Category: PR

Celebrating modern childhoods

I’m delighted to tell you about my latest project –  the NYMAZ Early Years Songbook: Songs for Modern Childhoods which is designed to celebrate the diverse lifestyles of children in contemporary Britain, and is accompanied by a CD featuring children from early years settings across North Yorkshire.

The new commissions mirror modern, everyday life: a long journey to see relatives becomes an adventure; festivals from Diwali to Chinese New Year are observed; a curiosity in exploring the great outdoors is fostered; cross-cultural friendships are celebrated; and the concept of a ‘family’ and its different forms is neatly explained.

I thoroughly enjoyed drafting the introductory copy for each of the twelve new, original songs and putting together a playful design brief. The end result has had a fantastic response from young children so far – and also provided rich content for social media and PR.

A series of CPD workshops for music practitioners will take place in November 2017 to demonstrate creative ways of engaging the under-fives with the songs. The songbook can also be purchased from Harrogate International Festivals’ web site. http://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/festival-events-2017/nymaz-songbook-workshop/

 

 

Campaigning for better broadband

For the past couple of years I have been working with youth music charity NYMAZ to brand and promote their pioneering project Connect: Resound. It was conceived to overcome the problem of providing a well-rounded music education offer to rural schools when they are often time-consuming and expensive to travel to. The answer lay in technology.

Connect: Resound explored with primary schools how technology could provide a high-quality, cost-effective way of offering virtual, real-time instrumental tuition and live-streamed professional performances to pupils in isolated areas. The results have been tremendous: from Cumbria to Cornwall, children and music teachers alike have quickly become advocates for this new type of music lesson. Yet, there’s still one big sticking point: reliable, superfast broadband access.

Although digital technology could revolutionise the way schools provide music tuition, poor broadband in rural areas is limiting young people’s access to equal life opportunities. Superfast connections need to become the norm in order for virtual music tuition to fill the gap in provision for remote schools.

I created an easy-to-read summary of the latest phase of Connect: Resound and leveraged the publication of the report to add NYMAZ’s voice to the growing campaign for better broadband.

See the report here: https://issuu.com/nymaz/docs/connect_resound_findings_from_the_n

Launch of #PlayFarAwayDay

Do you think that everyone should have access to music, no matter where they live? Youth music charity NYMAZ champions the power of music to change lives, with a particular focus on ensuring that children in rural areas don’t miss out. To spread this message, we recently launched #PlayFarAwayDay with Yorkshire Festival.

On 18 June 2016, twenty-five music groups played in remote locations across North Yorkshire to promote the benefits of participatory music in rural areas. We shared the video footage and photos across social media, receiving over 43000 impressions on Twitter in one week plus retweets from mighty musicians such as Ruby Turner and Kate Rusby.

It’s all Gone in the Air

Longstanding client, the youth music development charity NYMAZ, conducted research into the opportunities and challenges faced by young people living in rural areas and of the particular benefits that out-of-school music activities can offer to their life chances.

Made by Marketing was responsible for launching the report, titled ‘Gone in the Air’ – from proofing the report and managing design, through to PR and social media. Our highlights? Securing an opinion piece in Yorkshire Post, hearing the story on breakfast radio and creating a real buzz online.

NYMAZ has made six policy and practice recommendations to spark discussion and influence the way this type of music project is both funded and delivered. One thing is for sure: this debate is only just getting started.

To see the summary of findings, visit http://www.nymaz.org.uk/news-and-views/post/gone-in-the-air-summary-of-findings

 

NYMAZ

NYMAZ is a youth music development charity which champions the transformative potential of music for children and young people. Working with partners, such as Harrogate Festivals, it delivers high-quality music-making activities across North Yorkshire. In parallel, it runs professional networks to enable musicians and practitioners to develop their skills and learn one another.

Made by Marketing was appointed to manage the marketing for the charity, which was going through a period of change brought about by changes to its funding conditions. Having drafted a detailed communications strategy, hand-on activity has included: refreshing the brand to broaden its appeal; setting up a brand new web site and suite of stationery; updating its social media presences and other digital communications; creating new print promotional materials; drafting press releases and setting up journalist briefings.

www.nymaz.org.uk

South Bank London

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Building the profile of destinations to increase footfall, dwell time and spend is one of my passions. I spent seven years running the South Bank Marketing Group, a successful tourism consortium in London which brings together the area’s attractions, cultural venues, museums, hotels and transport providers to promote the South Bank as a destination. In 2010, I set up South Bank Venues, a group dedicated to attracting business from the meetings, events and conferences sector.

Activity included:
* Working closely with members to draft an annual action plan which balanced the requirements of all partners
* Growing and maintaining membership
* Securing match-funding
* Relationship building with neighbouring areas, government agencies and local authorities to enable closer collaboration and jointly funded projects
* Producing high impact marketing campaigns, including the eye-catching ‘Today I am…” creative, as well as Time Out guides to the area, maps, events guides etc
* Establishing the award-winning site www.southbanklondon.com as well as the area’s social marketing presence, including www.twitter.com/southbanklondon
* Developing a strong, recognisable brand for the destination
* Conceiving and launching the ‘InfoBike’ service, an innovative way of providing visitor information along the riverside
* Ensuring South Bank enjoyed a high profile with key media via regular press releases and events
* Raising the awareness of London concierge via a dedicated familiarisation day
* Commissioning visitor research from MORI

www.southbanklondon.com