Events to mark 40th anniversary of Telford shopping centre

The centre opened in 1973 with just one large store, the Carrefour hypermarket, and a handful of high street names.

Shropshire public relations firm Seal Communications has now won the contract to promote the 40th anniversary events on the internet and offline.

It is intended to market the town as a shopping destination for people from across the region.

It comes as plans are submitted to spend £250 million creating new stores, bars and restaurants and a cinema, together with a reconfiguration of the centre to make it a better place to shop.

The area is also set to benefit from the neighbouring Southwater Development, also worth £250 million, which will create a hotel and shops.

Seal will work on a year's worth of events, from promotions connected with this weekend's V Festival to style and bridal events.

Mike Pritchard, marketing director at Shrewsbury-based Seal, said: "It has been an exciting start working closely with the team at Telford Shopping Centre. In a fast moving retail environment, our role is to drive footfall though creating a distinctive look and feel for the centre as a retail destination offering more than shopping."

Seal's first project was to work on a competition for children to design a 40th birthday celebration garden.

Tracy Hadley, marketing and events manager at Telford Shopping Centre, said: "We are delighted at the level of response to the competition due, in no small part I believe, to the injection of fresh creative thinking from our Seal team into the promotional design.''

As part of the anniversary contract Seal's first creative task was to devise the 40th birthday logo to be used in around the centre and on promotional materials to let customers know summer 2013 marks the start of a special year.

The red shopping bag logo featuring the number 40 reflects the ruby celebrations and will be used on the centre website and other materials.

As well as Telford Shopping Centre, Seal also works with clients ranging from Shrewsbury Flower Show to logistics courier firm Hermes.

The firm also worked with Sovereign Land, the asset management firm responsible for running Telford Shopping Centre, to develop materials for a consultation exhibition showing options for the future £250 million development of the site.