Manchester unveils £600k Christmas campaign
Manchester has today unveiled a £600,000 marketing campaign as it looks to entice Christmas shoppers to the city. Watch the TV ad here.
The campaign is spearheaded by a TV ad directed by Oscar and Bafta nominated director Barry Purves, which breaks on ITV1 tomorrow to tie in with the city's Christmas lights being switched on.
It also includes posters, press and radio ads and a specially-designed city centre map.
Cityco, the the organisation responsible for managing the city centre, commissioned the work in partnership with Manchester City Council, Marketing Manchester and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive.
Developed by Manchester agencies, the campaign focuses on the city's retail and leisure offer and encourages viewers to "See what Manchester's made of".
The concept was created by Dinosaur, which designed the poster and press campaign and then worked with Amaze to transform it into a TV ad.
Purves' animated ad is designed to highlight the range of shops, leisure and entertainment venues in the city centre and position Manchester as the number one destination for anyone living upto an hour away.
It features more than 200 items borrowed and bought from Manchester stores - including a designer handbag, jelly beans, toy train, cocktails and a pair of shoes - which come to life and dance on screen.
The ad was produced by Loose Moose Productions and shot at the Hot Animation studios in Altrincham, Cheshire.
Kate Harrison, Cityco’s chief executive said: “This recession-busting campaign is exactly what’s needed to keep us ahead of the game in these challenging times. The marketing initiative allows us to tackle the competition head on, ensuring city centre businesses get the most out of the crucial Christmas period."
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Comments
Quite like this and unusual to see a city using TV - makes the DEMA christmas stuff for Edinburgh even more embarrassing
I think this will act as a reminder to past visitors that Manchester is there, as opposed to actually inspriing new visitors to come and shop. Not so keen on the TV ad, but like the print work.
Nicely crafted but surely people know Manchester can offer shops, restaurants and culture and can be accessed quite easily by public transport?
Some decent thought put into it from the animation / graphics side but wasn't keen on the studio floor cuttng in and out of the sceen with the train - and the v/o seems to link with the first few scenes and then the visuals become more random.....
Also wasn't very Christamssy - change the v/o and the end animation and you can run it at Easter.
Who is the traget audience for this...?
Overall, not bad - but the same concept could have been delivered in a more creative and inspring way - perhaps with a little more thought and a little less committee..?
It's just a pretty average piece of retail 'advertising' - what's the idea?
C'mon guys, where's the 'why'? You'd kind of assume that Manchester has shops and restaurants.
There's nothing specific to Christmas, and nothing specific to Manchester.
Lazy thinking.
Just not Christmassy enough for me.
600K!
Looks more like 600p was spent on the TV from the nick of it. Hugely uninspiring. If this it intended to persuade non-Mancs to shop there it needed more impact.
Seriously? It took going to a London Production Company to realise that we ALREADY have the best stop-motion animation in Manchester? If Tim Burton knows it and HIT Entertainment know it, why do Amaze need to be told given that they're already bloody here?
Oh, and I'm guessing 90% of the £600k went on media. Unless they really thought Mr Purves was the only person who could possibly direct this...
The lack of depth of the execution makes you realise just how good the 'Sledgehammer' video was way back then
It's quite sad that Christmas has turned into nothing more than an orgy of consumer goods: this ad certainly isn't creative but is indicative of the times we live in.
Maybe more use of Manchester's unique aspects would have been a good addition to the ads?
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