We wanted to create and visualise a new culture, called “ManFran”: a memorable, headline-friendly expression not just of a new flight route but of an economic and cultural connection between two transatlantic cities, being brought closer together by Virgin Atlantic’s new flights. ManFran would allow us an exciting degree of topical territory to creatively explore. Would it create a new trade link between the UK and the US? What impact would closer connections have on local economies and culture? Might a blended fashion or cuisine emerge? The idea enabled us to join a far bigger debate, about Manchester’s (and Brexit Britain’s) future in a world where trade links and technology are crucial to the national conversation.

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 a local conversation that swelled over time – 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.

The story broke with multiple in-depth, positive news coverage in the Manchester Evening News and on the BBC, before hitting almost every local blog, magazine and radio station. By midday on launch day, #ManFran was trending organically on Twitter. Powerful business stakeholders took notice: Visit Britain and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership began using #ManFran and @virginatlantic on Twitter. UK trade minister Greg Hands asked to take a trade delegation to San Francisco on the inaugural flight, which Virgin Atlantic agreed to. This was retweeted by then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP. A major Manchester nightclub asked if Virgin cabin crew would attend their inaugural ManFran night, featuring the best new music from the cities.

Launch results:

• 1.6m impressions on social media with 10,405 engagements

• 1.1k uses of #manfran on Twitter

• Positive sentiment score of 9.8/10

• Editorial reach: 537m from 70 pieces of media coverage

Google Autocomplete offers “Virgin Atlantic” as the most popular organic search request when you start typing “Manchester San Francisco”.

Over the four weeks leading up to the first flights with the trade mission on board, the story became part of a bigger conversation with national business news discussing the significance of Virgin’s ManFran flights at a time when Britain was debating its future trade arrangements. The campaign drove a higher-than-modelled spike in bookings, with zero advertising support. We did more than launch a new flight route: ManFran has become a real cultural and business phenomenon, forever ownable by Virgin Atlantic.