To launch and create talkability around the sixth annual Innocent Big Knit campaign, we reunited The Saint Winifred’s School Choir almost 30 years after they rose to fame to record and release a 2009 version of their iconic song, ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’.The standalone PR campaign provided a fresh approach for the charity initiative, which raises money for Age Concern and Help the Aged, by celebrating the contribution of grandmas who are key to the success of the Big Knit as they are responsible for knitting the 500,000+ mini hats that are created that go on special edition Innocent products.

Remembered fondly for their number one hit song, the reformed school choir attracted widespread media attention over the course of the three month campaign. Coverage was secured at every stage of the tiered campaign from announcing the comeback, to reuniting the choir and the official release of the charity single which all contributed to raising vital funds to support healthy eating and drinking projects for older people. The campaign had a PR value of £3.05 million and contributed to 2009 being the biggest ever year for the Big Knit with a total charity donation of over £220,000.

The four-phase campaign had time to create a buzz and provided several opportunities for coverage from the recruitment of the choir (via social networking sites) through to the launch of the single and video. This included: 1. Hype - a news announcement marked the choir’s comeback.2. Unveil – the first opportunity for press to see and speak to the choir as they recorded the song and video.3. Launch – to launch the single and video, the choir gave their first live performance, undertook interviews, official photography was released and behind-the-scenes footage was distributed.4. Ongoing noise – supporting news continued the noise and media interest in the story.Glamorous grandma June Whitfield added additional media collateral with a cameo in the music video and supporting media interviews to raise awareness of the project. Pete Waterman also added record company kudos by backing the choir against Simon Cowell’s X-Factor winner.

2009 was the biggest ever year for The Big Knit with:- Over 600k behatted products sold;- Charity donation of over £220k;- 118% uplift in sales for the period;- Highest ever website visits (over 58,000 unique web page views);- Highest ever Metrica ranking for the charities based on volume of coverage;- 7% increase in daily Innocent buzz tracking.Following the initial announcement, coverage appeared across the nationals which instantly wet the appetite of the press, leading to widespread interest from print, online, regional and broadcast media who quickly got behind the story with highlights including Sunday Express, Sunday Telegraph, This Morning, GMTV and Newsnight.The campaign generated:- Over 300 pieces of media coverage; - PR value of over £3.05 million;- ROI of 26.8:1;- Coverage on four music channel playlists;- A week-long ‘Grandma’ segment on the Chris Moyles’ Radio One breakfast show.