The client

King's Wings

The brief

Kingsland Primary School in Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent, is the first school in the world to use a decommissioned airliner as a classroom.

Through our work with Creative Partnerships, we provided support to the school to deliver a media relations campaign to raise awareness of this groundbreaking project. In doing so, we empowered the pupils to take an active role in learning about the world of PR.

The project also provided the opportunity to highlight Stoke-on-Trent as a creative and vibrant city.

The campaign

We devised a schedule that enabled Year 6 pupils to learn about PR, so they could manage their media relations campaign with support. They learned how to write press releases and underwent media training. They then briefed local media and contacted high-profile celebrities to officially launch the project.

There were two major photocall opportunities: one in March when the plane was delivered and one in July when the new learning space was officially opened.

The results

The press coverage went global. The March event was attended by local and national press and was covered by the BBC, ITV, The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Mail, The Times, The Guardian and in the United States by Fox News.

There was an equally good turnout in July. Again, the BBC, ITV, The Sun, and The Daily Mail covered the story, as did Sky News, The Daily Telegraph and even newspapers and television stations as far away as India and New Zealand.

The client says

“Octopus were fantastic. They fully understood the brief and, by working with the pupils, they were able to take the children on a real learning journey. The local, national and international press coverage was amazing and resulted in this being the single most successful Creative Partnerships project ever.”

Rachel Billington, Acting Director, Creative Partnerships.