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ICON In The News – Final Piece Of Track Installed

Last week saw a significant milestone reached in the development of ICON, Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s new £16.25 million rollercoaster as the final piece of track was installed.

Under the watchful eye of the media, coordianted by Rule 5 and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the last piece of gleaming grey steel was hoisted into place, completing the 1.14 kilometre track.

The process was conducted by a 50-strong team over a five month period and sees Blackpool Pleasure Beach another step closer to launching what will be the world’s most interactive rollercoaster.

Amanda Thompson OBE, Managing Director at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, commented; “Since construction work began in December 2016 we have seen numerous pieces of material hoisted into position in anticipation of this moment.

“The track comprises of hundreds of tonnes of world-class steel transported from Germany and manufactured using state-of-the-art engineering processes for a smoother, faster and more exhilarating ride than ever experienced before.”

Nick Thompson, Deputy Managing Director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, adds; “Today is the culmination of an intense design and engineering process to bring a ride that is the first of its kind to the UK.

“The completion of ICON’s track has been no easy feat, as it loops through and around the Pleasure Beach’s other rides 15 times. To see the track in its entirety is hugely rewarding and brings us a significant step closer to sharing this unique rollercoaster experience with the public in spring 2018.”

Activity saw yet another strong burst of media coverage for ICON, leading the lunchtime and evening news on BBC North West Tonight along with national UK print titles The Sun and MirrorOnline. A wealth of regional, leisure and tourism titles underpinned coverage. ICON will launch in spring 2018.

The PR campaign delivered by Rule 5 and Blackpool Plesure Beach to promote the new rollercoaster, has been nominated for Media Relations Campaign of the Year in the 2018 PRmoment Awards. The same campaign won Best Use of Media Relations at the CIPR NorthWest Awards in 2017.

A Swell of Coverage for Sea Life Manchester

Sea Life Centre Manchester - Loo the terrapin - education on illegal release of unwanted pets

The agency has delivered a swell of national coverage for client Sea Life Manchester and its national terrapin appeal.

The conservation story, Don’t Flush, urged Brits to think twice before buying terrapins as pets, as Sea Life centres are swamped with requests to re-home un-wanted Christmas gifts. Owners are believed to take shocking and unthinkable measures to dispose of the creatures, with terrapins flushed down toilets.

Adding further weight to the campaign, which saw coverage on the world’s most visited news website the MailOnline, alongside the SunOnline, IndependentOnline, AOL, BTonline and a wealth of regional titles, was news that Sea Life Manchester had renamed one of its terrapins Loo. Visitors can see Loo at the Manchester attraction located at Barton Square, Trafford Park.

Speaking on the subject, Alan Kwan, Lead Curator at Sea Life Manchester, said: “People wrongly assume that terrapins are going to be easy to care for. What they don’t realise is that they grow from 3cm in length (hand-sized) to 30cm in length (large dinner plate) and live between 30-50 years.

“Global warming and the resulting rise in temperatures across British waterways is leading to abandoned terrapins breeding and growing in population. Native to Florida, this alien predatory reptile is having a damaging effect on British pondlife and waterfowl with fish, frog, frogspawn and ducklings falling prey.”

Rule 5 co-founder Jules Wilson said: “We were confident of our ability to drive strong coverage with this story, combining hard-hitting conservation messages with creative tactics to maximise reach. The team delivered a brilliant job in what is our first month of work with Sea Life Manchester.”

2018 Predicted By Pinterest

Pinterest, the platform described by CEO Ben Silbermann as a “catalogue of ideas” that inspires users to “go out and do that thing” has evolved into a trend prediction platform.

Launched in the US in 2010 the social media site has, in comparison to platforms Facebook and Instagram, struggled to develop as a commercial retail platform, despite garnering over 175 million daily users.

Media outlets and retailers are, however, now fully realising the benefits of Pinterest as a customer insight tool and not just a sales one. It’s a move that sees the power shift between consumers and retailers move increasingly in consumer favour, with users’ daily pins no longer just capturing trends but informing them.

Published every December Pinterest 100 captures the top 100 biggest trends based on the activity of its subscribers. Style, beauty and home decor are just some of the categories covered, with analysts looking for topics that showed critical mass, grew at least 50% in 2017 and trended up towards the end of the year. You can view 2018’s top trends to try here.

Such is the credibility of the predictions, leading influential media outlets are using the platform as a source for new season forecasting features, the very articles that influence our buying behaviour for the year. Coveteur, WhoWhatWear, the Daily Mail. Metro and Instyle are just a handful of those that have run over recent weeks.

In a world where data is gold, it’s no surprise Pinterest plan to further build on the predictions. This year the platform will launch Audience Insights, a subscriber based tool that will afford businesses the opportunity to take a deeper look at its audience and how it engages. The tool will be available to US business accounts early in the year and is expected to roll out to follow.

With traffic to Pinterest having increased significantly over the last six months, the platform’s potential to inform new product development and business marketing strategies is only set to grow.

The use of the platform by media outlets as a source for seasonal trend features isn’t new but it is gathering momentum. Where trends were once dictated by designers and magazine publishers, consumers are increasingly the ones to watch.

A New ICON For Blackpool Pleasure Beach

It’s not every day you get to work with an ICON but we were pleased to do just that when we unveiled the name of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s new £16.25 million rollercoaster – Icon – to the press.

Revealed in a dramatic sizzle – a movie-style promotional trailer, adrenaline enthusiasts were treated to a taste of what will be the world’s most exciting rollercoaster, featuring 15 interactions with other rides at the famous amusement park.

Unveiling more than just the name of the rollercoaster, the sizzle provided a first look at the design, with a state-of-the-art computer generated image revealing anthracite columns combined with a high-shine steel track. A CGI film took viewers on the ICON journey as it powers through, over and around other rides including The Big One.

An incredible show of coverage was enjoyed and saw:

Ten national features including: the world’s most visited news website, the MailOnline, the SunOnline, The Sun, Mirror.co.uk, i news, Metro, Metro.co.uk, the EveningStandard, the Daily Record and the Daily Star
The news carried on every single ITV North West news bulletin with a combined reach of over 3,960,000 people
Over 190 regional articles
Exposure in all core trade press

At the time of writing print coverage alone saw a reach of over 18.3m people. The sizzle, posted on Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Facebook page had been seen by over 408,000 people, driven 3,600 shares and 4,300 engagements.

Speaking on the name unveil, Blackpool Pleasure Beach Managing Director Amanda Thompson OBE, added: “ICON is going to be one of the most talked about, iconic rollercoasters of the future. The name speaks for itself as it will be one of the most iconic rides on the planet

“This is Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s biggest investment to date and will have a real impact on the town and region as a whole.”

ICON will launch in 2018.

Jules Wilson Recognised In Top 100 Inspiring Women List

The agency’s co-founder Jules Wilson has been recognised in a list of Greater Manchester’s most inspirational women.

The Top 100 Inspiring Women list was compiled by Greater Manchester Business Week and celebrates those that have made their mark on the county.

The list of female trailblazers includes entrepreneurs, sportswomen, lawyers, fashion icons, artists and politicians, with many of the names suggested by the region’s leaders.

Shelina Begum, business editor of Greater Manchester Business Week, said: “We wanted to highlight, celebrate and create a discussion around the achievements of women in the region.

“As business editor I feel inspired by the women on our list, many who I have written about, and I wanted other women to feel inspired too.

“Manchester and the surrounding regions has some great role models and it’s important that we highlight the work that these women are doing, many who are making an impact in the region.”

RULE 5