REFLECT- SARA TUPPER – CHELMSFORD FOR YOU MONSTER INVASION
Involved Partners:
- Chelmsford For You BID – Sara Tupper BID Manager Chelmsford For You BID sara@chelmsfordforyou.co.uk
- Chelmsford City Council – Ali Naqvi Head Of Marketing & Customer Experience Ali.NAQVI@chelmsford.gov.uk
- Chelmsford City Council – Phil Chittock City Centre Liaison and Events Officer Philip.CHITTOCK@chelmsford.gov.uk
- Destination Marketing – Matt Baker CEO matt.baker@wearedestination.com
Utilising the ‘return to the high street’ budget awarded to the Chelmsford BID (Chelmsford For You), we planned a campaign to enliven the streets of the city following Covid lockdowns. Coinciding with October half term and Halloween, CFY, in partnership with Chelmsford City Council, staged a ‘Monster Invasion’ throughout the city centre, thrilling locals and attracting those from surrounding areas.
Giant monsters located at six key locations throughout the city centre formed a striking display designed to brighten up the Autumn streets, generate excitement and become a talking point for residents and visitors alike. Visitors could have fun spotting the monsters and taking pictures, but they could also win a prize of £250! Additional activities included face-painting, a bouncy castle, workshops and a monster-themed river boat cruise.
Along with traditional and digital advertising, we created buzz for the Monster Invasion with a fun, news report-style video, shared colourful social creative and web pages, performed press outreach and communicated directly with retailers and consumers with custom newsletters. CFY social channels saw 7,000 interactions across platform, reached over 350,000 people organically, and our paid ads reached over 2.2 million people. The main KPI for the activity was increasing footfall, which we did by over 50,000 in one week YOY! We also increased web users YOY by 414%, plus 78.9% of the web visitors were new! The Chelmsford BID team, the Chelmsford City Council and the local community liked it so much, we’re doing it again this year.
Marc Miller from CFY said, “I think you did a brilliant job and it’s definitely brought a real buzz to Chelmsford. I personally know a shedload of people who’ve engaged with it online and in person, and it’s without doubt one of the most popular and positive things that has happened to Chelmsford.”
