Background

This year's Hallowe’en Festival ‘ Under the Samhain Moon’ took place from the 28th – 31st October

with 4 days of jam packed family fun across Derry and Strabane

The Marketing Budget for the campaign was £37,000 and ran from 31st July – 3rd November 2017.

A 32% increase on the 2016 Marketing budget targeting key segments and geographic areas using a

mix of on and offline tool.

Print Materials Outdoor Advertising

Radio Digital – Social Media

Press Video & Photography

A new brand was developed inhouse for this year’s festival which was used throughout the campaign The name of the festival was rebranded to Derry Halloween to create a clear, concise brand which enabled us promote the festival internationally and the City as a tourist destination.

Objectives

o The overall objective was to affirm the city’s position as the Best Halloween Destination

in the World.

o Attract 70,000 to the festival

o Maintain high occupancy levels. Target 80% across the 4 days.

o Increase profile of new events in national and international media. Achieve an AVE value

of £150,000 over duration of campaign

o Create dedicated web platform www.derryhalloween.com to drive high levels on traffic

and user engagement

o Increase Social Media Engagement by 10%

Festival Highlights

Derry Highlightso Awakening the Walls

o Street Carnival Parade & Fireworks Display

o Invasion

o Halloween Markets | Museum of the Moon | Little Horrors | Spark

Strabane Highlights:o Hay Sculpture Trail

o Halloween Market

o Castlederg Apple Fair & Piping Festival

o Family Activities

o Trick or Treat Tours

o Fireworks Display

Marketing Timeline

• Brand Development

• Call out for content

• Highlights Flyer

• Website Activated

• Social Media Campaign

• Promotional Video

July 2017

•Marketing / PR Plan Developed

•Strabane and Derry Brochures Designed

•Outdoor Campaign -Airports

• Brand Toolkit Developed and circulated.

•Visit Derry Windows

August 2017

•Festival Launched

•Strabane & Derry Programmes Approved and Distributed

•Outdoor Campaign-Billboards, Banners, Airporter, Buses

•Social Media Adverts /promoted posts

•Creative Advertising –Firefly Belfast ( Culture Night)

•Press Ads / Features

•New Website Launched

•Google Display Ads, Adwords, Digital Ads

September 2017

•Outdoor Campaign –Billboards, Bus Advertising, Luas ( Dublin), AA Roadsigns

•TV Ad ( ITV)

•Print Ads

•Radio Ads

•Digital Ads

•Press Features

•Social Media Promotion

•Pre Event Promo,

•Event Images / Video

October 2017

Target Audience

N Ireland Rep of Ireland

Other

Target Breakdown

70% 20% 10%

Target Areas DerryTyroneBelfastColeraineOmaghFermanagh

Donegal SligoMonaghanGalwayCavanDublin

CODA Destinations

Marketing Activity Overview

July / August September October Nov

24th 31st 7th 14th 28th 4th 11th 18th 25th 2nd 9th 16th 23rd 30th 6th

Brand Development

Press Launch Press Features

DL Promo Flyer Derry & Strabane Programmes

Web Development New Website Launched

Digital Advertising Campaign

Promotional Video

Social Media Campaign

Outdoor Campaign - Airports, Billboards, Visit Derry Windows, AA Road signs

Print & Radio Ads

FireflyBelfast

UTV Ad

Marketing SpendItem Cost

Print Materials – Flyers, Brochures, Tickets, Posters £5650

TV & Radio £5700

Press Ads £3250

Outdoor – Billboards, Airports, Buses, Luas ,Vinyl Banners, AA Road Signs,

£9,500

Creatives– UV Arts, Visit Derry Windows, Airporter £4400

Promo Video& Photography (inc launch, features) £5000

Digital Advertising / Social Media £2000

MISC – props, contingency 1500

Total £37,000

Marketing Tools

Print

Flyers,

Highlights Programme,

Posters

Strabane Flyer

Media

Advertising

Radio, TV,

Print

Outdoor

Advertising

Billboards, Airport,

Luas, Airporter

AA Road signs

Digital Screens

Outdoor Vinyl’s, Visit

Derry Windows

Digital & Social

Media

Web, E-zines,

Facebook, Instagram,

Twitter

Snapchat

Digital Advertising,

Google Display Ads

Content

Promo Video,

Photography

Event Video.

