Project Description
The Brief
Following City Tower’s acquisition by Schroders, Roland Dransfield was appointed to promote the office and retail scheme as Manchester’s ‘vertical business district’, its status as the highest office space outside of London, as well as Schroders’ brand within the region’s property and business community.
Roland Dransfield was tasked with conducting a PR and media relations campaign to ensure the handover from Bruntwood and the repositioning of the scheme following new ownership was perceived as proceeding smoothly and with consistent quality. Schroders were keen not to be perceived as a flighty investor that was dipping its toe into the market and a key priority was highlighting its ongoing plans for investment in Manchester. Tom Newman, the investment manager overseeing City Tower, had to be seen to be delivering the project and strengthening Schroders’ positioning in the area via collaborating with local professional advisers.
Campaign Delivery
To help Schroders achieve its broad range of aims, Roland Dransfield created a multi-channel campaign, based around media relations, events and promoting City Tower via key online channels.
We promoted the company’s collaboration with local real estate advisers Colliers and architects Sheppard Robson, in regards to tenancy and the development’s atrium refurbishment, respectively – achieving prominent coverage on the announcement of the latter.
Engaging the local and regional media was a priority for Schroders and we sought to highlight its plans for Manchester by undertaking a comprehensive programme of events at City Tower.
Results
- Played host to a series of events within the property and business community
- Tenant events aimed at building a sense of community within the development
- Consistently exceeding targets on follower growth and quality on key channels like Twitter & Instagram
- Developed an intranet and internal newsletter to enhance tenant engagement
- Achieving engagement around the announcement of the refurbishment
- Key mentions from prominent influencers, such as Insider Editor Chris Maguire
- Great interactions from the general public via sharing the views of/from City Tower
“We appointed Roland Dransfield to look after our brand in Manchester and to help us position City Tower after we acquired it last year. They have been instrumental in ‘connecting’ us within the City and have created invaluable opportunities within the media, professional organisations and other key platforms. They have excellent contacts, are knowledgeable, hard-working and enthusiastic.”