Charity PR client sees new campaign go live across Manchester City centre 

Greater Manchester Youth Network (GMYN) partner with JCDecaux to launch city-wide campaign in first for the charity

It has been an exciting day for myself and the High-Rise team. A campaign that has been 10 month’s in the making for Manchester charity GMYN went live today.

GMYN have partnered with JCDecaux to take part in their Community Channel initiative. The charity is urging Greater Manchester businesses to support the region’s young people through the campaign. This has been led by young people that are beneficiaries of the charity.

The #YoungPeopleCan campaign holds extra significance. This is the first time JCDecaux have worked with a regional charity on the initiative. Similarly for Manchester City Council it’s their first time supporting with their owned billboards to supplement JCDecaux’s support.

We’ve been using our charity PR expertise to support GMYN for nearly a year. This has involved a wide range of media and communications support, and this campaign highlights the importance of looking past traditional PR for opportunities to make a real impact

The young people of the charity have taken centre stage since the start of the campaign, leading all aspects of this opportunity. 

The campaign runs until 27th October on over 90 screens in the heart of Manchester. This includes digital billboards on Princess Parkway and Hyde Road, as well as city centre Community Information Panel (CIP) screens.

The whole planning process has been led by GMYN’s young people. They have helped to design the campaign creative and decided on the wording. This made sure it resonated with the support they have received and the difference the charity has made to their lives.

My view

Throughout the last few months, I’ve really enjoyed attending the sessions with the young people. We have discussed why they are proud to be part of the charity and what they wanted to see from the campaign. From this, we were able to plan our media and communications support, focusing on what the young people wanted to achieve from the campaign.

Working on the media and communications with the young people has broadened my ideas of how I view the campaign and what support I can provide to GMYN. The young people have been involved in all aspects of this. From the start with what the creative would look like, to the launch of this seeing everyone’s visions come to life.

The campaign is being shown across over 90 billboards in the city centre. This is a great opportunity that we’re proud to have worked on with GMYN.

Working with charity PR clients is extremely rewarding. This is especially true with GMYN who shape the lives of the young people they support. Seeing the reactions and capabilities of the young people throughout the campaign so far has made us all very proud.

We’ll continue to work with GMYN throughout the campaign to boost their presence further in the city. We’ll be making sure that the billboards are supported through other key messages and channels. This is to ensure maximum cut through for the best possible results. 

To find out more about the launch of the campaign and the work we’ve been doing, you can see more here.