Thinking Metal: News
07-Jul-11 : The Hoppings 2011
The Hoppings 2011
A couple of months ago, I found myself involved with The Hoppings, a local fun fair which takes place annually on Newcastle Town Moor. The event has been in decline for a number of years due, in part, to an outdated and inefficient management system that was long past its use-by date, coupled with operational practices that were, at best, questionable. A prolonged run of bad weather coupled with hugely popular sporting events such as the World Cup in 2010 had seen visitor numbers consistently fall year on year, to the point where a significant number of people had started to ask the question Why bother?
The Town Moor is owned jointly by the Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne and the City Council, which has helped to protect this fantastic open space from development thus far. In previous years, the Freemen and the City have hosted the Hoppings as partners, sharing any proceeds fifty-fifty. However, the cost of reinstating the ground after the event had risen to the point where the event was no longer financially viable in its current form and with takings from the car park matching the decline in visitors, a major organisational change was required if The Hoppings was to continue.
Faced with ending a tradition that dates back to Victorian Times, the Freemen of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne and the City Council decided to take over the running of the event. This wasn't a popular decision, especially with the previous administration, and a lot of negative press appeared in the local newspapers with certain groups promising a boycott of the fair unless the original management team was reinstated. However, once the new management team stated its objectives and promised an open and fully transparent operating procedure, most of the resistance melted away and the proposed boycott never materialised.
As a Freemen of the City, (Senior Steward, Coopers Company) I offered to help out. Given that I already look after the Freemen's web pages, it wasn't a massive leap of faith into the dark.
The Events Group was formed in April 2011 around a core membership of just four people with additional members from the City Council asked to contribute as they had valuable expertise in events management gained over previous years.
Our first goal was to see what we could do within the limited time available - just ten weeks. We knew more or less what we wanted to do but we suspected that these activities might be beyond our budget. A meeting with the City Council's Publicity Department was a revelation in that they came up with one constructive idea after another, and then another, and then another. Mounting an effective radio ad campaign wasn't quite as expensive as we thought and, better still, the cost of mounting a serious TV ad campaign was within our reach if we railed in some of our other expenses.
With these ideas buzzing in our heads, I took on the role of producing the TV and radio commercials as well as building the web site and developing the Facebook and Twitter pages.
We then decided to hire a professional Public Relations company because we felt that this was an area where we needed help. Local firm Clothier Lacy were appointed and, together, we developed a marketing strategy that we felt might breath new life into the old venture. The plan involved TV and Radio advertising, banner advertising, a partnership with the local newspaper, The Evening Chronicle and, of course, the ubiquitous social media campaigns.
When it came to producing the radio adverts, the initial pitch was for a rather bland and somewhat anonymous twenty second burst with a voice-over artist and a backing tune. I went to Dave Maughan of Face Music and told him what we had in mind though I was convinced that we could do better. After some discussions, both agreed that the initial pitch was a bit rubbish and went away to have a think. Dave called me back about an hour later and said "I've got this idea...". Yes, it would be the agreed rather bland and fairly anonymous twenty second slab of radio noise but then Dave wanted to add a couple of sentences that aimed to mimic those dreadfully speeded up Terms and Conditions apply messages that are bolted crudely on to the end of, say, investment commercials.
I loved the idea and so Dave knocked up a couple of test pieces, which I then presented to various friends so that we could gauge their reaction. In short, everyone loved it and, with this in mind, Dave and I set about creating nine different variations to be used throughout the length of the campaign because nothing sounds worse on the radio than listening to the same old advert day in, day out.
We decided to approach Dene Films in Newcastle for the TV advert. Dene enjoy a well deserved reputation for producing superb work and have accumulated an impressive array of awards for their efforts. I wanted them involved because I knew that this would give the whole project a huge injection of credibility. Many, many companies claim to be able to do top quality work though, from experience, few are really able to deliver the goods.
