Big Cat, formally AMP Entertainment were chosen to provide the entertainment for the 17^th Open GDF Suez. One of the 20 best tennis tournaments for female players in the world, the Open GDF Suez took place at the Stade de Coubertin in February 2009 where Big Cat introduced many new innovations for this year’s tournament.

Big Cat coordinated the theatricality of the player’s introductions and created a musical and visual identity through the use of an innovative light show.

Big Cat was selected to redesign the overall indoor experience of the BNP Paribas Masters in order to offer a unique tennis experience and atmosphere to the public.

Big Cat coordinated the theatricality of the players’ entrances and produced shows and animations to generate world-class entertainment for the audience. In addition to providing sponsorship enhancements, Big Cat also created and set up interactive video screens and created a graphic and musical identity through light and sound design and video projections onto the court.

Big Cat was appointed to create and develop a unique concept: ‘Roland-Garros in to the city’. The objective of ‘Roland-Garros in to the city’ was to bring the famous Grand Slam tournament out from inside its hallowed stadium walls to the esplanade in front of Paris City Hall.

For five days in 2008 and nine days in 2009 and 2010 tennis fans, novices, tourists, Parisians and young and old alike discovered a veritable annex to the French Open. Big Cat provided various tennis activities including a clay-court replica of Roland-Garros Center court, a mini-tennis court for kids, a Smash-corner to measure the speed of your serve, practice walls, and even a Jokari court. In addition to equipping the event with a giant 55 m² screen to broadcast the matches, Big Cat also organised several tennis exhibitions with visits from tennis legends such as John McEnroe and Ilie Năstase. A French Tennis Federation stand and sponsor area complete with a Lacoste trampoline were also provided.

Christmas 2009 saw Big Cat Communications take a new step with existing client, the NEC Group. Having worked with the NEC on a number of events and exhibitions over the years, Big Cat were brought in to market and publicise, Funworld Europe’s largest indoor theme park.

In addition to a carefully planned marketing and PR plan, Big Cat Communications also developed a social media campaign to trigger hype and raise awareness around this exhilarating attraction.

Due to the target market, Big Cat felt Facebook, Twitter and YouTube would prove to be appropriate tools, allowing for easy interaction between ‘fans’ and ‘followers’ whilst distributing content continually throughout the campaign.

Facebook was used to issue picture and video content to ‘friends’, enabling them to see some of the incredible rides within the NEC. The videos were a great success, as the rides at Funworld were all incredibly visual.

As part of the launch event for Funworld, X-Factor stars John & Edward performed a number of songs down at the NEC. The Facebook page became swamped with ‘Jedward’ fans who wished to know details about their appearance.

Post-launch event a number of videos were uploaded with fan’s singing tributes to their idols. All of the videos were uploaded onto the Funworld YouTube account and then distributed amongst Facebook and Twitter pages in order to increase audience numbers.

Tasked with publicising the world renowned Bodies Revealed exhibition, Big Cat Communication initiated a highly successful social media campaign to work alongside the national PR campaign, with the aim to inform and intrigue visitors about this fascinating and truly unique event.

Utilising a number of social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Wordpress, the Communications team issued daily updates with fun facts, photos and videos which generated large interest around the attraction and reached a far greater audience.

The Facebook profile and fan pages allowed for easy interaction with members of the public who were interested in the attraction, answering quires regarding costs and visiting times. It also triggered a number of debates around the unusual facts that were uploaded about the human body.

A Wordpress blog was set up on the Bodies Revealed website, informing people of forthcoming events such as an ‘Art Night’ and a number of celebrity appearances including Jamelia, Birmingham City Football clubs youth team and Su Pollard. Numerous offers and competitions were also announced via the blog and distributed via Facebook and Twitter.

YouTube also played an important tool in the campaign, allowing visitors to view testimonials from the exhibition which were recorded on specially designed high tech pods.

Big Cat created a social media campaign for CSI: The Experience that proved to be a vital tool in educating and interacting with a far greater audience that could not be reached via traditional methods of media.

