Showcasing Manchester

In my role as the IPA City Head for Manchester, I find myself in the privileged position of seeing outstanding work by IPA members in the North West week in week out. And rather than keep this all to myself I wanted to share this work with you to celebrate the talent we have across the UK.

This collection of case studies showcases the innovative and impactful work being done and demonstrates the power of creativity, strategic thinking, and targeted messaging to achieve impressive results. From McCann Manchester’s Aldi Olympics campaign and Havas Media Network's efforts to put everyday family heroes first with Matalan, to The Behaviours Agency’s behaviour-changing WCMA numeracy campaign (it would be rude not to put one of my own in) and Weber Shandwick Manchester’s CALM Skyathlon; these case studies offer valuable insights for anyone in the marketing and communications industry.

Aldi: McCann Manchester

Kevin the Carrot is set to make an unseasonal appearance on the nation’s screens as he joins Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Games, in the latest campaign created by McCann Manchester.

Kevin returned to screens on Thursday 18 July, in what will be the first time he’s appeared in a hero campaign outside of a Christmas campaign in the UK. Kevin, who has become synonymous with Christmas, has made an early return to celebrate Aldi’s 10-year partnership with Team GB and the more recent ParalympicsGB partnership to show his support for the games ahead.

Narrated by Jim Broadbent, the 40 second spot sees British athletes Oliver Lam-Watson, Helen Glover MBE, Delicious Orie, and Max Whitlock OBE, help Kevin save the games in an adrenaline-filled, action-packed adventure through the French capital.

The campaign runs across all channels, including digital AV, radio, press, digital marketing, website, leaflet, activation in Fanzones during the games, POS in store and merchandising - including a limited edition Kevin plushie.

Aldi has been the Official Supermarket Partner of Team GB for the last 10 years and recently renewed its partnership to take them all the way to the Brisbane games in 2032.

CALM Skyathlon: Weber Shandwick, Manchester

Our brief was to raise awareness of CALM’s lifesaving services through its brand ambassador programme. In a tough economic climate, with lots of charities vying for attention, we needed to ensure our campaign stood out to drive share-of-voice in earned media.

YouGov data revealed that a fear of heights is the UK’s most common phobia. We leaned into this insight to engage and resonate with audiences, partnering with confessed acrophobic, Strictly Come Dancing star, Shirley Ballas.

Shirley has openly spoken about losing her brother and friends to suicide and, although she is petrified of heights, nothing scares her more than losing another person to suicide.

The central creative idea was to stage the Skyathlon challenge, a trio of extraordinary feats that comprised the world’s fastest zip line, a 700ft wing walk and a 13,000ft skydive.

The power of the story lay in combining physical feats with emotional storytelling. We created a compelling narrative that enabled us to curate live content on the go and bring audiences on the journey with us.

Our media engagement strategy was the cornerstone of our campaign, supported by a strong online presence and visually striking content.

We successfully placed CALM and the topic of suicide on the news agenda, with over 1108 broadcast hits (including 6x BBC Breakfast, This Morning, GMB, Lorraine and Sky News); 554 online pieces; 22 print articles; and 44 social pieces (highlights including PA Showbiz and The Independent).

Our fundraising campaigns across both online and offline platforms raised more than double our original goal. We focused on the direct impact of contributions, illustrating how they translate into bereavement support, and essential resources. The campaign funded, amongst a host of other resources, 6397 life-saving calls.

Matalan: Havas Media Network, Manchester

Since Matalan opened in the mid-80s, it has pioneered out-of-town retailing and family value shopping. However, a focus on price and sales promotions had led to declining business performance.

Havas Media Manchester’s research showed that whilst Matalan offered exactly what audiences wanted, quality, stylish clothing and homeware at affordable prices, customers weren't considering the brand. Giving us two areas to focus on:

• Getting personal: Consideration driver analysis showed that retail brands needed to offer personal benefits, like helping customers feel stylish and expressing individuality. Matalan needed to shift from a trend-led business to a customer-focused retailer.
• Getting famous: Brand metric analysis revealed that word of mouth and buzz were crucial for consideration. Meaning Matalan needed to become more famous.

This required a complete brand reset, putting customers at the heart of the new proposition to drive sales and growth. Re-positioning Matalan was complex task, with a tight deadline of Spring 2024. A core team from Havas Media Manchester and McCann Manchester spent eight weeks conducting extensive research. They found Matalan’s customers wanted to look and feel good, but often prioritised others over themselves, and felt forgotten by brands. Customers also believed Matalan had lost its roots.

Together we developed the brand role for Matalan to “Proudly Put Everyday Family Heroes First.” Havas and McCann then brought the new position to life to creative and media. The integrated brand campaign launched in March 2024 featuring a Global media partnership and TV ads showcasing the new look and positioning.

WCMA: The Behaviours Agency

Marketing Challenge

Raise awareness of free adult numeracy courses in the West Midlands and remove the stigmas around attending.

Behavioural Insight

A lack of numeracy skills can lead people to have negative emotions: anxiety, stress, confusion and low confidence. However, the thought of going back to ‘school’ brings up painful memories, outweighing any motivation to act.

Transformation

Our strategy was to shift the focus from ‘learning maths’ to ‘getting comfortable with numbers’.

Therefore, the campaign was designed to help people feel comfortable brushing up on their numeracy skills. The art direction, typography and copywriting all worked together to change the perception of what an adult learning environment is like. The campaign’s key visuals centred around brightly coloured numeracy sofas on which relatable learners sit comfortably.

This approach to creating awareness of adult numeracy learning is memorable because of its accessibility and positivity.

We activated a multi-channel approach to deliver the Multiply message across the funnel. First, driving mass awareness of Multiply through high-reaching and audio channels. Secondly, retargeting our core audience in one-to-one messaging environments across paid social. We ran a range of creatives throughout to ensure that we avoided creative fatigue.

Outcomes

Driving mass awareness

• +1.4 million Digital audio impressions
• +3.2 million Radio impacts
• +1.5 million Youtube ad views

When retargeting

• +5.7m impressions 107.8% more than planned
• 47k Clicks 73.7% more than planned.

*Results from burst one of the campaign: March/April 2024.

This is the first in a series showcasing IPA members around the UK, so watch out for more lessons in communication and commercial brilliance.

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.