C40 Talks: PR partnership for a global event by

Top results across national media

The event was covered by many of Spain’s major publications in print and digital, TV & radio stations, as well as numerous regional and trade platforms and blogs. Key media include: La Vanguardia, El Mundo, RAC1, RNE, El Pais, Radio Catalunya, El Periodico, 8TV, ARA Radio, El Diario, El Confidencial, El Economista. Total AVE – Advertising Value Equivalency (Kantar Media) was 675,171,9 euros and total OTS – Opportunities To See (Kantar Media) was 60,824,300. These measurements relate to all national media coverage before, during and after the event.

A prestigious event

C40 Cities represents over 700 million citizens and one quarter of the global economy. The mayors of the C40 cities are committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at local level. The idea behind the C40 Talks event was to bring some of these mayors and deputy mayors from several European cities together to talk about how cities are leading the way on delivering the Paris Climate Agreement. Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, Mayor of Milan and Head of International Exhibition 2015, Giuseppe Sala, and Mayor of Athens, Giorgos Kaminis, were key participants alongside many other representatives.

Pre-event coordination

Together with our PR partner Verónica Miquel we selected our top local and national media targets (press, radio and television) based on reach and relevance. We compiled a comprehensive list that everyone could work from so all parties were aware which journalists were attending the event. Having reviewed the press alert and releases, we sent them out to media to gauge interest and followed up via telephone and email to ensure journalists had registered to the event and to find out if they wanted to interview the mayors or key spokespeople from C40 Cities. To meet the team and familiarise ourselves with the layout of the SCWE18, we also attended a pre-event tour of the FIRA.

The right place at the right time

On the day of the event, we arrived at 8.30am to print off all the necessary documents and make contact with the relevant team members from C40. We welcomed and escorted journalists to the main auditorium for the opening remarks, making sure they each had translator headsets and a rack for filming equipment. Next we took them to the Urban Environment room for a press conference and throughout the day we were in charge of coordinating interviews between the media, C40 and the different mayors. At the end of an action packed day we delivered the media materials with additional quotes recorded throughout the day.

 

Order in chaos

We agreed with the Vanguardia that they could supply SCWE18 with copies of the paper that day which included an in depth double page spread on the C40 Talks event. However, first thing in the morning we arrived at the auditorium to find … no papers. The next hour was spent running around the expo trying to locate the missing papers, which had somehow ended up in a separate event about water scarcity happening simultaneously next door. We finally located them just in time. It was also an eye opener to be included in a Whatsapp group between C40 and numerous chaperones for the various mayors. While we handled the media, C40 were battling their own personal storm…

 

Our photographer Dizy Díaz was on site throughout the day to photograph the conferences, interviews with key media, plus our own activities. This visual material was sent to the media, but also proved useful for our own channels and for C40 to use for their communications post event.