Utilising a three tier program across Facebook, Twitter and Wordpress; daily updates were posted with fun facts, photos, links and videos. Questions were also asked and answered as a way of gauging people’s opinions on the attraction and to increase awareness of its location within Birmingham’s Bullring.

A Wordpress blog was written by CSI: The Experience’s very own special agent, Inspector Ricky Parker who kept readers informed of the latest goings on down at the attraction as well any special events that were occurring.

Midway through the campaign, Big Cat Communications launched a series of interactive competitions through the various platforms. The idea behind one of these  was to get members of the general public to design their own crime scene by whatever means they want; photography, drawings, collage etc and then to submit the entry via Facebook.

To demonstrate the educational aspect of the attraction, Big Cat teamed up with one of the UK’s leading forensic institutes, Staffordshire University. They provided an abundance of video footage, answering Facebook ‘fans’ questions around the subject of forensics. This footage was gradually released throughout the campaign via Facebook and Twitter.

With a number of highly successful exhibitions under its belt, Big Cat was chosen as the UK territory partners for CSI: The Experience, with the Communications team taking charge of publicising the global event during its visit to Birmingham.

Based on the global hit TV series, CSI: The Experience allowed visitors to become CSI agents for the day, using the latest in forensic technology to crack a series of cases and catch the crook.

The three month PR campaign operated through a number of mediums including national, regional and trade print, broadcast and social media.

The launch of the exhibition kick started with a press launch where members of the press were invited to test out the equipment for themselves, followed by a sold out VIP event.

Highlights of the campaign include a double page feature in the Daily Mirror, coverage in The Times, The Independent and a 20 minute slot on Radio 1 with DJ Greg James who came down to the attraction and attempted to crack the case. Snippets of his visit were played throughout the day on Radio 1 and their website featured a full image gallery of his trip to the attraction.

Following the success of Bodies Revealed, Big Cat undertook a similar 360 degree agency project in the form of CSI: The Experience, an interactive entertainment experience. Big Cat events ensured that the shipping of the containers from Poland before loading the show into Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre. Once unloaded, the show took seven days to build with a total of 10 crew.  Big Cat took charge of all the logistics, technical work and the aesthetics of the entrance. During the exhibition the General Manager looked after the day to day running, reporting to the Event Director before the show was broken down and loaded to its next destination.

As part of the 360 degree agency input into the Bodies Revealed exhibition the Events team looked after many different facets of the delivery of the show at the Custard Factory, Birmingham. The venue had a completely new floor, electric overhaul, new toilets, new entrance and both a ticket office and staff room was installed before the show arrived. When the show container trucks arrived Big Cat managed a 35 man strong team of build staff, all the equipment hire, technical, show and management riders. The exhibition was delivered on time and in budget. During the exhibition the General Manager looked after the day to day running, reporting to the Event Director before the show was broken down with a similar complex system to the build 3 months prior.

The ICC in Birmingham played host to the 2009 Chamberlain Awards which is championed by Councillor Alan Rudge from the Birmingham City Council. The evening was set to highlight and celebrate the work of committed staff that make Birmingham run smoothly. Big Cat managed the technical element of the show which involved designing the feel and look of the stage in accordance to the brochure, the content of the show and managed the guest host Rhonna Cameron on the evening. The biggest task facing Big Cat was the design and implementation of a complicated call sheet. On the night Big Cat managed the production of the awards and breakdown of the set and technical installation.

Birmingham City Council appointed Big Cat Communications to deliver a regional PR campaign for the Creative City Awards 2008. Over a three month period the PR team worked hard to maximize coverage for both the award ceremony and the wealth of creative talent involved in the awards.

An effective campaign strategy was created to achieve full attendance at the awards and profiling each of the nominees. The campaign took many forms including a successful media partnership with local business newspaper The Birmingham Post and ‘Search for a Star’, a competition run through a variety of regional media outlets search for the entertainment for the evening’s event.

