Spring Carnival 2018

Marketing Evaluation Background

The St Patrick’s Day Spring Carnival 2018 took place 17th – 18th March with a weekend of diverse family friendly activities across .

The theme for this year’s festival Spring has Sprung was a celebration of the sights and sounds of Spring and incorporated Music, Food and Culture.

The Marketing Budget for the campaign was £15000 and targeted key segments and geographic areas using a mix of on and offline tools including

 Print Materials  Outdoor Advertising  Radio  Digital – Social Media  Press  Video & Photography Objectives o Attract 37,000 people to the city over the weekend o Promote key messages: Celebration of Food, Music & Culture/ Community, City as a short break destination ideal for families, Family fun activities o Maintain high occupancy levels from 2016 – target 90% o Achieve an high media value throughout campaign o Increase website traffic by 5% o Increase Facebook reach and engagement by 10% Key Events

St Patrick’s Day Spring Carnival Parade, Derry

St Patrick’s Day, Strabane

LegenDerry Food Festival

 Ubuntu Global Festival Timeline

January February March • Brief from Events Team • Content Collated • Social Media Promotion • Call out for content • Website Updated • Brochure distributed • Marketing / PR plan Developed • Event Launch • Ezine • Brand Developed • Social Media Campaign • Radio Ads • Web Activated • PR Campaign • Print Ads • Ezine • Outdoor Marketing Campaign • Digital Ads • Print and digital • Press Target Audience

N Ireland Rep of Other Ireland

Target 75% 20% 5% Breakdown

Target Areas Derry Donegal Tyrone Belfast Coleraine Omagh Fermanagh Marketing Activity Overview

February March 1st 5th 12th 19th 26th 5th 12th 19th Web Press Launch Press Features Post Event Development PR

Content Promotional A5 20pg Brochures & Video Posters

Social Media Campaign

Belfast Tele | Irish News Local Press Ads & Radio promotion (Q Network & Highland) Outdoor Campaign and Digital Screen Advertising

Ezine Digital Advertising Campaign AA Roadsigns | Ezine Marketing Spend

Item Cost Print Materials – A3 Posters, Props & A5 Brochure £2752 Distribution £490 Radio £693 Press Ads £2085 Outdoor – Vinyl Banners, AA Road Signs, Digital Screen £2065 Digital Campaign – Social Media, Digital Ads £2600 Media Evaluation £400 Photography / Video – Events in Derry & Strabane, Launch, £3195 Features Other £720 Total £15,000 Press Ads

Publication

Derry Journal | Sentinel ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

Derry News ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

Inish Times ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

Donegal Post ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

Letterkenny Post ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

County Derry Post ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

Fin Valley Post ¼ pg Ad & Editorial

Belfast Telegraph 1/2pg Ad & Editorial

Irish News 1/2pg Ad & Editorial Print Materials

Print

A3 Posters 150

20pg Programme 15,000 Radio

Station “ Come and experience a feast of great events at Q Network 40 x 20 secs the Spring Carnival Derry on 17th & 18th March. 20 x 20 secs Enjoy St Patrick’s Day Carnival Parade, The Ubuntu Global Festival and the Award Winning LegenDerry Food Festival with food demos, celebrity guests and more! For full programme of events visit www.derrystrabane.com/springcarnival ” Outdoor

Qty Date Location

10 x 3 Vinyl 8 March Ebrington, Fort George, Banners Foyle Street, Quay & the Diamond 48 Sheet 4 Mid Feb Railway Station, Billboards Road, William Street and Strabane 6 Sheets 4 Mid Feb Citywide (Bus Shelters) Digital Screens 4 Mid Feb Millenium Forum & Citywide Visit Derry 3 March Waterloo Place Windows AA Road Signs 13 March Citywide Digital

Platform

Website www.derrystrabane.com/springcarnival Content updates, Events Listings, Programme Download / Flipogram, Accomodation section, Traffic & Travel Facebook Whats on Derry Strabane (58k followers) Editorial Calendar Boosted Posts Ads Twitter WhatsonDS (23k followers) Posts

