Member Article

Co-op Live appoints Manchester-based creative agencies

Co-op Live, the new 23,500 capacity entertainment venue in Manchester, has appointed two Manchester-based creative agencies to deliver its website and a short film that brings the venue to life. International digital agency Dept has delivered the first phase of Co-op Live’s new experiential website while creative agency Music has designed a film to showcase the venue’s unique interior spaces.

The involvement of the two agencies is the latest in Co-op Live’s ongoing commitment to commission local businesses to be involved in the project. In May, Co-op Live announced that the beginning of construction of the venue kicked off £150million in orders to local firms. The spend is already benefitting dozens of businesses in Greater Manchester and the wider North West supporting jobs at this crucial time.

Dept, whose previous work includes Formula-e, Royal Ascot and the Eurovision song contest, has developed Co-op Live’s new experiential website. Unlike traditional venue websites, the website will host exciting and interactive content with personalisation elements to enhance the experience for fans. As well as using the best CMS and integrating the functionality needed to manage dynamic content and drive performance that is scalable and efficient, the web journey will provide a seamless ticket-buying experience. The first phase was to position the brand and premium offer with media sections, career pages, browsing, event filters and ticketing to follow.

Fans will be able to navigate the 120 live event opportunities each year with the website dynamically switching to support the user journey and personalisation expected to enable the site to switch from ‘ticket buying’ mode to ‘event day’ content supporting upgrades, travel planning and food and drink choices.

As momentum on the project gathers, Co-op Live has also commissioned a short film to bring the venue and its extensive range of fan experiences and bespoke interior spaces to life. Manchester creative agency Music has developed the video and social edits, which features a poem titled ‘The Ultimate Gig’ by Mancunian poet and broadcaster ARGH KiD (aka David Scott) read by Radio 1Xtra’s Yasmin Evans, as well as the track ‘Charlemagne’ by Stockport band Blossoms. The video features never-seen-before fly-through renders of the arena and sparks anticipation for the opening of Co-op Live and the long-awaited return to live music experiences.

Co-op Live, which is set to open in 2023, is backed by investors City Football Group and international superstar Harry Styles, and will be one of the most socially responsible and sustainable venues in Europe when it opens.

Sara Tomkins, Marketing and CSR Director, said: “As progress on the construction of Co-op Live continues, we are pleased to be working with local talent to creatively bring the venue to life using design and technology to create pioneering solutions. The venue is more than a music arena and the website needed to exceed expectations of live event websites. What Dept have designed is beautiful, clever and will be crucial for us in the next three years and beyond, and we’re extremely excited to share the first phase of this evolution.

“Music’s sizzle reel is a really important expression for Co-op Live, that moves the dial with a visualisation of the most amazing spaces live entertainment offers today. This film sets the tone for what the venue will feel like, the words from ARGH KiD and Yasmin Evans beautiful narrate the story, and our sound summed up by the Blossoms energy to perfectly capture what we were looking for.”


Brian Robinson, UK Managing Director at Dept, said: “Dept is excited to create a unique website for Co-op Live and digitally introduce the UK’s largest indoor arena to the world. Through uniting creativity, technology and data, our plan is to echo the arena’s dedication to delivering world-leading experiences within its digital space.

“Co-op Live website is going to take entertainment venue websites to the next level; evolving from the traditional schedule of upcoming events into an exploratory platform, enticing content consumption in new and unexpected ways,” Robinson adds. 

David Simpson, Creative Director at Music, said: “It was pleasure to pull together some of our region’s best creative talents in David Scott, Yasmin Evans and The Blossoms to help promote the development of an amazing new Manchester venue like Co-op Live.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dept .