Summary
In early 2010 GPJ was selected to work with ExCeL London and their long standing PR agency Davies Tanner to develop an integrated marketing campaign for the launch of London’s first International Convention Centre (ICC), takingplace June 24th 2010.
The new facilities represented a pivotal point change for London as a major events destination, after the 2008 ICCA rankings for best conference cities showed London languishing in 19th place. Supported by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the team at Visit London, the challenge was to address the negative perceptions held by event organisers about the city and boost the profile of London as a conference and major events destination.
Given a limited budget of £150,000 and a planning cycle of just three months, the challenge for GPJ was to develop a creative and engaging campaign that best met the objectives. Working closely with the teams at ExCeL and Davies Tanner, GPJ crafted a campaign proposition, slogan, key messages and tactical execution centered on digital activity, PR and events.
About the client company
ExCeL London is an exhibitions and conference centre situated in London Docklands. The centre was built by Sir Robert McAlpine and opened in November 2000 and in May 2008 it was acquired by Abu Dhabi Exhibitions company, with phase II completed on 1 May 2010.
Strategy – broader business issues the company is facing
The challenge for the ICC London ExCeL was to demonstrate to the market that London now offers a world leading International Convention Centre, capable of hosting a wide range of events for groups from 50 to 50,000.
Objectives of the campaign
- Position ICC London ExCeL as the world’s premier events destination.
- Showcase the new ICC facilities and services.
- Establish ICC London ExCeL as a venue with fully integrated, high specification technology.
- Drive sales enquiries and referrals from business leaders, event organisers and key influencers.
- Position ExCeL as a thought leader in the conference, exhibitions & events market place.
The target audience
Senior level executives from the event industry.
Key issue: Securing their time & ensuring a full presence for duration of event. To ensure high target audience attendance a compelling agenda was devised.
Media, channels or techniques used
The mix of pre-launch media included a viral video campaign and London Future Forum focusing on thought leadership and the positioning of London as a premier business destination.
Viral campaign
GPJ developed a viral marketing campaign, working alongside the Office of the Mayor of London and Visit London. ‘Take Me There Boris’ featured Boris Johnson, as a London taxi driver taking passengers from various London landmarks to the new ICC London ExCeL, demonstrating the ease of transfer from the city to the venue.
The piece made headline news on BBC London Tonight, the Evening Standard and generated media coverage around the globe. The viral linked back to the ICC London ExCeL microsite with a map of London landmarks that received over 5,000 hits on YouTube.
Microsite
From the very first point of contact delegates were given the VIP brand experience via a customised event microsite. This is part of a broader plan to ensure every brand touchpoint is technically and logistically seamless, developed on the basis of target audience key issue i.e. time.
London future forum
The gathering of leading industry executives also provided an ideal opportunity for the inaugural ‘London future forum’, designed to engage event industry leaders (67 in total) in a discussion regarding key London business tourism issues.
This creative solution responded to the challenge of communicating with target audience by placing them at the centre of the event as thought leaders.
Event experience
The aim for the launch event was to showcase the new facilities at ExCeL London demonstrating the flexibility of the space and its critical importance to the events industry and the UK economy in general. Registration and Welcome Attendee: The journey was a crucial touchpoint of the experience. Arrival planning was a key consideration with event branding and direction staff deployed throughout and self check-in registration integrated to ensure smooth and fast flow of people.
Launch keynote & press conference
The event began with a media briefing streamed live via the microsite. Production for the opening ceremony consisted of a 500 seat theatre and was created with huge HD screens, stunning lighting design and a dramatic kabuki drop that fell to reveal the spectacular auditorium space capable of holding 742 double decker buses or 7,000 delegates.
Networking
A celebratory drinks reception followed by a 5 star dining experience for 500 people was held in London’s largest banqueting hall. The hall was transformed into an eloquent reception area with an impressive projection cube showing the days play from Wimbledon. The reception proved to be a strong target audience retainer, affirming attendance from start to finish.
Timescale of the campaign – Event cycle
- -3 months Identification of business issues and devising event objectives; Viral marketing campaign.
- 0 months ‘London Future Forum’, ICC launch event.
- 1 month post event Continuous PR Viral marketing, post evaluation, reporting of data.
Research
A detailed survey was conducted before and after the event to track changes in guest perception.
- 84 per cent of delegates (vs. 58 per cent pre-event) said they were very likely to hold a future event at ICC London.
- 98 per cent of delegates consider the ICC London as a likely destination for premier business events.
- 100 per cent of attendees said they were likely to recommend the ICC to colleagues.
- 45 per cent of delegates said they intended to increase the number of events they held in East London.
- Delegates scored the unique experience of the ICC space as 4.54 and 4.77 (5 being excellent) on venue and facilities.
- Overall score for the keynote speech was 4.67.
- Overall satisfaction score of the launch event was 4.61 (target was 4 or an 80 per cent satisfaction level).
Results
Public relations
- Press value to date, in excess of £400,000.
- Over 14 million people across the globe have read or seen information regarding the launch.
• The You Tube clip was opened and watched over 5,000 times with a lot of Twitter coverage.
Sales Leads
Following the launch event, site visits and enquiries have increased threefold. The ICC has already confirmed conference contracts worth over £66 million in economic impact to London.
Client testimonial
“George P. Johnson delivered a truly innovative business launch event that successfully showcased our new facilities and proved through creative yet strategic execution the power of face-to-face experience marketing. Not only did the experience, created by GPJ generate substantial ROI – the experience has benefitted the London economy as a whole and that in my opinion is award winning criteria.” Gemma Parkhouse, head of marketing and communications, ExCeL London.
