day in Daily Express, The Mirror, The Sun, OK Magazine, Daily Mail Showbiz and Belfast Telegraph.
Katy x
Stars line the blue carpet for the launch of Clangers
Sundae has just landed back on earth after the premiere for the new series of much-loved children’s TV classic, Clangers!
Four decades after they first appeared on TV screens, Clangers are now set to make a return thanks to Coolabi and CBeebies, and Sundae was tasked with creating and producing a launch event that officially introduced the pink, whistling space mice to a select audience. I was looking after the Blue Carpet and the photographers and it was great to see celebrities like Kate Garraway, Shaun Dooley, Shappi Khorsandi, Ranvir Singh and Rani Price join Clangers Costume Characters for some pictures!
Sundae created a Clangers Planet within a central London hotel, with beautiful felt flowers lining the blue carpet and the stage, wire copper trees and mini dustbin lids hanging from the ceiling (which were my favourite!) setting the scene for the children’s Clangers activities including tile painting, model making and the creation of a giant collage!
The highlight of the event was seeing narrator Michael Palin join creator Peter Firmin, executive producer Dan Postgate and, of course, Major Clanger on the Blue Carpet.
Among the first to see the Clangers episodes were a whole host of journalists from Guardian, Daily Telegraph, What’s On TV, Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph to name a few. Before the screening started, guests were treated to a musical performance from composer John Du Prez and Young Musician of the Year Sophie Westbrooke.
Swanee-ese expert Dan Maddicott then took to the stage to show the kids how the Clangers talk to each other, shortly before our fantastic host Maggie Aderin-Pocock was joined by Michael Palin, Peter Firmin and Dan Postgate to talk about what went into creating the new series.
The event saw coverage from Yahoo, BT, Independent, Sunday Express and Sunday Telegraph, among many more and the event was part of a huge press campaign for the launch of Clangers!
Clangers is on CBeebies every day at 5:30pm.
Katy x
Life of Ryan
In a befitting warm up to Sports Personality of the Year 2015, Sundae led the PR campaign for the DVD release of Life of Ryan, the cinematic documentary celebrating Ryan Giggs’ illustrious career at Manchester United. With special appearances from Class of ’92 players like David Beckham, you really don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy this one!
Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film celebrates the beautiful game and gives Giggsy fans a sneak peak into the man behind the football. In light of the Red Devils’ post-Ferguson travails, the entertainment and sporting press were hooked from the outset.
Soccer AM were the first to exclusively broadcast the brand new trailer to 500,000 viewers on Sky Sports, followed by Mirror Online. These initial pieces sparked a buzz, with further coverage secured in Mail Online, Digital Spy, Manchester Evening News and Sky Sports.
Sundae also led the Life of Ryan press junket and, tasked with three hours of Ryan’s time, we arranged and managed 10 broadcast, print and online interviews with key titles including Sky Sports, Telegraph, Manchester Evening News, ITV Granada, BT Sport, Radio 5Live, TalkSport, Press Association and Match of The Day Magazine and Kickabout.
The junket resulted in blanket next day coverage with significant mentions for the DVD in The Independent, Yahoo, Daily Mirror online, Express online, Sport.co.uk and Mail Online to name a few.
With film reviews including Total Film, The Sun, Daily Star and the Sport Review, the tribute to the unique footballer was celebrated amongst audiences and fans alike, all on the Manchester United Stalwart’s 41st birthday!
Katy x
Roscoe leads the Red Carpet at SPOTY
On Sunday, the Sundae team headed north to Scotland where Lewis Hamilton was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2015.
This year’s prestigious awards ceremony was held at Glasgow’s SECC and we were proud to run the biggest red carpet SPOTY has ever seen.
This year Lewis Hamilton’s dog Roscoe stole the show, making the front page of the Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail online. Press including The Scottish Sun, Scottish Daily Mail, Scottish Daily Express, Daily Record, ITN, P.A. and BBC Radio 5 Live chatted to a star studded guest list including Tom Daley, Rory McIlroy, Judy Murray, Sir Chris Hoy, Foggy and Rebecca Adlington, who hit the press with first signs of her baby bump!
The show was another glittering success, with performances from Clean Bandit and Jess Glyn, a lifetime achievement award for Sir Chris Hoy and a surprise appearance from Prince Harry!
It was such an amazing feeling to see blanket entertainment coverage the next day in the Daily Mail, Reveal, Yahoo, Digital Spy, Mirror Online and Express Online and making the front pages of The Scottish Sun.
Katy x