Bradford Literature Festival 2022

The Brief 

Midas began working with Bradford Literature Festival in April 2022, eight weeks ahead of its opening weekend. We were tasked with creating far reaching press & social media coverage that showcased the range of events & celebrated the festival’s status as the North of England’s largest literary festival.

Bradford Literature Festival’s first fully in-person festival since 2019 saw visitors flock to the city from all over the country. The programme comprised of 500 events over ten days, with each event curated to appeal to a different audience. 2022 also saw the first Creative Economic Conference – a day dedicated to exploring “levelling up” & the role of creativity in the economic landscape of the region.

The Work

Our work began with identifying priority events for promotion & co-ordinating with the Bradford Literature Festival team to build buzz around the programme launch – achieved through a preview of early names across the media & the full programme reveal when tickets went on sale. To showcase the breadth of the programme & ensure engagement from the likes of history, family & faith media, we created tailored press materials highlighting events that would resonate with the respective audiences.

We worked closely with talent & their teams to secure national, regional & broadcast media coverage, enticing the top-tier media with high profile figures to secure coverage for the festival.

During our work with Bradford Literature Festival, the city was announced as the City of Culture 2025 – we utilised this fantastic news to secure widespread coverage across national media & embed the festival as an important part of the city’s cultural landscape. We secured opportunities for Bradford Literature Festival CEO, Syima Aslam, & Andy Haldane, the Creative Economic Conference keynote speaker, to discuss “levelling up” across trade & regional media.

As with any high-profile event, we worked closely with the festival team on developing crisis protocol alongside monitoring press & social media for any potential issues & preparing responses as required. While we did not need to implement the protocol during the festival, our quick response & availability was welcomed by the festival organisers.

We engaged influencers to attend &/or support the festival by sharing content on social media, which was a first for the festival team.

The Results 

Midas secured 391 pieces of coverage, with a potential reach of 1.17bn, including coverage in top tier national news outlets  Daily Telegraph, The I, Mail Online, Evening Standard & The Guardian.