CTI Digital

Portfolio: The Rock, Bury

The Rock, Bury

Brief

CTI Digital and Democracy PR teamed up to create a social media campaign to engage the online target audience The Rock, a shopping and entertainment venue. The campaign involved 2,500 prize winning artificial meteors, Nickelback’s Rockstar YouTube video virals, Twitter, a Facebook application and a Facebook fan page.

Technology

CTI worked with a Manchester based PR agency, Democracy, to revitalize the pre-launch campaign of The Rock, a new retail and entertainment venue in Bury. Due to delays in the building project, there was uncertainty about the opening date amongst the local community. There was also a lack of engagement with the potential online audience. The project brief was to use social media to engage with the Rock’s target audience, gather clean data for future marketing activity, drive footfall on the open day and during the opening weekend and to use a fresh and innovative concept. With just three weeks to launch, the social media strategy would have to be planned, implemented and launched in a very short time scale and achieve a significant and immediate impact.

CTI’s Facebook Application developers designed a Facebook Application that would display the following information;

  • Information about the opening of the Rock
  • Details of the competition and some of the prizes
  • The number of days left until the opening date
  • The number of artificial meteors still to be found
  • A map detailing how many meteors had been found in each location
  • A form where those who have found meteors can enter their details and find out what they’d won
  • Links to The Rock’s Facebook Fan page, Twitter profile and YouTube account

The Facebook Application design was focused on simplicity and accessibility to accommodate the diversity of potential users.

Benefits and Results

The treasure hunt for the 2500 artificial meteors, one containing the prize code for a 0.5C diamond, stimulated activity on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The Facebook Fan page accumulated over 4,000 fans in just 3 weeks and continues to grow. The PR helped achieve 50,000 attendees on the opening day, with retailers’ sales targets smashed by up to 300% in the first month.

Solutions

Democracy PR proposed an innovative, ambitious social media strategy; to distribute 2,500 prize winning artificial meteor rocks within a 10 mile radius of The Rock. Members of the public would be directed to a custom Facebook Application, to insert their prize winning code and discover what they’d won. Regional road shows would also be staged to achieve viral circulation of karaoke covers of Nickleback’s Rockstar.