PR

Launch,

Press

Releases,

Feature

Stories,

Press AdsPublication

Belfast Telegraph Mid Term Supplement

1 /2 pg Ad + Editorial

Belfast Telegraph 1 /2 pg Ad + Editorial2 Wk Digital Banner

Irish News 1 /2 pg Ad + Editorial 2 Wk Digital Banner

Short Breaks Feature -Fermanagh Herald, Ulster Herald, Dungannon Herald, Strabane Chronicle, Donegal News, Sligo Weekender

1 /2 pg Ad + Editorial

Derry Journal | Sentinel ¼ pg Ad + Editorial

Strabane Post Full Page + Editorial

Strabane Herald Full Page Ad & Editorial

Print Materials Print

DL Flyer 5,000

Strabane Leaflet 15,000

Derry Programme 25,000

Awakening The Walls Flyers 10,000

Poster – Strabane, Samhain Sessions, Info Point Signs

230

RadioStation Ad

I Radio 50 x 20 secs

Q Network (Derry Ad) Derry Ad 40 x 20secStrabane Ad 40 x 20sec

Highland Radio ( Derry Ad) Derry Ad 20 x 20 secsStrabane Ad 20 x 20sec

Downtown Radio 21 x 20 secs

U105 20 x 20 secs

Derry Ad

“ Visit Derry Halloween, if you dare… Saturday October 28th to Tuesday 31st… Winner of best Halloween

destination in the world in 2015.

Experience Awakening the Walls, Samhain Sessions, Museum of the

Moon, Haunted Market and more.... 4 days of ghoulish events and frightful

fun. See DerryHalloween.com for more

Supported by Tourism Northern Ireland ”

Strabane Ad“ Get ready for some Spooktacular Celebrations in

Strabane this Halloween With lots of frightful fun throughout the

district including Castlederg Apple Fair, Halloween Market, Family Fun Activities , Fireworks and our

new Halloween Hay Sculpture Trail. See strabanehalloween.com for more ”

Outside Broadcast:Q Network, Downtown / Cool Fm & U105

on 31st October

OutdoorLocation

48 Sheet Billboards

NI – Belfast, Derry, North Coast

September -October

Light Box / 6 Sheets

Belfast InternationalGeorge Best

From 5th Aug – 31st

OctAugust

Visit Derry Windows

Derry 1st Sept – 31st

October

AirporterAdvertising

Derry – Belfast September –October

Supersides –Translink

NI - wide October

AA Road Signs Derry October

Vinyl Banners Derry & Strabane October

Luas Dublin October

Digital

Platform

www.derryhalloween.com

Halloween Derry Strabane ( 16k)Whats on Derry Strabane (60k)

WhatsonDS (23k followers)HalloweenDS

Whats on Derry Strabane (890 followers)

Digital Ads campaign on pre selected websites – Google Ads

For this year’s campaign we created a dedicated web platform

www.derryhalloween.com to drive high levels on traffic and user engagement.

The new website

www.derryhalloween.com

went live at the end of

September and included

Event listings, Events

Calendar, Programme

Downloads, Videos,

Tickets, Accommodation

and Traffic & Travel Info

Web Results

Page Views 163,994

Unique Users 90,178

Derryhallowen.com

Source Derryhalloween.com

Organic Search 33860

Paid Search 27264

Social 13743

Direct 9932

Referral 5378

Email 8

(Other) 1

90,186

Paid traffic 30% across the Google Network.

