Case Study - Ed Sheeran ‘Made In Suffolk’ Legacy Auction
The GeeWizz Charitable Foundation is a charity focused on supporting children and young adults in Suffolk and Norfolk who sadly suffer from life-threatening conditions, a disability or cancer.
It is with great sadness that we learnt that the GeeWizz Charitable Foundation will be closing on 31st March, 2023.
We had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the incredible impact that the work of GeeWizz had on the lives of those in need when we worked with the GeeWizz team as part of the Ed Sheeran: ‘Made in Suffolk’ Legacy Auction.
THE GOAL:
John and Imogen Sheeran, Ed’s parents, wanted to create a lasting legacy from the Ed Sheeran: Made in Suffolk exhibition, that was held at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, from August 2019 to May2020, to support children and young adults across the county.
Having met Gina, founder of GeeWizz, the idea of a Legacy Auction was created. The world of music, film, sport, hospitality and art joined forces to raise funds for the Ed Sheeran: Made in Suffolk Legacy Auction.
GeeWizz approached Young & Cooper for social media guidance and support to raise the profile of the Legacy auction nationally and globally.
THE SOLUTION:
The auction went live 22nd October - 8th November, 2020. Young & Cooper managed an 18-day Social Media Campaign across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Social Media Campaign & Strategy (organic)
Campaign Content Strategy
Campaign Management
Competition Promotion & Management
In addition to the Legacy Auction Campaign, Young & Cooper provided social media training to the GeeWizz Team to support the momentum on social media that the Auction had initiated.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA RESULTS:
TWITTER:
2.5% Engagement Rate
129 Tweets
Impressions 5,500% up
Link clicks to website 1,200 (avg. 44 per day)
INSTAGRAM:
28% Engagement rate at highest in campaign
No of Stories 372 (avg. of 21 per day)
No of grid posts 67 (avg. of 4 per day)
Impressions up 26,000%
Net follower growth up 60%
FACEBOOK:
20% Engagement rate at highest in campaign
Video views up 5,200%
Page follows up 1,300%
THE AUCTION RESULTS:
Over 220 highly collectable items of memorabilia, artworks and experiences went under the virtual, online hammer, attracting bids from around the world.
The Auction featured personal items donated by Ed and his family, and was also supported by international musicians, artists and sports legends. Bidders were also able to choose from a wide range of fine dining, hospitality, entertainment, sporting and live music experiences including the chance to attend the 2022 GRAMMY Awards.
Ed Sheeran’s abstract painting Dab 2, the only artwork he has ever made available for public sale, was the star lot reaching £40,000 whilst his handwritten lyrics for Perfect, dedicated to his wife Cherry, fetched £23,500. Other top lots included a signed Damien Hirst print fetching £20,000, an original page of script from Love Actually at £17,000. Colin Davidson’s Ed Sheeran sketch which raised £12,400 and John Mayer’s PRS Silver Sky guitar went for £5,100. Even a small handful of Ed Sheeran’s childhood Lego added to the final total at an incredible £4,150.
THE IMPACT:
The Ed Sheeran: Made in Suffolk Legacy Auction raised an incredible and life-changing £406,000 in bids, plus an additional £100,000 donation. This brought the total raised to over £500,000, and funded the re-development of a playground for SENDs pupils at The Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy in Ipswich, as well as an outreach programme and palliative care for young people with life-limiting illness through Zest (part of the St Elizabeth Hospice family).
WHAT GEEWIZZ CHARITABLE FOUNDATION HAD TO SAY:
To say Young & Cooper, have gone above and beyond in delivering the entire social media campaign for our Ed Sheeran Made in Suffolk Legacy Auction, would be a huge understatement. Their professionalism, proactive brilliance in creating an outstanding campaign, one that captured the worlds interest, unquestionably helped us spread the word globally. Your guidance, support, strategic planning, amazing social media coverage and personal encouragement was instrumental in generating such competitive bidding. Yet alone, your expertise and help when needed, you have both been there 24/7. Which, ultimately led to us raising an extraordinary £506,000 thanks to them growing our followers by over 60%, leading to an increase in our social engagement overall. Lara and Danielle’s creativity was simply outstanding, always incorporating their ‘outside of the box’ thinking. Their generous farewell gift, was to help educate and guide us in how to deliver our campaigns going forward. Thank you seems an inadequate word, to two remarkable ladies, for a campaign that was like the result we achieved, beyond our wildest dreams.
Gina Long MBE
Founder Ed Sheeran Made in Suffolk Legacy Auction