BirminghamLive/Reach PLC Data Unit

BirminghamLive’s Child Poverty Emergency campaign centred around a wide-ranging report, created alongside Reach’s Data Unit, and ran to more than 12,000 words. The team quickly recognised that they needed to use a host of different technologies to communicate the important findings to audiences.

They used animated graphs, illustrations and photographs in a "scrollytelling" format, allowing the reader to become immersed in the information. The mobile-friendly format resonated well and average dwell time on the report was recorded as three times longer than typical BirminghamLive stories. 

A custom chatbot was developed using Reach's in-house AI, Mantis, which allows users to ask questions about the report without needing to scroll through it in its entirety. The interactive feature increased engagement time, with users typically asking an average of three questions.

A bespoke widget was also developed to generate letters to local MPs, connecting postcodes with MP contact details. By combining this with a letter template, at least 1,100 people immediately got in touch with their MP from both mobile and desktop platforms. 

Judges said the campaign was a “comprehensive piece of work and a strong digital initiative.

“The use of AI tools shows innovation, while the digital reporting is a great example of how to communicate complex issues in an engaging and thoughtful way.”