Ahead of next month’s Grand National event, Aintree racecourse was inundated with hundreds of equine racers – but these fine steeple jumpers were of the two-legged, rather than four-legged, variety.

BIG Partnership worked with client North West Cancer Research to launch the charity’s flagship fundraiser ‘Canter for Cancer’, which took place on Sunday 6 March.

Former Brookside actress, Suzanne Collins, and Liverpool FC legend, Alan Kennedy, joined runners at the starting line to take on the 5k route around the famous racecourse. BIG worked closely with its regional media contacts to maximise the profile of the inaugural event, resulting in a front page splash and dedicated online gallery in the Liverpool Echo.

The mane event (sorry!) may have taken just thirty minutes to complete (or slightly longer in the case of our Liverpool office, who also ran the course), but months of careful planning and media management went in to making the event a success.

Harnessing our collective creativity and supportive local stakeholders, BIG developed a series of proactive stories to generate buzz in the local community and encourage hundreds of pre-event registrations. North West Cancer Research has committed to funding more than £12.3million-worth of research in the next five years, helping to develop new ways to detect, treat and prevent it.

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