Nikolay Bojilov from Bulgaria winner of the Triumph Inspiration Award 2010 poses with Helena Christensen and a model wearing the winning design Morphology on the catwalk at the Triumph Inspiration Award 2010 at the Old Sorting Office in central London.
The Triumph Inspiration Award (London, 16 September 2010) showcased original lingerie designs from 27 international fashion students each of whom won their place in the global final with a piece inspired by the theme of “Shape Sensation”. One winner and two runner-ups were announced on the night, judged by a panel of fashion royalty including Helena Christensen, Rankin and Matthew Williamson.
Top fashion PR agency, Yellowdoor and their client, Triumph appointed TNR to provide broadcast, online and photography PR support with the aim of securing global coverage of the London event.
The first challenge was to agree the logistics of producing media materials to meet the requirements of journalists in multiple countries:
- Priorities were set for the TV and online B-Roll which, at 15 minutes, meant there was not enough space to include regionalized content for all 27 countries’ finalists. Instead, elements were selected which made the ‘Award’ event a news story in its own right (e.g. the celebrity guests, the top three designs, the winning moment etc).
- We also made the 27 VTs that featured the finalists (used in the live show), available to both TV and online media as downloadable video files.
- Our photography featured all 27 designs plus key ‘news’ moments from the evening (e.g. red carpet, judges posing with the winner etc) to cater for the 27 countries’ requirements and any others for whom a fashion story of this calibre would be of interest.
Being a live show, it was vital the video and photography teams worked through every detail of the Awards schedule and floor plan with the event company in advance to ensure every angle was covered by our TV cameras and that our photographers could get a clear shot of each design. The result was three camera teams and two photographers strategically positioned to record the catwalk event, the winning moment and to gather news collateral backstage and post-event. This all had to be achieved while taking into consideration the needs of attending media who were positioned in press pens on the red carpet and at the end of the runway.
Ultimately, the story’s newsworthiness was dependent on the materials being made available to media in a timely way i.e. for use in news bulletins that night and the following morning. Therefore, the next step was to lay out a shooting and editing itinerary that matched the Award programme and allowed us to push out materials within a couple of hours of the winner being announced. This meant having two editors on site who were fed footage and stills throughout the event by a runner.
Once edited, the photographs were sent to the Press Association to be turned around for the wire that night. The photographs were also uploaded to the Online Press Office during the night so that media outside the UK could also have direct access for immediate coverage. Local PRs in every country were provided with details of the Online Press Office to pass on to their local media contacts.
The distribution of video footage across the world is complex and makes use of multiple satellites and fibre connections to media towers similar to the BT Tower in London. Identifying these and arranging for the necessary feeds to take place within the various time zones we were targeting was imperative. Two feeds went out during the night allowing access for Australia and Asia for their lunchtime programmes, breakfast coverage in Europe and evening coverage in the US.
However, it was the preparation and execution of the international sell in to broadcasters and online media to inform them of the story and available video that was pivotal to the success of the overall campaign. Months of research, planning and clear communication between the teams at Yellowdoor, Triumph and TNR took place to establish areas of responsibility including;
- How current, strong relationships with the mainstream media and trade press would be split between the different teams for the most impact and effective use of time
- How we would need to stagger working hours to ensure all countries were contacted within their working day (this meant some very early mornings and late finishes for the TNR media relations team!)
- How to incorporate conversations with video desks at the traditional press (e.g. newspapers) into both the online and press sell-ins.
- Coordinating with local PR teams who were also liaising with press in their country.
The result was that the footage was picked up all over the world by major international media including both AP and Reuters (global news agencies), BBC (UK), Sky Television (Australia), RAI (Italy), Fuji TV (Japan), RTL (Germany) and CCTV (China) and many more.
The B-Roll footage for the event was also picked up by the Press Association Video wire and distributed to online media outlets in the UK including the Independent, The Evening Standard and Yahoo.
Click here to watch the A-Roll footage for the Triumph Inspiration Awards 2010
And for another viewpoint…
Fashion Bloggers viewpoint from the night: