When Rock Oyster Media brought Harissa PR on board for Gary Barlow's Food and Wine Tour: New Zealand, the brief was simple to say and harder to deliver: build excitement ahead of transmission, keep audiences engaged throughout the ITV series, and take the programme's reach well beyond the television screen.
Starting with what was already there
A production like this creates a wealth of material: polished footage, photography, presenter moments with Gary Barlow and Jason Manford, and plenty of behind-the-scenes glimpses. Working closely with the production and editorial teams, we identified the standout moments and turned them into social content that gave audiences more reasons to engage, from promotional videos to destination highlights.
Connecting the dots
A TV series involves a lot of people. We worked with contributors, tourism organisations, featured businesses and locations to source extra content, secure permissions and share approved marketing assets. Alongside ITV, distributors, funders and marketing partners, we managed approvals and promotional opportunities so everyone had what they needed to support the series.
The results
Social content achieved more than 3.1 million views and reached over 1.5 million accounts, and it's still growing. Audiences responded especially well to presenter-led content, behind-the-scenes moments and those spectacular New Zealand locations.
Why it matters
For broadcasters and production companies, social media isn't an add-on. Bringing social expertise into the production process makes more of the content you already have, strengthens relationships with contributors and partners, and creates promotional opportunities long after the original broadcast.