Virgin Atlantic was to be the first airline to launch direct flights between Manchester and San Francisco, and wanted to seize first-mover advantage.

Manchester is a vital cog in the Government’s Northern Powerhouse initiative, aimed at rebalancing the British economy. The ambitious new route was designed to drive the burgeoning tech economy of the city, set against a tough commercial climate for the aviation industry – and the trade uncertainty of Brexit.

We were briefed to make sure everyone in the North West of England heard about the new route, so the flights would be packed with entrepreneurs and business travellers as well as holidaymakers.

Our objectives were clear:

• Reach the 22 million people who live within two hours of Manchester airport

• Show an impact on bookings, with no advertising support.

• Help Virgin Atlantic to ‘own’ the idea of travel between Manchester and San Francisco.

We pitched our story, evidence and expert predictions to key media titles, the Manchester Evening News and BBC North West, weeks in advance.

We invited local influencers and businesses, from fashion designers to restaurants, into the process (unpaid). Their bespoke ‘ManFran’ mashups would be released on Twitter in a carefully synchronised sequence, creating the impression of a local conversation taking off – alerting the national media.

We prepared digital assets: a split-screen short film that showed the two cities in juxtaposition, highlighting the similarities and a treasure hunt image in which we hid 20 things that the two cities shared, for people to find and share.

We made sure that both cities’ tourist boards were ready to join in the fun online.

On launch day we hosted a live Twitter Q&A with a San Franciscan, so that Mancunians could find out more about the city they were now connected to.