The Birmingham City Council deemed the campaign a huge success with the campaign achieving three times more press coverage than previous years. The campaign delivered over 2,641,865 opportunities to see and hear as well an EAV of £79,419.74

Big Cat Communication was chosen as the specialist firm tasked with publicising the world renowned Bodies Revealed exhibition; featuring real, whole and partial body specimens that have been meticulously dissected and preserved, giving visitors the opportunity to view the complexity of their own organs and systems in an entertaining and educational way.

The three month PR campaign kicked off  with crisis and issues preparation due to the sensitive nature of the attraction. Media training as well as carefully drafted Q&A’s were given to all members of the Bodies Revealed staff to prevent any negative press coverage around the exhibition to counter act sensationalist and often widely inaccurate features.

The launch of the exhibition started with two over subscribed media days and a press conference with Dr Roy Glover, the Medical Director at Premier Exhibitions. Highlights of the campaign included coverage in the Financial Times pick of the week, numerous news bulletins on BBC Midlands Today, ITV Central News, Kerrang Radio, BRMB and Smooth FM. The entire campaign resulted in over 5 million opportunities to see and hear and an EAV of £125,607.48

Birmingham City Council awarded Big Cat Communication with the contract for PR support for its Working Neighbourhoods Fund. The Council tasked Big Cat’s PR team to raise awareness of the projects being delivered after having previously worked on campaigns such as the Creative City Awards and Chamberlain Awards.

The Working Neighbourhoods Fund has secured a total of £31million to help new and struggling businesses with the aim of stimulating vital enterprises and business activity in the Birmingham region. The objectives of the PR campaign are to promote the success of the business who have been allegeable for the fund, as well as the fund itself.

Having worked closely with The NEC group on previous PR campaigns, Big Cat Communications were drafted in to deliver a campaign that would excite and educate people about the first year of Funworld, an indoor family fun fair held at the NEC.

Big Cat Communications created a fun campaign to suit the client with a mix of experiential stunts, competitions, fun fair features and press releases. The opening night was organised by the Big cat Communications team who arranged for X-Factor duo, John and Edward to perform to a crowd of screaming fans who later went on to attempt the World Record for the ‘Worlds loudest scream’.

The PR campaign created 5,216,317 opportunities to see and hear, and an EAV of £39,807.88. This ran alongside an extensive social media campaign which had over 1,500 fans who were updated with daily fun fair facts.

Big Cat Communication handled media relations for the 2008 Gigbeth music festival, maximising coverage of the event in the press to drive tickets and footfall. Using the agency’s strong contacts with music journalists in both regional and trade press, Big Cat a secured significant amount of print coverage through both by-lined features and press releases. Big cat also achieved broadcast coverage on national and regional radio, including BBC 1 Extra and Kerrang.

Leveraging the kudos of the headline acts, Big Cat organised press interviews with the main artists (including The Guillemots, Sugarhill Gang and Kano), ticket givaways and ‘meet and greet’ competitions. The agency also prepared quirky press packs for attending journalists, and ran the press office on event nights.

The campaign achieved over 60 pieces of regional and national coverage, with 2,435,392 opportunities to see and an EAV of £11,773.00

In partnership with Advantage West Midlands and Birmingham City Council, Big Cat Communications won the contract to deliver a PR campaign for Hello Digital, the first digital film and media festival in Birmingham. The Hello Digital board identified Big Cat Group as the company they felt were the best suited to creating a fresh and modern national PR campaign.

Big Cat Communications implemented a wide reaching programme which achieved coverage both online and in traditional media formats. To create hype around the event, Big Cat organised public appearances from Titan the robot which generated massive attention for the event and received over 35,000 hits on YouTube. In addition to this, his antics were also covered by ITV Central News.

The impactful campaign resulted in 7,216,087 opportunities to see and and EAV of £162,948.21 established the ebent as an annual festival to take place each year.

