Case Studies Live Events

New Store Launch / Live Event

Barclays Flagship Branch

CASE STUDY


 

Client: Barclays Bank

Campaign location: Manchester City Centre, Market Street

Brief:  To support the opening of the new Barclays flagship branch on Market Street, Manchester, through execution of an integrated promotions and customer awareness campaign, featuring an innovative event team of attention-grabbing theatrical performers and interactive customer attractions.

Campaign Description:

PROMOTION TEAM:

  • A team of 10 high-calibre promotion staff distributed leaflets, cupcakes, bottles of water and promotional gift bags hand to hand to pedestrians outside and around the Barclays branch on Market Street in Manchester.
  • Staff always had a crowd of people around them, as passing shoppers were very interested in the promotional items on offer, and viewing the live events that were happening outside of the new branch.
  • The teams distributed leaflets promoting a competition to win £10,000 for a free family financial consultation.

HELIUM BALLOONS:

  • 2,000 cyan, branded helium balloons were inflated and handed out to children and families passing the branch.
  • The balloons attracted a lot of attention, helping to make much of Market Street and the city centre become a river of cyan-blue balloons, as children of shoppers walked around the city centre holding them.
  • The promotion staff finally ran out of helium at around 3pm due to so many people wanting the balloons.

RICKSHAWS:

  • Six fully-branded rickshaws and rickshaw drivers were circling around the busiest streets of Manchester, offering free rides for shoppers to get to Market Street.
  • The teams were largely positioned outside of the two largest stations in Manchester (Piccadilly and Victoria), and also around the main entrance points of the Arndale Centre, ferrying people to Market Street.
  • The rickshaws worked well in terms of adding a highly visual reminder with brand messages in prominent locations and offering the customers free rides, which they were very appreciative of.
  • The rickshaws were also used to transport the CEO / executives around a number of locations through the day.

CUPCAKES:

  • 2,000 cupcakes were distributed to shoppers and Barclays staff in three flavours: vanilla, chocolate and lemon.
  • All cupcakes incorporated the Barclays logo on top, with an ingredients sheet visible underneath.
  • Cupcakes proved to be extremely popular, with crowds of people approaching the promotion teams as soon as they stepped onto the streets with them.

CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA:

  • A children’s play area was set up inside the Arndale Centre as part of the Barclays indoor event area.
  • The children’s area included children’s chairs, table, an easel for drawing and some toys to occupy children as parents spoke to Barclay’s indoor area staff.
  • This proved very popular with children, as the area was very busy throughout the day.
  • Two face painters positioned at the play area were also very popular, with parents often forming small queues to have their children’s faces painted.

STILT WALKERS:

  • Six stilt walkers paraded the streets of Manchester in footballer and footballers' wives costumes.
  • The three men wore football shirts branded with the Barclays logo, with matching football shorts and stilt legs with football socks. The three women wore blond wigs, tight clothing, designer handbags and false nails.
  • The stilt walkers handed out balloons, flyers and cakes to pedestrians walking by.
  • They drew a huge amount of attention to the store as members of the public could see them over the crowds of shoppers, and headed over to the Barclays branch to see what all the entertainment was for.

JUGGLER / UNICYCLIST:

  • This entertainer rode a unicycle while simultaneously juggling. This seemed to entertain a lot of people, with a crowd always surrounding the entertainer.
  • The entertainer always tried to get the audience involved, getting them to ride his unicycle and attempt juggling.
  • The entertainer’s juggling equipment was blue and white to fit in with Barclays’ branding.

FACE PAINTERS:

  • For the majority of the day, the two face painters were situated in the Arndale Centre around the children’s play area, to entertain the children as they shopped with parents. During the peak footfall time in the afternoon the two face painters were split up, with one of them working in a seating area inside the branch, next to the front window.
  • This freed up parents for a few minutes to chat to the Barclays’ staff about the new flagship branch, and about the current offers, or even opening a new account with the bank.
  • Face painters used blue, white and cyan paint to promote Barclays branding, whilst also wearing Barclays-branded t-shirts.

BALLOON MODELLER:

  • The balloon modeller was situated directly outside the Barclays branch, entertaining people going in and out of the branch by creating fun balloons for them to walk away with, and making the families laugh with funny jokes and comments.
  • The modeller used blue-, white- and cyan-coloured balloons to correspond with Barclays' branding, and wore a branded boater hat and branded cyan t-shirt.
  • Both children and adults were very entertained by this act, and there was always a crowd around the entertainer.

HUMAN STATUES:

  • Two human statues were situated either directly outside the branch or in the actual store window.
  • These entertainers drew a lot of attention towards the branch, with many people spending a significant amount of time outside the branch watching them in awe as they stretched their bodies to unusual proportions; the crowd also spent much time trying to make the statues laugh.
  • The statues painted themselves from head to toe in blue to fit in with Barclays' branding.

CHINESE LION:

  • The Chinese Lion consisted of two dancers inside the lion and six musicians following the lion whilst it danced.
  • The lion performed two 15 - 20-minute shows, which drew very large crowds around the branch.
  • The lion danced to traditional Chinese instruments of thundering drums and crashing symbols, which added drama to the event area.
  • The lion in the performance was blue to fit in with Barclays' branding.

CHINESE DANCERS:

  • The Chinese dancers followed the Chinese lion’s act.
  • The dance consisted of four Chinese dancers, performing to traditional Chinese music in traditional Chinese silk theatrical robes and headdresses.
  • The dancers performed two separate shows, which were both visually stunning and perfectly choreographed.
  • For each show, the dancers performed to different music in different outfits.
  • This drew a large crowd around the Barclays branch, with crowds of spectators applauding the acts.

DIXIE BAND:

  • The Dixie band consisted of eight musicians, all wearing traditional Dixie band attire.
  • The band's outfits were made up in blue and white to fit in with Barclays’ branding. The band wore blue-and-white-striped jackets with matching bow ties, white shirts, blue trousers and straw boater hats with Barclays logos on them.
  • The Dixie band drew a massive amount of attention to the branch opening through the day as their performances lasted in excess of an hour for each set.
  • Lots of people of all ages and cultural backgrounds stopped to enjoy the music, with regular comments such as ‘encore’ being thrown at the band after each song.