Derryhallowen.com

Country of Origin

United Kingdom 64%Ireland 31%

United States 2.5%Germany 0.4%France 0.4%Spain 0.4%Italy 0.2Canada 0.2Australia 0.1

Netherlands 0.1

45% of overall traffic arrived at the

site organically & directly, indicating,

strong brand awareness & SEO.

Facilitated by the short & simple

domain.

99.99% of traffic who entered the

site stayed there on average for

72 seconds

Top 10 Pages

Google Display Ads

o Google Display Ads ran 5th – 23rd October 2017

o Display Network Only campaign with audience targeting filter reaching people within our target areas across all computer, mobile and tablet inventory

o Applied a variety of image based ad formats such as Leaderboard and Banner ads and exclusive filter applied for non appropriate websites

o Target locations: Cavan, Donegal, Sligo, Belfast, Coleraine, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Londonderry, Newry, Omagh, Letterkenny, Drogheda, Dundalk

o Audience targeting: Affinity audiences, In-market audience (ROI)

o Interest Groups: Media & Entertainment, Lifestyles & Hobbies, News & Politics, Travel, Real Estate, Home & Garden, Consumer Electronics, Technology, Sports & Fitness, Autos & Vehicles etc

Banner: 120 x 600Banner 320 x 50

Leaderboard:

728 x 90

Results

Impressions 3,536,613

CTR

0.64%

Cost

£694.34

Clicks22,633

2016 2017 Result

Total Fans 16,250 18,696 +16%

Posts Published 230 156 - 32%

Total Engagement

3,270 33,319 + 919%

Awareness 1,385 3,564 +157 %

Impressions 1.6million 2.9million + 81%

Generated Value €26,849 €69,435 + 159%

Social Media posts utilised the

Halloween Derry Strabane

and What’s on Derry

Strabane platforms focusing

on Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram and Snapchat

An event page was set up for

Strabane Halloween on the

What’s on Derry Strabane

Facebook.

Facebook Stats

During Event

LIVE VIDEO -Parade:

The live video of the parade reached over 60,000 people and had over 26,000 views.

LIVE VIDEO -Fireworks:

The fireworks streamed live on Facebook reaching 28,000 people and had 9,600 views

During Event

Content varied throughout the 4 day festival, featuring: live video, images, next day highlights, key event messages, photos from the day and user generated content.

Content: During Event (2)

• Content varied throughout the 4 day festival, featuring: live video, images, next day highlights, key event

massaged, photos from the day and user generated content.

Occupancy

Saturday 28th Oct 97%

Sunday 29th Oct 83%

Monday 30h Oct 77.84%

Tuesday 31st 94%

Average 88%

PR Activity

Volume Value £

PR Value £354K

Print £247K

Broadcast 45 £46K

Online 50 £61K

Total £354K

PR Value £354K

2016 2017 Comments

Marketing Budget £28,000 £37,000 +32% The budget was increased this year to widen the reach of the marketing campaign geographically

Affirm city’s position as Best Halloween Destination

Winner of UTV Business Eye Award Best Tourism project of the year

Attract 70,000 Visitors 70,000 87,000 +24%

*This does not take into account numbers in Strabane and Castlederg

Occupancy Levels over 80% 88% 88% Excellent to maintain the high level given Halloween Night fell on a Tuesday

Achieve AVE Value of £150K £322K £354K +10%Derry Halloween featured on Canadian and Italian TV and PR Features in online American Press - Boston Globe and New York Times

Results

2016 2017 Comments

Increase Social Engagement by 10%

Total FB FansPublished PostsTotal EngagementImpressionsGenerated Value

15,2502303,2701.6million€26,849

18,69615633,3192.9million€69,432

+23%-32%+919%+81%+159%

The social media campaign delivered excellent results this year. By reducing the number of posts we managed to increase the engagement by over 900% showing less good quality content is more effective.