The Innovation Advisory Service (IAS) is a new, free expert advice service from Business Link West Midlands designed to assist Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at all levels, abilities and stages of innovation readiness. The agency, working alongside Business Link West Midlands is working with the UK’s leading Innovation experts and advisors to help generate, develop and commercialise new ideas for more efficient processes and new products.

The 3 year project is designed to support businesses in becoming more innovative and to bridge the estimated £15billion productivity gap in the West Midlands.
The agency has been working with the BLWM to develop:

• A marketing and communications strategy for the IAS programme including the development of tactics (broadcast, print and web) and key messages for the primary target audience;
• A communications plan derived from the marketing strategy identifying key activities and milestones during the duration of the IAS programme;
• Proposals for the design of marketing collateral (print and web) taking into account BLWM brand guidelines;
• A campaign identity (logo, strap line/mantra) for the IAS programme;
• An event management strategy for the IAS programme taking due account of key elements including venue selection, liaison and hire, related hospitality and facilities, event programmes, delegate packs, delegate and speaker management;
• Management and control processes including monitoring the impact/effectiveness of the marketing campaign and any corrective measures in case of non-performance;

Results: The Ideation and Innovation Management events continue to be fully booked across the region. Current activity include promoting 2 day innovation diagnostic sessions and an innovation awareness is being rolled out. As a result of successes with IAS Big Cat has been selected to work on the Innovation Stimulation Service and another BLWM business support programme running until 2011.

Budget: £380,000
Recipients: Business Link, Advantage West Midlands, European Regional Development Fund
Dates: September 2009 – March 2013

Birmingham’s first digital festival celebrating the region’s leading screen and digital media practitioners and designed to help regional SME’s engage with digital media. The event also incorporated a conference which saw some of the industry’s leaders coming together from companies including Disney Pixar, Channel 4, Flickr and Myspace.

Big Cat was responsible for producing and implementing the marketing strategy and project managing the branding and production of all materials including 2 websites that incorporated an online booking system. Because of the nature of the event online and digital activity were key to targeting the diverse audiences which included regional SME’s, creative industries, families, students and businesses.

Over 4000 members of the public attended the 4 day festival and 1000 businesses from across the region attended the exciting range of workshops, seminars and exhibition.

Value: £180,000
Recipients: Advantage West Midlands, Birmingham City Council, Arts Council England, Business Link West Midlands, Screen West Midlands
Dates: March – November 2008

BODIES REVEALED is the incredible exhibition about the amazing and complex machine we call the human body. Using real human specimens, painstakingly prepared and respectfully displayed, BODIES REVEALED lets visitors of all ages explore deep within the human body

Having acquired success across the globe with an astonishing 15 million visitors, BODIES REVEALED made it’s UK debut at Birmingham’s Custard Factory under the management of Big Cat. Big Cat developed and delivered a broad marketing strategy and media plan, employing a wide range of media formats including broadcast (TV and Radio), outdoor (Large format, bespoke and Street level), print (national, regional and specialist) and online (regional and targeted).

With huge coverage across Birmingham and the Midlands region using some of the most prominent billboards, primetime spots between ITV’s most popular Christmas shows and visually engaging ads within the regions most read publications, word of mouth ensured that this unique exhibition had captured the minds across the Midlands.

The offline campaign was further amplified by digital and online activity where engaging digital content was regularly shared across a diverse range of social networking platforms. This was combined with ads on Facebook, Google and a variety of high traffic science and educational websites.

The UK’s most diverse city centre festival, Gigbeth, is now in its fourth successful year. Big Cat was employed to manage the marketing function in 2008, which included web management, marcoms, channel development, advertising (outdoor, print, online), web design and administration, digital marketing, and monitoring and evaluation. The marketing team worked in close partnership with the Festival Director and Big Cat’s other 3 teams: PR, Events & Creative. The 2008 event campaign fully integrated on and off line tactics and saw over 50% increase in OTS and a 35% increase in attendance.

