Blackpool’s Grand Launch’s its new Christmas Campaign, ‘Deck the Stalls’…

On the 13 November Blackpool’s Grand Theatre will launch its brand-new Christmas Campaign Deck The Stalls.

In collaboration with The NU Agency and local company LINKS Signs and Graphics ,the Grand Theatre will launch this year’s campaign with brand new bus shelter signs.

The signs are rather special and react to light from traffic. The idea came from Hi-Viz jackets and The Grand working with its new design agency The NU Agency made a striking campaign that has been ingeniously manufactured by local firm LINKS Signs and Graphics.

The Christmas Campaign follows on from The Grand creative campaign for the past two years of the North Pole – Where The Magic Happens, which was loved by many.

The new creative is of course based on ‘Deck the Halls’ or ‘Deck the Hall’ (which is the original version of the lyrics) a traditional Christmas, yuletide, and New Years’ carol. The melody is Welsh dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, “Nos Galan”, while the English lyrics, written by Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. Nat King Cole sang Deck The Halls on his 1960 album The Magic of Christmas right through to boy band McFly. In 2006 it was also made into an multimillion dollar Christmas hit film starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito.

The new Deck The Stalls creative will be appearing across news websites, bus stops, magazines, shopping centres and more.

Grand Theatre Marketing Manager, Andrew Howard said; ‘Blackpool’s Grand has worked with Links Signs and Graphics for 10 years – their understanding of our business and being able to project manage the bespoke work we need is outstanding.

This collaboration in 2018 between our graphic design work with The NU Agency, our hugely expanding digital work with SOAP Media, including Ai and user experiences and LINKS Signs and Graphics on indoor and outdoor displays is why we have one of the best collaborative creative teams. We have many incredible projects arranged for 2018, we can wait to share them with everyone.’   

The Grand’s Deck The Stalls Christmas campaign links festively with the creative The NU Agency have been doing on the theatres brand new bi-annual magazine INTERVAL, mailed to over 7,000 Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre residents (over the next 2 weeks) we know it’s going to be a hit. Additional copies will be available at the theatres Box Office on Church Street, and at Houndshill Starbucks.

Issue One will focus solely on forth-coming shows right through to June 2018, moving forward it will feature, cast interviews, stories, competitions, behind the scenes articles, our work in the community and with the education sector, and our history – giving you an in-depth perspective of what’s your local theatre is doing for you.

INTERVAL Magazine will be available in print and digital form, future issues will be interactive with video and sound.

The Magazine will slot in between the three-main season programme guides, which The NU Agency are currently working on to create a new for The Grand moving forward.

Blackpool’s Grand Theatre will continue to follow its clean, easily digestible vision, which has been loved since July 2014. You’ll remember the blackpoolgrand.co.uk website had a redesign in January 2015. This will be ‘tweaked’ in 2018 by The Grand’s digital agency SOAP Media who were inspirational in the vision of the theatre’s customer experience online – making the customer journey easier and time efficient as well as offering suggestions.

Blackpool’s Grand Theatre is more than just a beautiful, Grade II* listed building.  It’s an active charity with social, educational and artistic aims.  Employing 47 permanent staff members and with the help of 85 dedicated volunteers, the theatre attracts thousands of visitors to the town to enjoy the work on its stages.  In addition, it runs a full programme of workshops for children and young people, in and out of school, focused on improving literacy, numeracy, social skills and confidence.

The marketing team at Blackpool’s Grand have new digital projects planned with SOAP Media throughout 2018 with clear objectives to give every local child access to its work.  To do this the theatre must raise further funds to help grow its participation programme of events that allow children to grow and develop. These programmes are not for the privileged few but for all.  An aim being that 20% of all its work be digital and available online to all.

Grand Theatre, CEO Ruth Eastwood said;

‘The Grand survives on the generosity of donations and the support of its locals. We try where we can with income and fundraising to achieve great value for the local community.

‘Last year, 10,000 school children benefitted from seeing a performance at the theatre.  A further 3,000 young people performed on the stage. In addition, 30 local schools are part of our literacy project in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company.  So, you can be assured every £1 we receive goes towards great projects.’

The Grand needs to continually fundraise to enable it to deliver its work – vital work! Without your support, many of our local children will never experience a true feeling of live performance, outstanding international dance or engaging quality drama.

To make a one-off donation to Blackpool’s Grand Theatre you can go to the website blackpoolgrand.co.uk/donations or if you’d like to set up a regular donation, look at the Charity Aid Foundation (CAF)’s Long-Term Giving. They offer tailored philanthropy services, knowledge and expertise, to help you fulfil your charitable ambitions. They work with over 2,000 high net worth individuals in a variety of ways, from providing valuable administration of their charitable giving through to expert advice on a long term giving strategy.