The Sunderland Echo

The Sunderland Echo is one of the biggest selling daily newspapers in North East England and is part of the Johnston Press Group.

Objectives

The Sunderland Echo wished to adopt a more positive and pro-active stance in its community and Press Ahead proposed the 'Wear 1' initiative. Press Ahead conceived and project-managed this campaign, the objective of which was to celebrate all that is good about Sunderland and help make it even better. This entailed a three-year project plan, identifying appropriate public/private sector partners (including Sunderland City Council and One North East), raising £200k of funding and delivering the activity.

Approach

Specific activity included: formation of a steering board made up of senior business figures, research, planning, cost projection and budget management, production of a 24-page launch publication (followed by eighteen themed publications across the campaign duration), co-ordination of launch activity and an external publicity/PR campaign, creation of 'set piece' events linked to the aims of the initiative and production of stakeholder reports and media briefings. In addition, a charitable trust was formed and many donations made to organisations helping to improve the lives of people in Sunderland.

Results

Feedback following the campaign confirmed that the Echo was now perceived to have a much more positive editorial approach, is more centrally involved in key city-related initiatives and that the newsroom culture had changed for the better. The research demonstrated that readers that had been following Wear1 in the Echo were much more likely to speak up positively about Sunderland. Over £20,000 was distributed to good causes and the Barbara Priestman School will have its outdoor area transformed over following a Wear1 'challenge' appeal.

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