Value: £40,000
Recipients: Birmingham City Council, Gigbeth Events
Dates: June – November 2008

San Carlo Group is one of the UK’s leading Italian restaurant chains. The group has 6 restaurants in cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Knightsbridge London. San Carlo is about to open a new restaurant in Liverpool. Group turnover is approximately £28 million.

Big Cat has been working with the company for 4 years providing media auditing, planning & buying, negotiation, scheduling, contractual negotiation. The team recommend media selection from a focused rationale, through to effective development of a full deployment strategy. The campaigns are designed to provide minimal wastage and are underpinned by up-to-date media research and intelligence.

National, local and online campaigns work independently and across multiple branches. Campaign analysis comprises  of target audience reach and frequency estimates. A new Outdoor campaign titled ‘The People Behind the Brand’ was developed by the Creative Director in the Spring and is currently being rolled out nationwide.

Value: £180,000 per annum
Recipients: Harnbury Holdings
Dates: March 2006 – present

Big Cat was selected to create the concept and project manage the inaugural Soundstation event, held at Eastside Park, Birmingham in May 2006. Attracting 4,000 people, Soundstation offered an extensive line-up of indie/rock bands, dance acts and DJs across two stages.

The Soundstation festival programmed two stages including live performances from Graham Coxon, Orson, Guillemots, Boy Kill Boy, Kenny “Dope” Gonzales and Mr Scruff. Big Cat was responsible for booking the acts and stage/artist management as well as Festival Logistics including site planning and licensing.

Big Cat also sourced sponsorship for the event which included Red Bull, Banks Bitter and Bacardi.

Big Cat has a strong relationship with MyTravel/Thomas Cook’s Escapades Brand and has project managed their end of season Reunion events for six years and worked alongside the NHS to promote the Safe Sex campaign throughout Europe over the Summer season within Escpades resorts. With 12 resort destinations across Europe and South America, Escapades offers package holidays for 60,000 young people every year and is the second biggest brand in the youth market.

Each year, Big Cat programs the entire event for the 2,000 attendees via its excellent relationships with various music managers both in the UK and Europe.
After a series of successful events across the UK, Big Cat adapted the Escapades concept into a three-day cruise for 1,500 people departing from Newcastle going to Amsterdam.

The team organised the entire event logistics, customer call centre, customer bookings, liasing with Port Authorities both in the UK and the Netherlands, licensing and health & safety, and conducted full risk audits.

Moseley Folk Festival is an annual event held in the Birmingham suburb of Moseley. Attracting 6,000 visitors, the folk festival showcases new talent and high profile artists in folk and acoustic music, from international best selling artist Jose Gonzales to Scott Matthews.

For three years consecutively, Big Cat events was appointed by the Moseley Folk Festival organisers to obtain an event license for Moseley Park, and provide health and safety services for the event, including all necessary risk audits.

Each year, Big Cat established and chaired a Safety Advisory Group working closely with Moseley Park and Pool’s committee and other stakeholders such as city council licensing, local emergency services and the event promoter. In addition, the team secured temporary event notices.

In additional Big Cat ran all wet sales and logistics on the site.

Big Cat was selected to manage a high profile national roadshow to support the ‘Agenda for Change’ conference being delivered by the CEO of Learning & Skills Council (LSC). The road show catered for over 500 further education principals from all over England.

A series of workshops across nine cities were organised by Big Cat, who were also responsible for sourcing suitable venues based on quality, cost and location. Establishing individual invitation processes, Big Cat handled all responses and enquiries, setting up dedicated a response and communication channel.

Big Cat was responsible for all event logistics, delegate management, workshops and networking activities. The contract, worth £60,000, marked the start of a prolific relationship with LSC to provide future conference, exhibition and event services.

Big Cat were appointed project managers for South Staffordshire Council’s programme of summer events. The interactive outdoor road shows consisted of six sports-based events, each with a wide variety of different activities designed to engage local young people.

