CASE STUDY
Assembly Festival Garden
The Situation
Renowned Edinburgh Fringe institution Assembly Festival helped Coventry celebrate its City of Culture year by hosting a pop-up theatre destination and beer garden in the heart of the city centre.
After collaborating during the official celebrations, Assembly Festival teamed up with Advent to help raise awareness and boost ticket sales for a variety of shows in the summer of 2022.
The team was required to engage with performers and producers to maximise media engagement, and had a PR ace up its sleeve for one headline show with a special Coventry connection.
What we did
As well as supporting live TV appearances on the One Show and BBC World News ahead of the announcement of the City of Culture 2025, Advent secured coverage across a range of local media including interviews with cast members from touring productions and reviews from the likes of What’s On Warwickshire.
To promote the arrival of the Soweto Gospel Choir, the leading troupe of its kind in the world, Advent helped arrange for Jerry Dammers, the man behind 2-Tone Records, The Specials and writer of The Special AKA hit ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, to join the band for a one-off performance of the song to mark Nelson Mandela Day.
The performance attracted allcomers from Coventry news media, with passers by stopping to catch a rare glimpse of the godfather of 2-Tone – one of Coventry’s most famous exports – and hear the impressive vocalists who would be performing at Assembly Festival Garden just a few minutes away.
The Result
The PR support across a range of shows provided a boost to ticket sales, while major media appearances helped raise awareness of the temporary venue, which became a must-visit attraction for people in the region.
