Brief

Freshwater was commissioned to develop a brand identity and support the launch of a new joint venture project, as part of a competitive process run by the UK and Welsh Governments to assign Freeport status to at least one region in Wales.

Delivery

Following a detailed briefing with members of the Celtic Freeport Consortium, Freshwater proposed a brand development process and set out a series of campaign deliverables. A bold and distinctive brand identity was developed, reflecting the partnership approach and centred around the huge potential of the project to accelerate Wales’ green economy. A date was set for an official, online launch event and plans developed to target an audience of key partners and stakeholders, politicians, academics and journalists.

Freshwater worked with the Celtic Freeport Consortium on a detailed ‘vision statement’ that would inform campaign development and messaging. We created a bi-lingual microsite for the Celtic Freeport project using our in-house events platform, with a bespoke URL was registered in English and Welsh. The site was launched, with the new brand identity, two weeks before the event and used to manage online registrations, as well as providing background information on the bid.

The launch event format was an online Q&A, designed to provide the audience with an overview of the Celtic Freeport proposals, features and key benefits. Chaired by BBC Wales economics correspondent, Sarah Dickins, members of the consortium were then questioned on key aspects of the bid, with further questions taken from delegates. Freshwater filmed and produced a three-minute video using a combination of online interviews and existing port footage, which was used to open the launch event, with various tailored versions shared on social media over the following days.

The formal bid was submitted 24 hours after the launch event, when the campaign moved into its post-submission phase. Freshwater produced a range of ‘Back the Bid’ collateral, including social media graphics, banners and signage, leaflets and posters for use by Consortium members and key partners. Key additions to the website included a ‘supporters’ page, featuring logos of organisations who had publicly backed the bid and an online news archive.

Results

Freshwater developed a new brand, bi-lingual microsite and launch video, as well as planning and delivering a successful online launch event – all within a lead time of 17 working days.

Over the duration of the campaign, the project website received a total of 2,260 page views, with an average session duration of over two minutes. One of our objectives was to maintain visibility after the submission of the bid – and 43% of visitors to the site logged on post-submission.

Key stats from the online launch event included:

• 358 delegates registered for the online launch
• 311 total event views, with a peak of 222 and 200+ viewers throughout
• 41m 29s average view time (for a one-hour event)

Media coverage on the Celtic Freeport bid included BBC Wales news, Western Mail/Wales Online, South Wales Evening Post, Western Telegraph and ITVWales.com, with Freshwater also contributing two 900-word opinion pieces for The Times (Red Box) and the Western Mail.