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The Lowry
2005 |
INTRODUCTION:
The Lowry arts complex in Salford was a government flagship
millennium projects, which opened to the public in April
2000. From its inception, we have worked closely with
the Lowry’s in-house marketing and PR team to
generate positive media coverage. In 2004/2005 we were
retained for a 12-month period to give strategic input
into all of The Lowry’s communications - performing
& visual arts, community & education and corporate
relations.
Further, we have been appointed
to undertake regular specialist project work in relation
to changing the perception of The Lowry.
OBJECTIVE:
As a majority of The Lowry’s programme is derived
from its role as a major receiving venue (producing
no independent commercial performing arts itself), and
the fact its permanent exhibitions are devoted to LS
Lowry, we were tasked with exploiting the area where
the venue could demonstrate individual creativity in
terms of its creative offering and where it could try
and reach new audiences - temporary exhibitions.
TEMPORARY EXHIBITION PR
CAMPAIGN 2004 - 2005:
The agency was appointed to handle all media relations
on a series of temporary exhibitions which were key
to the re-positioning of The Lowry. To do this we looked
to get The Lowry’s name into not only traditional
arts media and ‘what’s on’ sections
but further to reach new audiences through other, less
obvious, media environments by exploiting all the angles
we could unearth from the exhibitions' content.
THE EXHIBITIONS:
Thermo - A contemporary exhibition
of ‘undiscovered’ modern artists from across
the UK.
Lamorna Birch - A contemporary of LS
Lowry but who went on to enjoy great critical acclaim
and popularity in his lifetime for his highly romanticised
portrayal of English landscapes and seascapes.
Rock by Jane Bown - A collection of
legendary rock star portraits by the Observer’s
long serving celebrity photographer.
Nightfall by Rebecca Chesney - An especially
commissioned mixed media art project exploring urban
wildlife in and around Salford Quays by Lancashire artist
Rebecca Chesney.
TACTICS:
Thermo - PR campaign was targeted at
younger, more cutting edge national and local media.
Interesting artists were also cherry picked to be ‘hero’
stories, whilst local angles (i.e. where the artist
came from) were also exploited.
Lamorna Birch - The antithesis of Thermo
with an older market targeted. Regionally Birch’s
Lancashire roots were exploited with the Lancashire
press and we positioned him as Lancashire’s ‘forgotten’
master painter. Further we used Birch’s idyllic
seascapes as a hook to approach maritime press to tie
in with 2005 being ‘Year Of The Sea’
Rock - With Jane Bown being associated
so closely with The Observer, strategically we decided
to target national music and photography press, together
with local media.
Nightfall - the diverse nature of Nightfall, not being
strictly ‘wildlife’ or ‘environmental’,
nor being ‘photography’ or ‘sculpture’
etc. meant there were no clear cut angles to present
to national media. However, the artist’s engaging
personality did give us collateral to exploit, especially
with regard to local media.
RESULTS:
Individual campaign highlights:
Thermo:
Full page in contemporary national fashion magazine
Flux.
Preview, Guardian Guide.
Stand alone feature in City Life Christmas Shopping
Guide
Lamorna Birch:
Feature in The Lady magazine
Preview, The Independent Information
Feature, The Times
Full page, Lancashire Life magazine
Interview with curator, Manchester Evening News
Rock:
7 page feature, Black & White Photography magazine
2 page feature, Classic Rock magazine
2 page feature, Word magazine
Features in Photography Monthly, Amateur Photographer,
Record Collector
Nightfall:
Features in Amateur Photographer & Photography Monthly
Double page feature on photographer in Lancashire Evening
Post
15 minute artist interview on BBC Radio GMR and BBC
Radio Lancs
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