Insight
In 2014 the Forth Road Bridge, an icon of Scottish engineering, celebrated its 50th birthday. The Forth Bridges Festival was a one-off event created to raise the profile of the bridge and celebrate three centuries of bridge building on the Forth. Our objective was to build excitement for the Festival and ensure blanket coverage and wide attendance for the final event.
Idea
With multiple stakeholders and the need to build excitement, we started early with a well planned campaign using online, social and traditional media relations. We created milestones to maintain momentum and to bring out the character of the Bridge and its staff. Key moments included: a ballot to win tower top trips; the appointment of an artist in residence; a flotilla event; love locks; and a finale with fireworks and a torchlight procession.
Impact
Over the campaign we reached 4.5m people across Scotland; we generated blanket coverage for the finale and front page pictures of the fireworks reached well beyond Scotland. The event was a sell- out and the work through the campaign built on affection and respect for the Bridge and its maintenance team.
