As a modern, forward-thinking, diverse ad agency, we were delighted when Pride Cymru asked us to oversee the media planning and buying, video production and PR elements of their 2017 festival.

From creating pre-event promotional material to social media buzz, securing positive press coverage to prime outdoor media sites; we were tasked with using the power of our integrated approach to drive attendance to and capture the unique, positive carnival atmosphere of Pride’s Big Weekend.

Having researched and discussed all facets of the campaign with the client, we devised a two-pronged strategy. The first stage ran from June to mid-August, comprising outdoor media (all planned, bought and designed by S3), press placement and social media management; all working in tandem as a way of driving event attendance.

For the campaign’s second stage from mid-August to September, we concentrated on securing and managing press placement during the course of the event for live and post-event coverage, gathering content during the course of the weekend and live-engagement with users, with the aim of promoting event success.

Working alongside S3’s PR team, we used our all-access credentials to get up close and personal with bands, speakers and the audience, ensuring a plethora of vibrant footage in the process.

In order to capture the true emotion, happiness and colour of the weekend, we decided to film a significant amount of slow motion video. Slowing everything down allowed us to emphasise the smallest of details which, when contrasted with our regular speed footage, resulted in a well-rounded, dynamic video that not only met the client’s expectations, but far exceeded them, too.

Our strategy spoke for itself, as S3 secured a record-breaking 123 pieces of PR coverage (+146% on target), a 27% increase in Google searches for Pride Cymru (vs. 2016) and an incredible 28,000 attendees on the Saturday (+55% vs. 2016).

The result was a client left well and truly beaming with pride.