Client
Top Gear Live is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and event agency Brand Events UK.
Project
Top Gear Live is a live motoring performance that incorporates the drama of film and theatre with the thrills and spills of stunts and special effects that are known from the original BBC TV show. For the show, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond or James May team up with a local presenter in each tour destination. The 2008/09 World tour played to sell out audiences entertaining over 312,000 visitors. In 2010 the tour, that had already been to the UK, South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia, added Amsterdam (21-24 January, RAI Amsterdam) to its list of destinations.
Mission
Top Gear Live has asked the agency to take care of all media relations prior to, and during the event. Besides this, our assignment was to develop a PR strategy to create a constant buzz in the press leading up to the event, in order to keep the event top of mind and therefore drive ticket sales.
The strategy was to continuously provide the media with different media angles on the event (e.g. launch event, PR stunt with anonymous stunt driver “The Stig”, press releases on the cars, introduction of the third presenter).
Result
The event was considered a huge success by the organisation. From October 2009 to January 2010 over 450 print articles were published in Dutch press, together with more than 200 online publications and 12 Radio and TV items, worth over €4 million in ad value. In total 50,000 people visited the Top Gear Live show in the Netherlands and 8 out of 9 shows were sold out.
