Manchester’s Business Improvement District, the Heart of Manchester BID, worked alongside Manchester City Council and the Federation of Chinese Associations of Manchester (FCAM) to host a city wide celebration for Chinese New Year.
With the support of sponsors and partners; Manchester City Football Club, Metrolink, Great Grass, NCP, Visit Manchester, Manchester Evening News, Manchester Chinatown Business Association, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) and the Confucius Institute, Manchester welcomed the year of the rooster in style.
Over four days tens of thousands of visitors enjoyed the acclaimed exhibition, The Lanterns of the Terracotta Warriors, special shopping events, family workshops, live music, street food, roaming performances and traditional lion dancers.
Manchester City Football Club brought a pop-up fan zone to New Cathedral Street and on Greengate Square people posed for a selfie with a 50ft giant golden dragon.
Across the weekend footfall soared by +19%, with Exchange Square up +27% and Market Street up +25% compared to last year. Many retailers across the city reported a double digit increase in sales.
Click here to view the event images and click here to watch our Chinese New Year video.
Press and Marketing Campaign
With the support of our city partners, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester, Visit Manchester and NCP over £180,000 of marketing coverage was generated through the local, regional and national marketing campaign.
Adverts featured on large scale outdoor digital screens, city centre 6 sheet poster sites, CityLive digital totems, NCP posters, high impact banners and posters in St Ann’s Square and Albert Square and on over 100 posters across the Metrolink network.
Through a partnership with Manchester Evening News Chinese New Year activity was covered in press advertising, online adverts and though social media channels and print adverts were placed in Cheshire Life, Lancashire Life, Metro and City Life.
A new website was launched featuring all events and activity, and the event was supported by a dedicated social media campaign on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The BID’s PR campaign resulted in £1.44million AVE (advertising value equivalent) of press coverage across 127 international, national, regional and local media titles.
We delivered broadcast features on BBC North West Tonight, CBBC’s Newsround, BBC Radio Manchester and Key 103, plus coverage across The Guardian, ITV News online, Daily Mirror, The Sun, Waitrose Weekend, International Business Times, China Daily, Manchester Evening News, Emerald Street, Creative Tourist, Visit Manchester, Greater Manchester Business Week…and many more. Click here to flick through the coverage.
