The Power of a Selfie: How London Gets Down

The Power of a Selfie:
How London Gets Down(town)
OBIAA 2016 | London, ON
Marketing & Communications Award Submission
92%
of consumers trust earned media (such
as recommendations from friends and
family) above all other forms of
advertising. (NIELSEN, 2012)
In 2015, Downtown London made a strategic decision to move
away from traditional billboards or print ads we’ve used in the
past, and to target earned media opportunities. To do this, we
recognized social media as an important tool to tap into the
lives of the new demographic living and working in our
downtown. We wanted to give Londoners a fun incentive to
share their downtown experiences online.
The premise was simple…
Get Down. Get Snapping.
Get Sharing. And Win!
Tag a photo downtown with #GetDTL and be entered
into a weekly Downtown Dollar prize.
We would share the winners and submissions on
www.GetDTL.ca and on our social media.
We engaged downtown marketing agency,
sagecomm, to help develop a strategic plan and
creative materials.
The Large Frames:
The “Star of the Show”
•
To kick off the campaign, we printed
three 4x5 foot frames on water-proof
coroplast.
•
Durable, light weight, portable, cheap!
•
We brought them to festivals, grand
openings, special events, London
Knights hockey games, and more!
•
Businesses could easily borrow the
frame for their events if we couldn’t
attend.
•
We encouraged downtown businesses
to tag their neighbours and challenge
them to take a photo themselves!
The Small Frames:
Just Point, Smile, and Shoot!
•
Thousands of small frames were distributed at restaurants,
bars, retailers, festivals, and events.
•
Frames included instructions and contest info printed on the
back.
•
Businesses encouraged customers to snap a photo of their
meal, purchase, new do’, or of themselves!
Partnerships!
•
We partnered with Tourism London to promote their London is On! campaign
as part of Get Down.
•
This introduced us to a number of new advertising opportunities.
•
Helped share costs.
•
Rather than competing, we worked together to spread a unified message of
downtown London as an exciting destination.
We couldn't have done it
without help!
We engaged influencers to share the contest through their
participation.
•
Western University’s Student Council
•
Fanshawe College’s Student Union
•
Budweiser Gardens
•
London Art’s Council
•
The London Convention Centre
•
The London Lightning and London Knights
•
Pride London
•
London City Council
•
And a number of downtown businesses and offices
“
“
Things are happening downtown. Love the vibe!
#GetDTL @MyDundas
- Stephen Turner, City Councillor, City of London
@st3v3turn3
Nice to see line ups downtown, vibrant
core=vibrant #GetDTL #LDNENT
- Mo Salih, City Councillor, City of London
@MohamedMOSalih
Mayor Matt Brown joined the fun!
Get Down was shared in Mayor Brown’s monthly newsletters, and he took a
number of photos with our frames throughout the campaign.
Sharing our story!
•
Media coverage of the contest included attendance at the launch by
103.1 Fresh
FM and the London Free Press. Following the contest’s launch, a story was published in
Our London in early August. A wrap-up story by Our London in November announced our
grand prize winner.
•
Winning photos were shared on our social media, and all of the submissions could be
viewed on www.GetDTL.ca and our Facebook page.
•
We coordinated our businesses to launch e-blasts and social media posts to their
customers about the campaign.
Additional Support
Our Tourism London partnership
allowed us to use their advertising
space in the London Free Press,
Budweiser Gardens, and London is
On! websites.
Fun branded coasters, window
clings, and point-of-sale giveaways
were distributed to participating
merchants, restaurants, bars, salons,
and farmers’ markets.
We redesigned our Zamboni at
Budweiser Gardens to
promote #GetDTL at London
Knights games.
Results
•
Launched July 24, 2015.
•
After meeting all of our goals early, we
extended the contest from September 27,
2015 to October 25, 2015.
•
We also launched a People’s Choice
contest for users to vote on.
•
2053 photo submissions, more than
double the goal of 850
•
Average of 21 photo submissions per day!
•
2983 unique visits to GetDTL.ca
exceeding the goal of 2200
•
45 new email subscribers through
GetDTL.ca
•
850 new Twitter followers during campaign
period (7% increase)
•
639 new Facebook followers during
campaign period (19% increase)
•
604 new Instagram followers during the
campaign period (61% increase)
Our Grand Prize!
Lilka Young, our grand
prizewinner of
$2,500
Downtown Dollars, was
featured in Our London.
“Some people have some negative opinions of downtown, but then you
see these very positive pictures of what downtown really is, can be, and is
growing into. The more and more people post, share their experiences, the
more likely people were to come downtown.”
– Lilka Young, Our London (November 5, 2015)
What’s Next?
•
Using the remaining materials and
creative, Get Down was
relaunched at Christmas promoting
a Holiday window contest.
•
We also created a giant wreaththemed photo frame to keep Get
Down fresh and new.
•
We are bringing the campaign back
in the summer of 2016, and also
during Canadian Country Music
Week in September downtown.
See submissions and
winners at
www.GetDTL.ca
Downtown London
123 King Street | London, ON
[email protected]