• The Bulwell Academy

Services: Public relations, Design for print, Strategic support, Key message development, Campaign planning.

Situation

The Bulwell Academy is a specialist business and enterprise school in Nottingham. bcsAgency began working with the academy sponsors, Edge in 2007 during the consultation period and in 2009, the academy opened across the two sites of the predecessor schools. During the past three years, bcsAgency has operated an ongoing PR campaign focused on generating local support and coverage for theacademy along with engaging with local businesses to create lasting partnerships.


Task

In August 2010 The Bulwell Academy moved into its multi-million pound state-ofthe-art building and bcsAgency was tasked with creating a media buzz around the opening. bcsAgency chose to focus the public relations activity around the first day of term and the official VIP opening event with the Duke of Kent in November 2010.

 

Action

bcsAgency liaised with the local print and broadcast media, inviting them along to the first day of the 2010/11 academic year leveraging the energy-efficiency of the building and the impressive visual impact it has in the area as news hooks. The team also worked with the local press to set up preview interviews with the principal of the academy. For the VIP opening event, a press embargo was enforced due to the security risks of a royal visit therefore much of the activity carried out was focused on securing attendance at the event and post-event interviews.

 

Results

Widespread coverage was achieved for the opening day with items in the Nottingham Post; Hucknall and Bulwell Dispatch; a live interview on BBC Radio Nottingham, along with news bulletin reports on Heart FM and Trent FM and spreads on BBC East Midlands Today and Central News – which also carried out a live lunchtime broadcast at the academy. The VIP opening also received similar coverage with local print and broadcast coverage on the day of the event. The results are particularly impressive as two other Nottingham academies were opening in the same week as The Bulwell Academy and two other royal visits were taking place in the East Midands on the day of the Duke of Kent’s visit.