After a successful bid for funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, VESR (Visitor Economy, Services and Retail Group) and Heritage Lincolnshire began putting plans in place to bring Grimsby’s Viking heritage to life through an 18-month program of events, beginning with a three-day festival; Grim FalFest.
The team at VESR and Heritage Lincolnshire tasked us with raising awareness and increasing the profile of Grim FalFest through relevant PR and marketing channels. The aim was to achieve an engaging online presence, with increased web traffic and social media engagement - ultimately driving footfall to the event across the festival weekend.
As a completely new event, we worked with the team at Heritage Lincolnshire and VESR to develop the brand with strong imagery, logos and a set of brand guidelines which screamed ‘Viking!’
We were then able to go full steam ahead with promoting the event, firstly by creating informative and fun social channels and designing its bespoke website, before creating a varied content plan focused on event promotion and community engagement.
We also were able to secure great coverage through tailored PR activity, further raising the profile of Grim FalFest.
Despite a relatively short window for promotion, the event was a massive success. This was highlighted, most notably, by footfall in Grimsby town centre which doubled week-on-week and provided a boost to the local economy.
Over the course of the four-week build-up, we saw a PR reach of over two million, having secured coverage with local TV, print and radio press.
Our social media campaign reached over half-a-million people, with engagement consistently above industry benchmarks with an impressive set of stats! Most notably the increase of 334 followers on Instagram, a Facebook reach of 476,970 users and gaining 804 Twitter engagements.
The paid social campaign was also incredibly successful, with a combined reach of 367,064 accounts, 389,155 impressions and 390 unique link clicks!
The event received positive feedback from participators and visitors, the local community and councillors who were all delighted that Grimsby’s Viking heritage had been brought to life for all to see.
