Time Capsule Community Engagement Campaign

The Barons Quay 5th Birthday Time Capsule campaign was a feel good community project that generated a raft of positive publicity, increased social media engagement and built meaningful relationships with local people – during a very challenging time!

Design. Social Media Marketing. Mall Enlivening.

Barons Quay shopping centre in Northwich wanted to mark it’s 5th birthday with a campaign that would last throughout their anniversary year. 

At the start of 2021, we were in lockdown and unsure how the pandemic would affect our tenants in the coming months.

The challenge was to create a covid-friendly campaign to mark the occasion that would forge links with the local community and create a flow of positive news stories throughout the year while increasing social media engagement – when potentially there might not have a lot going on due to Covid lockdowns!

Cunning Plan devised the Time Capsule campaign, which invited Northwich to reflect on the town’s past, present and future! Each month there was a different initiative to help us gather content for the capsule, which would be buried to mark the 5th birthday and stay underground for 30 years!

Highlights included a photo competition, #PictureNorthwich where people were asked to share their images of Northwich on social media for a chance to be included in the Time Capsule photo album.  We received over 200 entries!

We engaged local families by working with three primary schools,  asking pupils to reflect on 2020/21 to help future generations understand what living during the pandemic was like. Diary entries, poems, comic strips and letters to the NHS provided rich historical content as well as interesting facts for a local news story.

Cunning Plan also created a video that included predictions from the school children, Barons Quay staff and local residents about what they think life will be like in 2051. Again this created valuable content for the time capsule, but also for social media, the website and news generation.

An exhibition showing the thought provoking content went on display in the centre for a month before being buried in the shopping centre grounds with the help of the local mayor, school children and teachers who were involved in the project.