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

 

 

Factory pulls the strings on new puppet animation show Newzoids for ITV

From foul-mouthed Prince George to alley cat Katie Hopkins, no one is safe in the new topical animation sketch show from Factory and Citrus Television for ITV.

After working on a pilot with Spitting Image’s Giles Pilbrow, Phil Chalk of Factory had ITV sold on the puppet animation that takes aim at celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Ant and Dec and Kate Moss and politicians such as David Cameron, Nicola Sturgeon and my personal favourite, Ed Miliband.

The first episode, which saw Brian Cox’s puppet commentate whilst a moon orbited Kim K’s bottom, clocked up an impressive 3.7 million viewers in its primetime ITV slot!

The success of the show caught the attention of the business press with Phil Chalk named Small Business Person of The Week in the Independent, a two page interview feature in Greater Manchester Business Week and The Times came to the studios to shadow lead puppeteer Tim Jones on set for the At The Coal Face feature.

With Newzoids on air and Clangers and Scream Street in production, the future holds bright for Factory!

 

Katy x

 

Maxine Peake as Hamlet

As huge fans of Maxine Peake, the Royal Exchange AND Hamlet, we are delighted to be leading the publicity campaign for Maxine Peake as Hamlet, filmed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, and distributed by Picturehouse, which will be showing in 300 cinemas across the country from 23rd March.

The Telegraph Online exclusively revealed the trailer on Friday, and today the Guardian ran an exclusive interview with Maxine abut the role, her interpretation of the character and the feminist shift in theatre today.

With follow up coverage on the Independent and Red Online, this is a taste of the full campaign to be revealed in the coming weeks. Watch this space!

Fiona 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

Northern Soul: Turning My Heartbeat Up

Sundae HQ has been a flurry of spins, twirls, karate kicks and fancy footwork, as we work hard to keep up with the whirlwind that is Northern Soul!

Initially expected to be shown in just a handful of cinemas, the film is now being screened at 160 locations across the UK – making it the largest ever short-window feature film release to date. I know, we’re still pinching ourselves too.

The nation is clearly embracing Northern Soul with open arms, as proven by the endless praise storming its way through social media from longstanding fans of the scene and film lovers alike. Most notably, everyone has flagged director Elaine Constantine for her authenticity and ability to respectfully depict such an iconic slice of music culture, as well as the film’s strong, punchy soundtrack.

The response from the press has also been brilliant so far, with 4-star reviews from The Times and Mark Kermode over at The Observer. Key film and culture publications including Empire and Time Out have had great things to say, with music press also speaking highly of Constantine’s work. Clash magazine, for example, noted “Elaine Constantine’s labour of love manages to both capture the spirit of the times and present it in a way that is both fresh and vital.”

We’ve also had the pleasure of meeting some incredible journalists with a love for the Northern Soul scene, who have championed the project in the lead up to its release and whose support is becoming integral to the campaign – I’ve particularly enjoyed reading Paul Mason’s musings for the Channel 4 blog.

Producing the film’s gala screening and after party in London was another highlight, which involved me getting on a train with a case full of Northern Soul branded miniature talcum powder bottles. No easy feat, but it was the smaller details like this that added lovely touches to the event.

The premiere saw stars from the film, including Steve Coogan, John Thomson, Lisa Stansfield and the two leads, Elliot James Langridge and Joshua Whitehouse, take to the red carpet along with director Elaine Constantine, who understandably described the evening as the best of her life.

At the after party, held at Madame Jojo’s in Soho, we had 20 of the amazing young dancers from the film in full costume showing us a thing or two on the dance floor. They travelled from all over the UK to be with us and really gave the party an amazing energy befitting of both the film itself and the legacy of the Northern Soul; it’s great to see that the faith is being kept alive by Britain’s younger ‘soulies’.

We have loved working on the film campaign since day one, and as it has grown in scale and momentum, it has truly is proved itself as one of those unforgettable projects – but if we ever do, it will only take the first five seconds of Shirley Ellis’ Soul Time to remind us.

Jess x

Create Salford 2014: Grabbing A Piazza The Action

This June, Create Salford 2014 hit MediaCityUK for a three day arts inspired bash. A groundbreaking creative festival curated by the University of Salford saw the School of Arts and Media students showcase their best work and collaborate with industry. We were delighted to be working on the PR and social campaign from start to end and see the talent of the stars of tomorrow! From theatre, dance and comedy to graphic design, illustrations and photography, we saw it all, and we loved every second of it.

A collaborative event devised by high profile creatives and the University’s final year students saw industry greats and the artists of the future come together to produce a spectacular array of exhibitions, performances and installations. It was definitely one for all the family, with productions by Billy, The Monster and ME!, Massive Owl, Coraline, and a flag-flying finale by Walk The Plank. And it was all FREE!

A central element to the family-friendly festival (and a personal favourite!) was the ‘Create Cube’, a giant Perspex box built in the centre of MediaCityUK’s Piazza. A stage featuring ever-changing creative performances and exhibitions throughout the festival became a destination installation for the event. We saw musical delights, a Jokeathon, balls flying everywhere with free-for-all Ping-Pong from End of Play, and the incredibly colourful act, Rabble Dance. It was non-stop action throughout the festival and every act was sensational, keeping the masses entertained throughout!