Work proceeded on the web pages slowly. The Hoppings Fun Fairs domain was already in use and although the original owner agreed to hand over the essential access information it was three or four weeks before the details actually arrived. This gave me about three days to get the new site installed and fully working. Then, for reasons I don't fully understand, the Events Group decided that we didn't really need a web site after all and that I should concentrate on other areas. Convinced that they were wrong, I persisted and, when the site did go live, the number of visitors began to escalate dramatically, validating that gut instinct.
Work on the Facebook page proceeded well and we started to add new members at quite an astonishing rate, sometimes as many as three hundred per day.
However, progress on the TV advert was slow. There were issues with the weather, issues with finding a suitable fun fair within driving distance, the availability of the film crew etc etc. In the end, with only a couple of days to spare, everything came together at the right time and we found ourselves up at Cramlington Fun Fair with a proper film crew and, for a change, excellent weather.
Two days later and we were invited to view a rough edit of the advert at Dene's offices. The results were spectacular. We only asked for one major change - we wanted to drop an artistically beautiful series of shots of a child playing hook the duck with some shots of rides in motion, the idea being that hook a duck feels old and stale, and fun fairs have moved on. We used a couple of clips I'd filmed Turner's fun fair at Whitley Bay over the Spring Bank Holiday and they seemed to fix the minor problem with the energy and pacing. That said, we'll use the Hook a duck shots in a future production because they're too good not to use.
The same day, I recorded an interview with the local community radio station, NE1 FM, describing the changes in the event's structure and organisation, and providing a little back ground information on the Freemen. Trying to record an interview as various riggers are busy assembling a fun fair around your head is not for the feint of heart.
The TV and radio adverts began airing in the week before the start of the event and, frankly, there's very little to compare with seeing your work up there on a TV screen in front of a potential audience of a million or so viewers.
As the event drew near, I was asked to film the Opening Ceremony at the Civic Centre in Newcastle, as well as represent the Freemen of the City too. Filming continued up at the Fair itself and involved lots of jumping in and out of taxis but the end result was worth it - a reasonable stab at a gonzo-style documentary of the afternoon's events even if the camera-work is, on occasions, well dodgy.
We'd arranged with Dene to film next year's advert on the last Friday of the fair. I went along on the previous Thursday to scout out the location and got some excellent moody shots just after a thunderstorm. Filming the following day was pretty smooth although Dene's assistant, Chris, waved the metaphorical white flag after volunteering to experience the 2Xtreme ride. He was as white as a sheet when he finally stepped off so we agreed he wouldn't have to go on anything else too strenuous.
Nevertheless, we wanted to get some footage from the point of view of a passenger riding the Air Mega ride though the director, Mark, was a bit worried about losing the light. Hence, I volunteered to try my luck whilst they set up the next shot on the Big Wheel. This was a massive mistake on my part. I hated the experience from start to stop. I didn't panic or scream or wet my pants but every one of my tiny brain cells was yelling 'This is a very, very bad idea'.
I rejoined the rest of the crew with a couple of seconds of useful footage though visibly shaken. I really, really don't want to do that again.
The Big Wheel was more fun and certainly more sedate. Director Mark and Camera Man, Si, were able to get a couple of fantastic rising shots and saved us the cost of hiring a helicopter.
The event drew to a close on the Saturday night though I admit that we got this bit slightly wrong. There should have been some kind of firework display to mark the closure, something we'll correct next year.
The final statistics made impressive reading. 28,000+ visitors to the web site in just three weeks. Up to two million people saw our TV advert and more than 19000 people joined our Facebook group.
Personally, I learned a huge amount in a very short space of time, and enjoyed myself enormously in the process. I got to work with some of the most talented and gifted people this part of the world has to offer and our efforts put a staggering amount of money into the local economy.
I also think we managed to save an important tradition and a vital feature in the City's calendar from a slow and inevitable death.
Here's to the next 100 years.