Case Study: Leeds In Barcelona

The bloggers' reception in Barcelona

Background

Leeds in Barcelona, was a festival of commerce and culture aimed to increase the profile of Leeds in Barcelona and wider Catalonia; but at it’s heart, aimed to forge long term business trade links between the two cities. The event was organised by Marketing Leeds.

More then 150 delegates traveled from Leeds to Barcelona for 3 days, including representatives from Leeds Legal, Financial Leeds, Leeds City Council and Creative Leeds. During the 3 days there would be a series of events and conferences aimed at building links between Leeds delegates and their Barcelona counterparts

We approached Marketing Leeds with the idea to expand the project to reach another target, in another way. Two members of our team had previously lived and studied in Barcelona at the European Institute of Design, so we were acutely aware of the influence within the city of it’s more ‘underground’ and ‘creative’ community. We knew that in order to raise awareness and interest within this community we needed a different approach, focusing on social media, interesting digital content and personal interaction.

The Plan 

Before traveling to Barcelona, we contacted all our target blogs and influencers to introduce and explain the project. This was done in very personal way, which included canvassing current opinion (if any) on Leeds. There were no press releases or traditional marketing tactics used here: purely personal conversations and research.

Following this period of ‘sounding out’ we then planned a ‘Bloggers’ Reception’ in Barcelona at the Hotel Barcelo in Raval. We knew this stunning but laid-back setting would be attractive to our target and firmly position our project in the right area.

The bloggers’ reception went very well. Every one of our target bloggers and influencers attended. The atmosphere was laid back but informative as we played a video about Leeds and people socialised to the background of carefully selected music from Leeds singers, bands and Djs. It was our very own Leeds atmosphere in the middle of Barcelona!

After the event we stayed in constant contact with the Barcelona bloggers and arranged for 10 of them to come and visit Leeds the next month to discover the city for themselves. 

The Barcelona bloggers’ would visit for 2 days and during this time had 3 main objectives: 

•  Introduce the Barcelona bloggers to the Leeds bloggers / fashion / music influencers
•  Create an interesting project for collaboration in order to have some quality digital content for social media
•  Give them some time to discover the city for themselves, in order to have differing opinions and experiences for the bloggers.

The first objective was achieved by having another bloggers’ reception in Leeds. During the event our Barcelona bloggers got to know the Leeds bloggers, fashion/music/cultural influencers and forge new relationships. 

Barcelona guests in Temple Works

For the collaboration part of the strategy, we wanted to showcase Leeds designers and talent in an interesting way. We invited Leeds fashion designers, and independent retailers to provide clothing for a photo-shoot held in a building called Temple Works, featuring Leeds models but directed and managed by the Barcelona bloggers.

Before and after the photo shoot the bloggers had time to explore Leeds, interview and ‘cool hunt’ at their own pace which resulted in some amazing content.

The Results

The results from the project were exceptional: Every major blogger/influencer we targeted became involved in the project in some way. We stimulated great interaction between the Leeds and Barcelona participants which have now turned into on-going relationships.

Both the Barcelona and Leeds based ‘Bloggers’ Receptions’ were full to capacity and received great coverage. Numerous new relationships were formed at these events, both international and local.

We covered both parts of the project, (The Leeds in Barcelona trip and the Barcelona Bloggers visit to Leeds) for The Guardian Leeds online, through a series of guest blog posts, which documented the events and gave our own personal feelings and feedback on the project.

The coverage we received from the Barcelona bloggers was excellent. Influential blogs such as LeLook were featuring Leeds next to cities such as Paris, Milan and London when talking about trends and fashion which is a great feather in the cap for our city and this project. All the blogs showcased great visual material and interviews with their Leeds counterparts. 

Obviously with a project like this, you never really know what people are going to find interesting and talk about. I feel Leeds sometimes chooses to promote and showcase things that are not actually that interesting to an international audience. Our guests from Barcelona chose to speak a lot about the vintage scene here, Kirkgate Market, The Nation of Shopkeepers: all things that are not usually prominent in our international 'sell'.

Here are just a few of the more the 30 separate pieces of coverage about the project:

LeLook's Leeds Mission

Stop Stealing My Look's Vintage Leeds

IT Hunter's Leeds, Live It, Love It

Coverage of the project!

What People Said

"I was expecting to come to Leeds and see a real grey, industrial city, but when I arrived I thought 'wow' this place is very cool. I have met so many nice and friendly people on this trip and definitely want to come back again." Fie, Stop Stealing My Look

“Leeds surprised me as a very beautiful city, with a lot more architecturally and culturally inspiring sites than I could ever have expected... The mix of re-generated areas around Temple-Works, historical locations like the Leeds market and the Arcade, together with some examples of modernist buildings were unexpected for me. I also met a unusually friendly, and very interesting, youth culture scene, full of great initiatives in fashion, music, and art. I would like to say thanks to all the great people I met in Leeds, and see you in the future!” Marcus, IED

"Regarding our overall impression, we feel that there is a cool side to Leeds which is mainly palpable through its numerous second hand shops. Most of the cool people from Leeds are definitely working and hanging around there, also the Nation of shopkeepers bar seems to be the meeting point of the most stylish from dusk till dawn. And on a more personal note, we loved the experience and we want to thank you again for wishing for us to be part of it" Carole, LeLook

Our thoughts

We loved this project and feel it provides a interesting model moving forward: no expensive advertising campaign, no 50,000 print run: just engaging with the right people and stimulating relationships. This is how communication works now. Push marketing and being all 'about the sell' is increasingly outdated and ineffective: especially with a younger audience. 

By creating just a small opportunity for creative collaboration allows people to take an active role in the project and have the feeling of ownership. There is no way that with traditional press releases these blogs and people would of been interested in what we had to say about Leeds, but by talking, collaborating and having fun, the results were fantastic.

