Carswell Gould Helped Deliver Giant Christmas Card to London

Carswell Gould caused a stir as it helped to deliver a giant Christmas card to a Government Minister in London today (December 10).

The integrated agency was tasked by Southampton City Council to create a stir about its joint bid with Portsmouth to become UK Capital of Culture 2013. Carswell Gould decided to create a giant Christmas card - longer than the height of two double decker buses - and deliver it to the Department of Culture, Media and sport in central London to promote the bid. It would then be submitted to Guinness World Records as the largest Christmas card to be delivered to an address.

Carswell Gould designed the 10 by 3.5m card and undertook the mammoth task of organising such a tricky photocall in the centre of a busy London street. Four members of Carswell Gould staff personally oversaw delivery of the card, on the back of an articulated lorry, to the Government department and even managed to coax Margaret Hodge, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, outside to tear the envelope open and accept the festive greeting.

Steve Smith, PR Account Executive, said: "This was an incredibly huge task - we had two days to design and organise construction of the card and to arrange the photocall, which was no mean feat seeing as we were delivering something so huge to a central London street on a weekday! It all went incredibly well, Margaret Hodge had a great sense of humour about it and it definitely achieved the aim of getting Southampton and Portsmouth's bid noticed. We've told all our clients that tough times like these call for bold strategies and I think we've proved ourselves right."

Southampton and Portsmouth City Councils have teamed up for the bid to be named UK City of Culture 2013 and are using the theme "PS I Love You" to promote their cause - the "P" standing for Portsmouth and the "S" for Southampton. The giant card, which took just two days to build, was emblazoned with the campaign logo and aimed to show the Government how serious the two cities were about their bid.

Cllr John Hannides, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Heritage at Southampton City Council, said: "We wanted to announce this bid with a bang, so we went to the heart of London and the Government department that launched the contest to do it. A couple of weeks before Christmas, this was a fun way to show off what we're doing."

Cllr Lee Hunt, Member for Leisure and Culture at Portsmouth City Council, said: "This bid could potentially bring huge economic, cultural and social benefits to both cities. After Liverpool's success in being European Capital of Culture in 2008, we couldn't miss the chance to be the UK's first City of Culture in 2013."

The Government launched the UK City of Culture competition earlier this year in the wake of Liverpool's success in 2008.

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Photo: Mike Harris, Head of Leisure and Culture at Southampton City Council, Margaret Hodge, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Drusilla Moody, Tourism and Visitor Services Manager for Portsmouth City Council.