WeArePompey2029

Putting Portsmouth’s City of Culture bid on the map with social media.

Social Media

YouTube

Overview.

Portsmouth’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2029.

WeArePompey2029 is Portsmouth’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2029, a city-wide campaign backed by Portsmouth Creates and partners across the city. To win, the bid had to prove that the people of Portsmouth were behind it.

The campaign launched on social media in March 2026 with brand new accounts and almost no followers. It had a few short months to build an audience, share the city’s stories and get Portsmouth talking about the bid.

The Challenge.

Starting from zero with a deadline that could not move.

The bid needed to reach every part of Portsmouth at once: young people, community groups, businesses, artists and the city’s best-known faces. Each audience had to see itself in the bid, and every channel had to look and sound like one joined-up campaign.

Delivered Social built and ran WeArePompey2029’s social media across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok, and produced the Pompey People video series for YouTube.

Pompey People on YouTube: A video series of short interviews with local people, from business owners and community leaders to artists and volunteers, sharing what Portsmouth means to them. Every episode has its own bold, branded thumbnail.
Pompey Patrons and Pompey Youth: Campaign series introducing well-known supporters and the city’s young people, giving the bid recognisable faces and a voice for the next generation.
Bid Moments: Launch, countdown and “Thank you Pompey” content marking each milestone, with reels and graphics in the bid’s navy, pink, yellow and blue.

WeArePompey2029 Instagram posts created by Delivered Social

The Results.

From a standing start to over 7,000 followers in six months.

Since launching in March 2026, WeArePompey2029 has grown from 54 followers to more than 7,000 across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok. Facebook passed 3,500 followers, Instagram grew from just 2 followers to almost 2,200, LinkedIn reached nearly 850 and the new TikTok account gained over 430.

In its first week, a single Instagram reel was watched almost 25,000 times and reached more than 11,000 people, bringing in 257 new followers in one day. Together with the Pompey People series on YouTube, the campaign gave Portsmouth’s bid a loud, local and very visible voice.