With a lot of talk in the city at the moment about social media, collaborations and conversations, we hope this gives a really clear example of this type of communication working in the 'real world'. 

FiveFingers

 

I saw this picture of Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Goole the other day at GeekSugar, they were talking about his shoes. Yes, it's a pair of shoes, not toe socks.

They remind me of Vivienne Westwood's moulded toe shoes. Where as the Vivienne Westwood Mary Jane's 'toe-look' is purely for style, the Vibram FiveFingers MOC ($110) apparently helps to correct and align your spine.

On their website you can see it's also designed to create a barefoot feeling. I can't help wondering, by the time my spine is corrected and aligned, will my toes be broken by running kids and supermarket trolleys?

Marc Jacobs 2011 Spring @ New York Fashion Week Live Stream

 

 

So last night I was about to close my eyes, but decided to have one last 'Twitter check' before sleep. My attention was caught by the irresistible Marc Jacobs, New York Fashion Week 2011 Spring show, live stream count down.

I'm aware of quite a few high fashion brands doing this type of live stream of their show during various fashion weeks this year. The Marc Jacobs show created an interaction with people as they have been tweeting for days now, creating a 'New years countdown' type of feeling on their twitter page. In the last half an hour, they also posted pictures from the backstage and the crowds. 

 

Their live stream website works like a dream as well, the page was nothing fancy, very simple. The pictures were quality clear and impressively fluent, and the audio was cool and non-intrusive.

 

The live streaming of fashion shows are definitely a step forward for fashion industry. No more next day review, no more carefully edited videos posted on the brand's website (which would take an age to load). From now on, the VIPs who sit on the front row don't receive fashion trends faster than the rest of us mere mortals. For the first time we can have pure thoughts of the line rather then stories manipulated by the news and magazines. I do believe however that the fashion industry will begin creating something else for the VIPs and writers to give the feeling of exclusivity.

 

 
All images are screen shots from my Mac

Save the Arts

We have been showing our support for the new 'Save the Arts' campaign by helping the team at Visual Arts London to set up their social media platforms and get this great video by David Shrigley out to the masses. Below is the official press release from the press-conference in London this morning:  

Over a hundred leading artists including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Anthony Caro, Howard Hodgkin, Anish Kapoor, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin have joined the campaign to make the case against the proposed 25% cuts in government funding of the arts.

The campaign is launched today with the release of a new video animation by artist David Shrigley highlighting the effect of the funding cuts and a new work by Jeremy Deller with Scott King.  Each week the work of a different artist, created in response to the campaign, will be released. Mark Wallinger will present the next project.

Supporters of the artists’ campaign will be asked to sign a petition which will be sent to the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. It points out that it has taken 50 years to create a vibrant arts culture in Britain that is the envy of the world and appeals to the government not to slash arts funding and risk destroying this long-term achievement and the social and economic benefits it brings to all.

The artists acknowledge that reasonable cuts and efficiencies are necessary but they fear that the 25% cuts being proposed will destroy much of what has been achieved and will have a particularly damaging impact on national and regional museums and their collections.

The campaign is being organised by the London branch of a national consortium of over 2,000 arts organisations and artists dedicated to working together and finding new ways to support the arts in the UK. 

The costs of David Shrigley’s animation have been covered with a grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Robert Dufton, Paul Hamlyn Foundation Director, said: “We are pleased to support this campaign and hope that its message is taken on board. As independent funder of the arts we are aware of the effect that cuts will have on many of the organisations we support. We stand to lose a great deal as a society if arts organisations are forced to stop the very valuable work they do.”

Make sure you sign the petition here: www.savethearts.org.uk 

Vogue 'Fashion's Night Out' @ Harvey Nichols, Leeds

Last night Vogue and Harvey Nichols teamed up for the Leeds edition of 'Fashion's Night Out'. Shang Ting and Stacey from Hebe Media were at the event, here are their thoughts:

What was the event like?

Shang Ting: FNO in Leeds focused on creating a pleasant shopping experience. Live music, champagne, helpful staff (and of course the discount of brands) created a nice atmosphere. But as I know, it was quite a different scene in FNO London or FNO New York, perhaps this Leeds event was more comparable to the Victoria Quarter Shopping Affair.

Stacey: Fashion's Night out at Harvey Nichols was a nice event. I did not know what to expect as the different #fno events all over the world were doing different things. The store was packed and after a brief belly dancing show on the catwalk there was a fashion show which covered 3 floors. The models were all gorgeous, although the majority of the girls looked so much like Victoria Beckham, it was hard to tell them apart! The guys looked great too. Although the show was cool, there was a few minor hiccups: one shoe lost on the escalator, one slip off the stage and various nipple slips! Afterwards Shang Ting and I decided to have skin consultations with Clinique and we both came away with new products. Before we left, we grabbed one more glass of champagne and caught up with some of our friends.

Your personal highlight of the night? 

Shang Ting: I enjoyed the fashion show, they set catwalks through 3 floors to make sure everyone in the store could catch a glimpse. It was also cool to see the models and clothes so close up, which the made the event feel intimate. 

Stacey: My personal highlight of the night was definitely the male model who came out in referee boxers and stripy socks, the reason being, he completed his 'outfit' with a LUFC scarf! I almost started singing 'Marching On Together'...but i resisted and just took a few snap shots.

Any other observations?

Shang Ting: The FNO shopping bag they sold at the event, which was 10 pounds, said London on it, I thought I was in Leeds? 

Stacey: The live music on the cosmetics floor, it added a nice touch to the evening and the musician was very happy and friendly. Also the Soap and Glory counter... love their shower cream! PS - Where's my goodie bag? ;)