On launch night, we were very excited to have internationally renowned designer and maker, Liam Hopkins (Lazerian) showcase his interactive artwork commissioned by Sundae exclusively for Create Salford. His masterpieces were created using sage advice from famous Salford alumni including; Sir Ben Kingsley, Chris Bisson, Jo Good (Xfm), James Cook (Delphic) and many more.

We got the press excited about this jam-packed festival, with great pieces by MEN, Metro, Creative Review, Manchester Wire and many more! The National Student even came down on the Saturday to check it out for themselves and wrote a great review on Coraline.

Create Salford 2014 was incredibly exciting, displaying the huge spectrum of subjects taught at the University, and giving students the chance to showcase their work and inspire others. We had a lot of fun being a part of it and have our fingers crossed that Create Salford is here to stay!

Hannah x

Hanging out with Haim at the BBC 6 Music Festival

Some days going to work is an absolute treat and spending the weekend working with our client Victoria Warehouse on the BBC 6 Music Festival was exactly that.

An absolute extravaganza of our favourite artists including Damon Albarn, Franz Ferdinand, Haim, Bombay Bicycle Club, Metronomy and Kelis, the only difficult thing was being torn between two performances on at the same time.

The Festival Fringe, held in the Victoria Warehouse Hotel was a lovely addition to the main stage acts and a great use of the space incorporating two stages, a cinema and a record fair. I managed to find a spare 20 mins to catch John  Bramwell’s (I am Kloot) beautiful acoustic set and was introduced to the utterly incredible The Part Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club: A Sun Ra Tribute. One of the best things I have seen. Ever.

BBC 6 Music was live broadcasting from the Victoria Warehouse Hotel, utilising the Yoga Studio for live sessions and interviews with all the presenters on site all weekend really taking part in the festival and meeting the viewers.

It was a very special event, with an incredible atmosphere and I have my fingers firmly crossed that they repeat it for 2015. I’ll be first in the queue.

If you didn’t get the chance to attend, take a look at the brilliant live blog from the Manchester Evening News, Gigwise’s Ten Best Things (with the venue at No 2) and NME’s review of Damon Albarn’s headline performance.

You can also catch up on the content via the BBC 6 Music website.

Fiona x

It’s all about the Monet

During October I got to work on an amazing project where I learnt more about art, galleries, and schools for that matter! The Your Paintings: Masterpieces in Schools project loaned original oil paintings to schools across the UK and they got the opportunity to see an original Monet, Lowry, Turner and more, outside their gallery shackles.

Your Paintings: Masterpieces in Schools is an exciting project from BBC Learning and the Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF), led by contemporary British artists Bob and Roberta Smith and John Byrne.

If you’ve not come across it yet, Your Paintings is an initiative to increase access to the UK’s national art collection by photographing and cataloguing original oil paintings.  We were delighted to be involved in something that makes our art more accessible to everyone.

Masterpieces in Schools saw £14 million worth of original works, from the likes of L.S. Lowry, Monet and Gainsborough, placed into 27 schools from Aberdeen to Plymouth, Cardiff to Newcastle, in a three-week period in October.

National and regional, broadcast, print and online press came along to the schools to see each painting and how the pupils responded to it.

An art class like no other, the pupils were fully immersed in the project, creating giant collages, taking part in Victorian themed art classes and creating their own mini- exhibitions in school for parents and teachers to visit. Turner would be proud!

It got everyone talking including The Scotsman, The Western Mail, The Edinburgh Evening Times and The Nottingham Post, with numerous cover stories and double page spreads. It was also featured on BBC Breakfast, Radio 4’s Front Row and dozens of regional BBC radio and TV stations across the country.

The project caught the attention of The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, and even a New York Times correspondent who came along to see a Monet in a Shropshire School. Josie Gurney Read from The Telegraph was impressed by the project too, and she spoke to head teachers, the BBC, the PCF and all those involved to write a round-up feature on the project’s impact on education.

The project was a great success, giving children and the local press the opportunity to experience and interact with art close-up, and creating some brand new artists in the process!

Katy x

 

Design Manchester’s 10 x 10

Last night was the launch of Design Manchester’s 10 x 10 at the Bench Self Made Gallery, which will be on show from today until the 28th August 2013.

We invited 17 creatives to collaborate to produce a piece of work outside of their usual comfort zone with some impressive and beautiful results. The exhibition features work from Mark Kennedy, John Cooper Clarke, Helen Musselwhite, Matt Booth, Liam Hopkins (Lazerian) amongst many other talented creatives. You can find more detail on the Design Manchester website.

We produced the exhibition and the launch event to introduce Design Manchester, the inaugural week-long creative festival, sponsored by the Manchester School of Art and the collection is a platform to showcase Manchester’s homegrown talent and personality on a national and international scale. You can find out more about the festival via Twitter and Facebook – there’s some big news to be announced in the coming weeks so watch this space.

I personally am a huge fan of Dave Sedgwick and Tim Denton’s piece, ‘Don’t sit still. Keep going.’ which asks the question, ‘What is the secret to a long and happy life?’ and on which they collaborated with a community group of older Mancunians, called Chorlton Good Neighbours. Dave and Tim used their answers to produce a series of typographic rubber stamps and hand held wooden devices which people can use in the gallery to make their own postcards to be sent to those they think may benefit from the pearls of wisdom imparted to us by the older generation.

We’ve been completely overwhelmed by the amazing work produced and the media response which included the lead story in the Manchester Evening News’ Citylife, Design Week, The Drum, We Heart amongst many.

Do drop by and check it out, we’ve got the kettle on.

Fiona x