Create dedicated web platform www.derryhalloween.com

98,277 177,520 +81 % on 2016. The creation of the new dedicated website with a clear simple name proved to be very successful. The ability to purchase tickets online, view event calendars and downloads

Key Stats

83,000

88% occupancy

ave

PR Value £354K

177,520 page views

2.9million

Impressions

FB Engagement 33,319

Research Results

306 respondents

98% rated quality of events

very good / good

80% heard about the festival on

internet / social media75% attending festival

99% rated event very good / good

76% rated value for money very

good/ good

Geographical Breakdown

Council Area 48%

NI 20%

ROI 12%

Rest of world 20%

Conclusiono This was the most successful Halloween to date with all targets met or exceeded.The

event attracted over 87,000 across the 4 days with over 40,000 on Halloween Night for

the Carnival Parade and Fireworks.

o There was an increased marketing budget for the event this year which enabled the

marketing campaign to start earlier and try out some new ideas including advertising in

the Belfast Airports from July reaching thousands of holiday makers, families and

visitors. We also advertised on the Luas in Dublin this year and had some creative

marketing at the Belfast Culture Night which is one of the busiest nights of the year in

Belfast.

o We reduced the printed programme this year from a 48page A5 to a 20-page

Squareback, with a big focus on driving people to the new website. The programme

costs were 49% lower than 2016 and we had an 81% increase in the website page

views.

Conclusion

o Results from our survey showed 80% of people heard about the festival from Internet /

Social Media, a significant increase from the 48% last year. The Digital Ad Campaign

was extremely successful attracting 3,536,613 impressions resulting in 22,633 clicks

through to our website.

o Despite Halloween Night falling on a Tuesday, the occupancy rates were well above

the target ( 88%) attracting visitors from across the World including, Norway, USA,

Russia, Hawaii, China, Canada, India, Asia, Japan, Sweden, UK and Europe.

o We had great online coverage of the event through our social media platforms but we

had issues with access to network / internet on Halloween Night. We need to look at

this for next year.

o We had an increase in queries regarding Quiet Spaces this year especially from

families with autistic kids looking to view the fireworks. The disabled viewing platforms

worked well but were not suitable for these requests as they were still outside and very

noisy.

Recommendations

o Increase the marketing budget of the event for a longer lead time on the marketing

campaign to sell both the festival and the destination and invest in developing the

website.

o Develop the event website so visitors can book all tickets, accommodation and activities

online in one place. Look at the possibility of language options to cater for international

visitors.

o Start the International campaign in new year and tie in with Air and Sea Carriers to

increase reach.

o Work closely with Visit Derry / City of Derry Airport to target flight routes including

Glasgow, London and Liverpool and target ROI Market – Dublin, Galway etc.

o Build a relationship directly with Tourism Ireland / TNI to be included in their campaigns

reaching their vast international audiences

.

Recommendations

o Invest in a strong digital campaign using high quality content, images and videos and

reaching out to influencers, forums and blogs. Look at new social platforms and create a

new site for Strabane Halloween as they are 2 separate campaigns with different

audiences

o Keep the smaller programme size as it not only reduces size as it not only reduces costs

and carbon footprint but it is also more user friendly and drives people to the website. The

money saved on print can be allocated to other marketing activities.

o Get programme online earlier and have possible launch / presence in New York, Dublin,

Liverpool

o Cross promotion with the Clipper / Foyle Maritime Festival to promote the Festival to the

American market.

o Attract a sponsor for the festival and develop the community involvement.

Recommendations

o Develop Live Streaming opportunities for next years event either through a media

partner or internally.

o Delay the installation of the Christmas lights on the roundabout at City Hotel until after

the event as it looked very out of place during the parade and in our event photography.

o Try and identify a quiet space for Fireworks viewing for families with autistic kids etc.

o Look at a park and ride facility to ease the parking issues

o Look at the possibility of a media viewing platform if the balcony will not be accessible

again next year

o Try to encourage more people to dress up on Halloween Night as there were less people

in costume this year. Possibly look at delivering costume and make up workshops in the

lead up to the festival and involve NWRC, Fashion Hub and Community Groups.