Instagram Whats on Derry Strabane (890 followers) Posts

Digital Advertsing Whatsonni.com 2 week digital ads & dedicated ezine

Snapchat Digital Snapshot

KPI Spring Carnival Legenderry Food Ubuntu Total

Pageviews 21313 9130 1842 32285

Unique Users 10385 4936 667 12988 Time on Site 94 seconds (Ave) 4 mins 34 secs 162 Seconds 95 longest for events seconds Organic & Direct Traffic 39.44% 27.95% 38.27

Paid Traffic 19.55% 37.5% 7.06%

Referral & Social 31.1% 19.30% 39%

Mobile Visits 78% 77% 77%

Bounce Rate 57.83 49% 80.21 %

Pages per user 2.09 pages 1.87 pages 2.7 pages Web

Web Target Actual Change Results Page Views 25,775 32285 +25%

Users 4,518 12988 +287%

29% of overall traffic arrived at the site The website www.derrystrabane.com/springcarnival went from a social channel. live from 30th January 2018 and was updated continuously throughout the campaign. Google Search & Display Advertising

Impressio Clicks Interacti entered the site via Campaign ns on Rate CPC 37.5% paid advertising across the GDN Legenderry Food (Display) 487951 1491 0.31% 0.32p

Legenderry Food Search 125241 1010 0.81%% 0.41p

Spring Carnival (Search) 8516 1900 22.31% 0.22p Total 621708 4401 - -

75% entered the site via Google Search Engine Display Ads Social Media

Social media posts utilised the What’s on Derry Strabane platforms focusing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Live Videos Snapchat Geo Filters

Spring Carnival

£128.01

Swipes 2,200

Uses 161

Views 12,000 Snapchat Video Campaign

Snapchat is a new digital innovation tool explored for this campaign, attracting a younger audience. It performed efficiently and effectively

Spring Carnival

£322.87 Impressions 209,800 Views 16,700 Swipes 753 Cost Per 1000 impressions £1.54 Snapchat Filter Coverage by Area

The filters were geographically placed at places of high activity & footfall throughout the Carnival weekend

Guildhall Square Derry Walls & Bishop Street

Shipquay Street & Queens Quay Guildhall Square Facebook

Social Media Reach 738,163 +34.8%

Engagement 10,378 +47.7% Instagram & Twitter

Engaging content and images were shared and replicated on Instagram & Twitter in keeping with the social media calendar Occupancy – awaiting updated figure from Visit Derry

Friday 16th March 82.65%

Saturday 17th March 92.77%

Sunday 18th March 76.09%

Ave 83.84% PR Activity - Awaiting PR Report from Nimms

PR Value £ Article Value £ Article Reach £ Volume of Items Unique Sources 2018 Results

Target Actual Result Event Attendees St Patrick’s Day Parade - Derry Parade – 20,000 +67% 12,000 LegenDerry Food – awaiting figure The new parade route proved to be extremely popular 27,000 across the weekend

Occupancy Maintain over 80% rate 84% ave over the 3 nights

Pr Value Awaiting Nimms Report Website +5% Page views – 32,285 +51% There was a big increase in the budget for digital activities this year with boosted posts and digital advertising. We had a strong digital Call to action which is reflected in the results. Social Media +5% Facebook Reach – 738k +35% Twitter Engagement – 564 There was a detailed social media campaign this year Instagram Engagement - 1161 and a big increase in digital marketing (£2600) with boosted posts and digital ads.. Conclusion

. The Campaign was very successful overall and most of the key objectives exceeded their targets. . The marketing budget was increase to £15,000 this year which enabled us to a deliver a strong digital campaign which achieved great results. . We explored a new digital channel – Snapchat where we had a pre-event Ad and Geo-filters running throughout the weekend. These performed really well particularly with younger audiences . Facebook remained our most popular social media channel with posts, videos, ads and live feeds. . Live events were challenging to record due to congested WIFI & 4G. . The new Parade Route worked extremely well. We were able to capture images showing the scale and diversity of the event and Shipquay Gate was a great vantage point for Media. Recommendations

. Programme: Keep the reduced size programme . Deadlines– Strict deadlines for content, design and launch . Spend: Increase Digital / Social Media spend. . Branding: Keep strong brand from last 2 years as people identify with it and feel it is very inclusive. . Network – Look at options for improved Wifi / internet connections as the current network is congested during events and means we are unable to out out messages / live feeds . Dressing – The flags around the city added to the festival atmosphere and recommend purchasing some to use at all events.