CASE STUDY: Bulmers Live at Leopardstown
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Marketing Challenge
In recent years race courses in Ireland and the UK have been involved in expanding their activities in order to attract new customers and a younger crowd to the core offering of race meetings.Following a competitive presentation, DirectBrand was appointed to develop and implement a digital communications strategy for a series of events combining live music with horse racing called Bulmers Live at Leopardstown. The task was to build rapid and measurable momentum around the events that resulted in strong advance bookings and good attendances at the 6 weekly events.
Target Audience
20-35 year old males and females who would not traditionally attend a race meeting. As the events were taking place in Dublin only, there was a specific focus on this group in the Dublin/Leinster area. This audience are heavy users of web and mobile technology so the strategy was to build online momentum around the events. While a small database of previous customers existed the primary objective was to reach out and engage with new customers.Engagement Tactics
The core of the campaign was a fully interactive web site which was constantly updated with new content. To launch the campaign,a customisable viral video supported by email and an active Social Network campaign incorporating Facebook, Bebo and MySpace and Twitter activity were developed. Emails encouraged forwarding to friends with a competition offering the chance to win a VIP night out for 4 at one of the evenings.Once the events started, video footage of the gigs and social photos of attendees were immediately posted onto the site as well as social networks, which drove traffic, online conversation and built a growing online buzz around the events. A fully functional mobile site was also developed providing up to date details of the events.
RESULTS
Bulmer Live at Leopardstown was a resounding marketing and commercial success, with increasing attendances over each event culminating on the final evening with over 6,700 showing up, massively above the targeted numbers.Attendees sent thank you emails to organizers expressing their wish to see it happen again, as well as numerous positive posts on social networks. A substantial database of permission email addresses, social network contacts and mobile numbers were obtained for future use providing a strong platform for future campaigns.