Ilkley Carnival is a rite of passage in Approach Towers. Each year the junior account executive takes on the role of managing the PR and social media for the annual event; what better way to learn than throwing yourself into supporting Ilkley’s ever-growing bank holiday extravaganza?!

It was my turn this year and along with a truly passionate team, I was ready to take on the role and deliver excellent results.

Being part of such a huge community event, which is entirely volunteer-run, really makes you want to do your best for everyone involved. From the first press release we wanted to make an impression and get Ilkley Carnival into people’s minds.

 

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Social media

We had a lot of fun with social media this year, the ‘TV programmes’ theme allowed us to think of creative ideas that involved a range of topics. A number of TV related content including quizzes and polls were posted encouraging engagement from followers.

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We also ran competitions and, in the run-up to the carnival, we had a lot of fun visiting Ilkley landmarks taking ‘Countdown’ style images. We then asked followers to guess which TV show we were spelling out – working with sponsors Anytime Fitness, Betty’s Café and Tearooms and the Ticket Office bar we offered some great prizes for our followers.

 

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During 2018, the Ilkley Carnival Facebook page reached 1000 followers which was a huge achievement and a goal I wanted to tick off ahead of the big day. With the community spirit of Ilkley Carnival being paired with our social media work, it felt amazing to reach that milestone.

PR

Getting Ilkley Carnival into the press and other media is a big part of raising awareness of the event – this year we really tried to focus on promoting it in Ilkley but also the surrounding areas in order to bring new people to the event.

Getting Ilkley Carnival graphics up on both the Bradford and Leeds big screens was a big step in promoting the event to a larger audience. We also had amazing support from the local press who were always happy to receive news about carnival.

For the past seven years, Approach has worked on Ilkley Carnival as part of our CSR commitment. Having Ilkley Carnival as a client is such a fun and unique experience which I will never forget. It taught me so much about event planning, PR and fully managing a social media account.

More importantly, the amazing feeling I got from seeing what my work contributed towards on the day of Ilkley Carnival was heart-warming and an unforgettable experience. Seeing the comments on social media, children walking in the parade and families enjoying themselves on the day really made all the hard work, worth every single minute.

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We can’t wait for next year!