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)
It’s time to Head for the Hills
This year, Ramsbottom Festival became Head for the Hills, with a gorgeous re-brand from our partner design agency Instruct Studio, and an incredible line up, bringing Beth Orton, Maximo Park and The Stranglers to headline this year’s event at Ramsbottom Cricket Club.
We couldn’t be happier to head to Bury to meet the team at The Met who organise the festival and hear all about the varied programme of fun, family friendly strands and the creative art performances that sit perfectly next to the incredible headline acts, other huge stars such as the Neville Staple Band and Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), plus brilliant new music from across the UK and stellar home-grown talent including Dutch Uncles, Larkins and Cassia.
We formulated a multi-layered press and publicity strategy, highlighting every strand of the festival to its own audience. First up was the announcement of the new name, and where better than the BBC 6 Music News on the RadMac afternoon show, where Head for the Hills went down a storm with Bolton born Mark Radcliffe, alongside a fab interview with the inimitable Beth Orton.
Next up we looked to the nationals, folk press, parenting press, what’s on press and the arts press and were proud to see coverage appear in the Independent, Manchester Evening News, the Bury Times, the Bolton News and Creative Tourist to name but a few.
Making the occasion extra special Mancunian poet Tony Walsh, widely known as Longfella, has penned a typically rousing piece celebrating those personal and collective moments that only happen at your favourite festival with your favourite people. Tony will be performing the festival live on the main stage and it promises to bring a tear to the eye… in a good way.
Another one of our hobbies here at Sundae is craft beer so you can imagine our reaction when we found out that local keg fillers Silver Street Brewing Company have come on board to create the festival’s very own personal brew named after the festival with our mega talented friends at Instruct Studio designing the bespoke label.
This is no new partnership, more of a long standing friendship. The Head Brewer at Silver Street, Craig Adams, has been involved in the festival from the very beginning holding a number of different positions along the way; from being a sound engineer looking after the technical side of things to headlining the Big Top with his own band Thugs on Wolves and now supplying the official beer, Craig really is a part of the journey.
Not only is it an awesome idea and a downright great beer, the partnership with a local brewer conveys the community, all inclusive ethos of the festival that we and everybody else is already in love with.
There’s loads of press still to come, festival director David Agnew was on BBC Radio Manchester on Monday (at 2:45pm), we’ve got some artists chatting to the MEN, BBC 6 Music and much much more.
We literally cannot wait to Head for the Hills this week; it has been a pleasure to be involved with and, no doubt, it will be one helluva weekend that will last in the memory for years to come.
(Images: Tierney Gearon / Sebastian Matthes / Andrew Allcock)
Emancipation of Expressionism: an 11-minute hip-hop dance from Boy Blue Entertainment
We are mega excited to be working on Emancipation of Expressionism, an 11-minute hip-hop dance, from Boy Blue Entertainment, that is being captured on film by, the one and only, Danny Boyle in a staged performance at London’s Barbican Theatre.
The dance, choreographed by Kenrick Sandy with music composed by BBE co-founder and fellow artistic director, Michael Asante, is performed by a diverse 17-strong company led by Kenrick.
Team Sundae was lucky enough to be on set, at the Barbican, as the performance was captured and directed by Danny Boyle and what an amazing experience it was; popping, locking, waacking, breaking, hip-hop and krumping, all specialist hip-hop and street dance styles we witnessed first hand through Kenrick’s genius choreography.
We couldn’t help but feed off the infectious energy of the work and it was a completely uplifting experience. The emotion generated by the dancers was quite incredible and the performance levels were like nothing we’ve ever seen up close and personal.
The taste of the production that we got from our time on set will stay with us for some time and we can’t wait to see the final capture. This journey is one that we are hugely honoured to be invited on and it’s already causing a stir with coverage in The Times, the Evening Standard and British Blacklist for the project announcement.
Watch this space for the next stage.
Tom x
(Emancipation of Expressionism by Boy Blue Entertainment image credit: Nicole Guarino)
Design for life: Design Manchester returns with film, music and fashion events
What a week at Design Manchester! It was great to work across such an illustrious programme of events, which this year also included fashion, music, film and animation to celebrate the crucial role of design in all walks of life.
Design Manchester has become a staple of the city’s diverse and thriving cultural calendar, whilst also functioning as a highlight for creatives across the UK. With such a vast range of talks and workshops held at key venues across the city it’s hard to decide on my favourites, but one of my highlights definitely included Music How, which welcomed New Order’s Stephen Morris in conversation following the release of New Order’s new album.
I found out about the design aspect of the album musically, and it was really interesting to hear where the ideas for album artwork come from. Stephen was joined by Music How and Luke Bainbridge from Festival No. 6, who also led a really insightful talk about the planning of the festival and its amazing programme, along with the issues the curators face each year.
Another favourite for me was Design Now, featuring Parisian illustrator Malika Favre, graphic design studio Hudson Powell and co-founder of Lemon Jelly and Airside Fred Deakin. They all discussed their work and the processes behind and all gave really engaging conversations about their work and the industry.
As a showcase of Print Now supported by GF Smith, another key event was Manchester Print Festival, which took place at the wonderful People’s History Museum showcasing over 50 stalls selling independent artwork, along with free hands-on workshops in letterpress, screen printing, origami, badge making, paper flower creations, doodle wall and collage work.
We had lots of positive words from everyone involved, with press including Creative Review, Design Week, Big Issue and Manchester Evening News.
Here’s to next year!
Becca x
Photos: Sebastian Matthes / MANOX
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
Bipolar Sunshine at the Bench Self Made Gallery
Ahead of their performance and the Bench International Conference, the frankly amazing Bipolar Sunshine treated us to a Lunch Time Live session in the Bench Self Made Gallery.
Tipped for the huge things, Bipolar Sunshine aka Adio Marchant is already getting the nod from leading Radio shows across the UK. including Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart and Alice Levine, plus Xfm’s John Kennedy, Jon Hillcock and Eddy Temple-Morris.
Our session captured the attention of the media with brilliant coverage on Manchester Wire, Viva, Northern Quarter, The Skinny, Don’t Panic and many more.
His debut EP, Aesthetics, is out now. And features popular tracks ‘Rivers’ and ‘Fire’, played here, which have both topped the HypeM charts and surpassed 120,000 plays on Soundcloud.
Check out our video with an exclusive interview and acoustic performance of Fire below.
For more information on the Bench Self Made Gallery visit the Facebook group.