Working closely with South Staffordshire Council and other partners to achieve key objectives, Big Cat events produced the ‘Hype’ brand, developing it though the agency’s creative design department creating an exciting youth brand. The IOSH and NEBOSH qualified team were responsible for all aspects of the event from planning, logistics management to risk audit.

The Hype was recently cited in a publication from the local government’s Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), as one of the best examples of the vital role that cultural service provision can play in delivering high profile community programmes.

Value – £150,000

Big Cat was appointed by the Greater London Authority, in partnership with the London Health Commission, to facilitate the staging of the Activ8 festival in Hyde Park. The high profile outdoor event was attended by 25,000 Young Londoners. Designed to create excitement around play, physical activity and healthy eating amongst young people, Big Cat produced interactive fun ideas and outdoor activities to deliver the events key messages.

As the project managers for Activ8, Big Cat had a wide reaching remit including responsibilities for obtaining all necessary permissions and licences for the event, risk audit, site planning, health and safety, exit strategies, security and engaging 92 different partners to deliver various activities throughout the day and generating £150,000 of goodwill.

Previous experience within the youth sector and the successful delivery of the event enabled Active8 to win the prestigious Eventia Public Event of the year 2006/07. Big Cat has since worked with the Greater London Authority on other large-scale children’s events such as Playday.

Big Cat Communication was appointed in January 2008 to boost the profile of privately owned estate, Hagley Hall, as a corporate and events venue. The subsequent PR programme incorporated trade and regional activity, adopting a mix of tactics to get Hagley Hall into the media – from press releases and features to interviews with estate owner, Lord Cobham. Big Cat Communication also organised for Hagley Hall to be used as the setting for a Selfridges fashion shoot for Select Living magazine which was used a the front cover image and achieved 2 double pages within the magazine.

PR was supported by Big Cat’s marketing function, which focused on maximising online interest and increasing traffic to Hagley Hall’s website through search engine optimisation and Google Adwords.

Big Cat Communication was appointed to generate a buzz around the U R A Star concert for schools held at Birmingham’s NIA in March 2009, delivering the key messages of the event sponsors as well as raising the profile of headline artist, Witness.

The two-month integrated campaign targeted regional print and broadcast press in addition to online media, in conjunction with the Big Cat marketing team. In addition to a thorough media relations campaign, which focused on both the U R A Star concert and the pre-event schools tour, Big Cat communication also ran a press office on the day to co-ordinate interviews for attending print and broadcast journalists.

Big Cat achieved excellent coverage across regional print and broadcast channels. Highlights included two slots on BBC 1’s Midlands Today (6.30pm and 10.30pm programmes), and interviews for Witness aired on BBC Radio WM, Heart FM, Kerrang! and BRMB

Big Cat communication was appointed to create recognition for Birmingham City Council’s staff that go the extra mile to make life better for the citizens of Birmingham. The Chamberlain Awards, named after politician and businessman Joseph Chamberlain, is now in its fifth year and organisers were looking to get the general public more interested and aware in the people that make the city run.

Big Cat Communication was primarily employed to deal with media relations and gain regional press coverage in community focused media. The Birmingham Mail was the most vocal advocate of the awards with much of their output being community based. Regional papers such as the Great Barr Observer ran individual features on nominees that heralded from the publication’s patch.

Birmingham YMCA appointed Big Cat Communication to handle community relations with residents in the Erdington area, ahead of the charity’s bid to build a new multimillion pound accommodation and leisure facility in the area. The PR team created a three-tier communications campaign targeted at the local community which incorporated a range of tactics from establishing awareness and creating support, to positioning YMCA as a voice of authority to get buy-in from decision-makers in the public sector. The strength of the PR campaign resulted in the YMCA receiving the additional funding that it needed to complete it £13.5 Million build from governing bodies.

Big Cat Communication currently handles fundraising support and awareness PR for Birmingham YMCA; helping them to reach a target of £1.5 million. Money raised will ensure that Birmingham YMCA is able to build leisure facilities and a community centre that will contribute to the local community, support employment and improve the environment for business and residents.