November is always a busy time for Birmingham’s creative, cultural and digital community and this year has been no different.

2011 hailed the launch of Birmingham’s Digital Week, a series of events which aim to educate and inform organisations about the use of digital and how it can be implemented in a number of areas to improve processes, turnover and audience engagement.

This year marked a new start for the city’s Digital Week with the launch of Hello Culture; a one day conference specifically targeted at the creative and cultural industries.

Featuring a mix of seminars, workshops and panel discussions the event explored how the cultural sector can exploit digital technology, innovation, knowledge and skills to improve audience development, organisational operating processes, raise the business profile and collaborate across sectors to develop new product practices and partners.

Big Cat worked in collaboration with Lara Ratnaraja and Birmingham City Council to develop both an engaging and informative event which provided organisations, no matter what their understanding of digital, a framework of how to improve their business through the use of digital technology.

Taking place at the Custard Factory, Digbeth, Big Cat were appointed as event managers for the conference and worked closely with the speakers to ensure all sessions ran as smoothly as possible. The team worked across four venues within the Custard Factory, preparing each room individually to meet the needs of the sessions.

In the run up to the event, Big Cat’s digital team managed the build and maintenance of the Hello Culture website which included the upload of session content, speaker biogs and blogs.

In order to raise awareness of the event, an e-marketing campaign was implemented, informing potential delegates of what was on offer, the latest speaker announcements and early bird offers.

On the day of the event, all four venues were filled to capacity. To enable global participation with the sessions, a microsite was set up with partner event broadcaster Event with Me who streamed live content onto the web. The sessions saw participants from as far away as the US take part through the live stream and interaction with the twitter feed.

Big Cat implemented an extensive social media strategy which combined tweeting with blogs, Vox Pops and Linkedin discussions. There were over 555 uses of the #helloculture hashtag on the day of the event, a significant increase on previous years.

October 2011 saw final preparations put into place for the grand launch of Bournville College’s new multi-million pound campus in Longbridge.

Encompassing services from across all departments, Big Cat Group were tasked with officially launching the new £66 million facility.

12 months in the planning, Big Cat were awarded the contract following a competitive pitch with a number of other agencies.

The launch event was to be held for 500 VIP guests from across the country ranging from local and national dignitaries, funding bodies and supporters of the new build. The aim was to showcase the stunning new facilities which provide educational facilities for 15,000 full and part time students.

The events team managed the complete set up of the evening which included a light show, flashmob, contemporary dance, ice sculpture and an exclusive keynote speech from TV personality Chris Tarrant. Capital FM presenters Dan & Katy were also brought in to compere the evening and DJ throughout. The evening concluded with a spectacular 5 minute firework display to music from Requiem for a Dream which could be seen from across the city.

The launch was fully branded with the words ‘AMAZING’ which had been designed by Big Cat’s design team who also created a 16-page memorial guide which was placed in gift bags for all 500 guests.

The PR team managed all regional press around the launch which included interviews on BBC WM and coverage in all local papers both before and after the launch.

To hail in the digital era within the new college, a Digital Time Capsule was also created, containing over 50 images, videos and sound bites starting as early as the 1800’s.

Big Cat Group was commissioned by Punch Records to create, develop and deliver a 1-day Caribbean festival at the heart of Birmingham City Centre. In conjunction with the London 2012 Olympic Open Weekend, Jamaica Live was formed to celebrate the city’s involvement in the Olympic Games and the importance of heritage in today’s society.

In the run up to the event, a national and regional press campaign was triggered across print, online and broadcast media. Interviews with Reggae Reggae genius Levi Roots, The Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and Gospel singer Monique were secured throughout these mediums.

One week prior to the event, a Press Day was held in Victoria Square, Birmingham which aimed to give passers-by a taste of what was to come at the festival. Olympic athletes Jonathan Edwards and David Moorcroft OBE were both in attendance, talking to the general public, organisers and press.  Local school children took part in a traditional drumming workshop and guests were invited to learn how to play Dominoes by senior members of the community. Local print and broadcast media were invited to attend the Pres Day and as a result coverage was achieved across BBC, and Global Radio networks.

Big Cat Group managed the build and set up of Jamaica Live which included securing nine street vendors and their stalls, a 20ft yurt, and large outdoor stage. In addition to this they also managed all of the acts on the day as well as their equipment and sets.  The entire event was built and taken down in 24 hours

On Saturday 23^rd July, Victoria Square in Birmingham was transformed into a Caribbean oasis featuring real Jamaican food, arts and crafts, storytelling, spoken word poetry and face painting. At the heart of the square a large stage was erected which played host to 6hrs of live music and entertainment which included a cooking demonstration from Levi Roots, gospel from Monique and a set from the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since winning the Olympic bid back in 2005, the UK has seen a dramatic increase in sports activity. To coincide with this 2011 saw Big Cat Group win a contract for the promotion of a brand new and exciting, alternative sports show entitled the Monster Energy Extreme Freestylers Tour.

Taking place at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the Monster Energy Extreme Freestylers tour will see some of the world’s top motocross stuntmen take to track and perform a series of death defying stunts in front of a crowd of 40,000 extreme sport fans.

Big Cat Group have been appointed to provide PR, marketing, design and social media support with the aim of raising brand awareness and filling Millennium Stadium to capacity.

As part of the PR activity, Big Cat organised a press day down in London’s Docklands, inviting press to take a riding masterclass with the world champions and witness some of the stunts that they will be performing on the tour. Turnout at the press day included News of the World, Independent and Kerrang Radio with many more publications such as Nuts and Daily Mirror featuring stories.

Big Cat Marketing managed a direct marketing campaign which included organising flyer drops and competitions throughout the Midlands, Wales and South of England as well as outdoor billboards and other off-site promotion. Advertisements on local radio stations such as Capital and Kerrang were also briefed, produced and broadcast.

Big Cat Design worked alongside the marketing department with the design and production of elaborate marketing materials which included posters, flyers and stickers. All the materials were distributed at key events across the country, focusing on specific demographics which were relevant to the Extreme Freestylers event.

The social media arm of the campaign worked alongside all divisions, profiling the event, its riders and competitions that had been arranged with partners. Its main aim was to push volumes of interactive content such as videos to audiences within the UK.

Big Cat Group aided in the success of one of the UK’s largest Queer culture festivals in 2010, through the provision of PR support to SHOUT festival.

Big Cat’s effective media strategy and PR support campaign achieved national and regional coverage in print, digital and broadcast, which included a series of broadcasts teaming up with local radio station BBC WM.

SHOUT covered a number of aesthetics in order to showcase Queer culture including film, theatre, visual arts, music, performance and literature with headlining artists and speakers such as comedian Paul Sinha, Gay Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and performance artist Qasim Riza Shaheen taking part throughout November 2010.

The month long festival successfully achieved an ROI of 1:7 through PR bringing in over 46,000 people to the events, receiving over 26,000 webpage hits between September- November 2010, achieving an EAV of £20,601.40, and overall reach of 3,389,816.

Assigned by Urban Living, Arts Council England and Multistory, Big Cat effectively campaigned and spread word around the Midlands about Beyond Bricks, a community arts project which took place across boroughs in Birmingham.

Beyond Bricks was intended to encourage local communities to work together, empowering them to coincide and become involved in local issues affecting them and their neighbourhoods. A collection of artists, artistic organisations and individuals from the community worked closely with local residents creating a buzz within areas taking part in the creative projects.

Big Cats remit was to raise awareness of the various workshops and projects in regional and national press. Coverage was achieved across platforms in publications such as Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Children and Young People Now and BBC WM. Almost 2,000 residents across eight neighbourhoods in Birmingham and Sandwell participated in a range of 90 workshops and events.

Big Cat achieved an ROI of 1:10, generated an EAV of £30,000, PR value of £90,000 and circulation of over 3 million.

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.

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.

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.