Manchester-headquartered PR agency Roland Dransfield has launched a new podcast series, titled ‘We Built This City’.
The agency was founded 24 years ago, and has earned a reputation in the years since for its ‘human-first’ approach – choosing to interpret PR as ‘Purposeful Relationships’.
Now, it is utilising its extensive black book of relationships as the basis for We Built This City, as CEO and founder Lisa Morton interviews ‘Mancunians born, bred and adopted’ about the legacies they have built and their impact on the city.
Guests will include Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham; DJ Clint Boon; Greater Manchester Night Time Economy Adviser Sacha Lord; Gary Neville; Freddie Flintoff MBE; Cold Feet star John Thomson; Urban Splash chair Tom Bloxham MBE; Michael Carrick, Diane Modahl MBE; Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese, and more.
Commenting on the launch, Lisa Morton said: “You are going to hear conversations with some of the amazing Mancunians born, bred and adopted who put the heart in to Manchester since 1996 – when we went about rebuilding this city, after the IRA bomb.
“And now we are here – launching this podcast in one of the most unprecedented events in our history. The spread of coronavirus has stopped us all in our tracks.
“We did wonder if we should release these episodes, but when we thought about it we believed we should, because the love and the family and the community that come out of these conversations will hopefully provide some strength and conviction that we did build this city – and we will do it again. “
John Thomson added: “What we discussed on We Built This City – community, togetherness, friendships and relationships – is more relevant than ever, as Manchester is currently doing what it does best and coming together in the face of adversity.
“Little did we know when we recorded this podcast only a few weeks ago that we’d be in this situation but given that Manchester is represented by the worker bee, I have no doubt that we’ll all work together and emerge from our hives stronger than ever.”
Clint Boon continued: “A lot has changed since recording We Built This City but the spirit of what Lisa and I spoke about couldn’t be more pertinent.
“Being Mancunians, it’s in our blood to come together in times like this. What we have experienced in Manchester in the last few years has made us stronger than ever, so let’s keep on keeping on and keep helping to make the world a better place.”
Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, said: “Now more than ever, the struggles and triumphs of businesses in our great city region need highlighting. I’m proud to be appearing on We Built This City to talk about our famously vibrant night time economy in a period when we look forward to stability again.
“From Madchester to the modern day, Greater Manchester’s nightlife scene and its phenomenal hospitality industry have played a significant role in building this city and shaping what makes it so special. Telling and retelling these stories will help ensure Greater Manchester keeps moving forward and keeps on dancing.”
We Built This City is described as ‘a celebration of human grit, determination, loyalty, and diversity across culture, arts, politics, sport, music and business.’ It will launch on 26 March with episodes featuring Ged King (Skullfades Foundation), Diane Modahl MBE and John Thomson.
On the back of the podcast launch, Roland Dransfield has set up a dedicated podcast production and marketing offer, helping other businesses create, brand and publicise their own podcasts.
Lisa concluded: “The past few years have been absolutely brilliant at Roland Dransfield – we feel as though we’ve really found our ‘why’ as a business and have embedded our values into absolutely everything we do.
“Launching We Built This City is another exciting step forward for us as a team, and we’re looking forward to putting our new skillset to good use and teaching other businesses everything we learned along the way.”
We Built This City is launching with episodes featuring Ged King, Diane Modhal and John Thomson – you can find a link here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/we-built-this-city/id1499688807
