18 MESSAGESPR | FRESH RESPONSES TO NEW CHALLENGES FRESH RESPONSES TO NEW CHALLENGES | MESSAGESPR 19 Christmas as it used to be a contemporary Christmas Sometimes it pays to move forward by looking backwards. People respond well to those elements of the Christmas tradition that are less overtly commercial. Christmas concerts, carol singing and even live nativity scenes and visits by the Three Wise Men, involve the public in a way that reinforces your centre’s status within its community. Firework displays, parades and big staged light switch-on events and launches attract and entertain audiences in a communal celebration that cannot be replicated on the Amazon or ebay websites. Messages PR can take on the work load of booking the acts and setting the stage while, at the same time, covering the serious tasks of matching the vital safety and insurance aspects of event management. We have attracted audiences of over 8,000 to our launches and created a choir of 500 schoolchildren for an award winning Carol Service. Urban Christmas With a diverse customer base and a desire to generate measurable results from a reduced budget, the Exchange, Ilford decided to reimagine the traditional concept of Christmas. ‘The Exchange Massive Urban Christmas’ turned convention on its head swapping Christmas wrapping for Christmas rapping and inviting Santa to exchange his Christmas decs for record decks. Free street dance and craft sessions were mixed with a spend based ‘Spin and Win’ game to entertain families and reward loyalty. 
 The six week campaign nearly halved the cost of the previous year’s activity, doubled the reach and delivered a 263% return on investment. a traditional Christmas