Great British High Street competition: Case study

Policy aimTo generate local growth through reviving interest, engagement and investment in high streets

Communications objectives• To change attitudes and behaviour to local high streets – from places you avoid to places you

want to spend time (measure: increased footfall, attitude surveys)• To generate pride and interest in local high streets (measure: at least 110 towns entering the

Great British High Street competition)• To stimulate investment in the high street (measure: reduction in vacancy rates, take-up of

events)

Audience insightAudience: consumers, retailers, local authorities and town teams, entrepreneurs, community organisers• In January 2013, 85% of people thought Britain’s high streets were in bad health

(YouGOV/Ch5)• Internet shopping and out-of-town stores main competitors (University of Southampton)• BUT the high street remains the number one destination for the combination of shops,

services and leisure compared to online and out-of-town• Local authorities and town teams could do much more to make use of planning reforms,

business rate reliefs, innovative empty premises schemes, improve open spaces, make parking easier, etc, as well as taking part in national initiatives with momentum like Love Your Local Market and Our Big Gig

18 June to 30 August

Great British High Street competition: Case study

Strategy/idea• To promote high streets as not just for retail but for an all-round social experience• To launch a national competition so people can get behind their high street and feel proud of it – encouraging

‘neighbours’ through local rivalry• To create an ongoing buzz about local high streets through:

• A national brand to highlight new initiatives and events• Using local partners (eg MPs and town teams) and partner channels • Encouraging local authorities to take up support packages, invest in their town centres and think innovatively• Providing template materials to use for promoting innovative events (and the competition)

• Link up partners to improve the high street offer and links to other schemes such as Love Your Local Market

Partners – Association of Town and City Managers (ATCM), High Street Forum (Boots, Costa, Post Office, etc), MPs

ImplementationApril–MayATCM, High Street Forum and DCLG finalise logo, microsite and social mediaJune Launch of brand, microsite, social media and competition

Ministerial media interviews, visits and letter to MPsJuly Ministerial online video, Audioboo interviewAugust Renewed push of competition – intense digital activity

Digital toolkit of ideas and attractive templatesMinisterial tour of townsLetter to MPs and town teams

September Judging of competition and announcement of shortlist

18 June to 30 August

Behaviour change – EAST• Easy: everything online is easy to access, use

and customise• Attractive: eye-catching visuals via brand, toolkit,

twitter feeds, infographics• Social: you cannot share a cup of coffee online –

campaign brings fun back to town centres, encourages support via social media inc sharing pics, local support ‘thing to do’

• Timely: macroeconomic indicators in favour, evidence of high street revival, focus during summer (outdoor weather, school holidays)

Evaluation

Media coverage (Parking and GB High Street)

New research

Word cloud

High Street communications intensive push

18 June to 30 August

41 broadcast pieces 60+ online articles 45 print articles

550Partners

approached

• New analysis by Experian reveals the emergence of the ‘one stop shopper’ who wants to shop and spend leisure time on the high street (18 June 2014)

• Shop vacancy rates in July are at their lowest level since June 2010 (below 14 per cent).

• A recent survey (Retail Prospects Index – Business Strategies/ Churston Head) showed shoppers favouring more city centre locations compared to large out-of-town centres

• Consumer confidence is the highest in 12 years (GfK survey 29 August 2014)

Great British High Street competition

• New high profile Minister• Audioboo clips• 2 week High Street tour• Digital toolkit for Town Teams • Letter to MPs, Town Teams, local newspapers• Online videos• Competitive digital strategy on Twitter • £1k Facebook promoted post • Publicise new £50K cash prize

Attractive infographics to encourage applications and continue momentum

18 June–30 August

5,500 mentions of the competition on social media and online news

Over 130 competition entries

9k page views - thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk

4.5k tweets using #GBHighSt reached 33m Twitter impressions, 364 tweets from @CommunitiesUK, No 10, Cabinet Office, @TheGBhighSt Facebook page 200 likes – 4x gov average

Posts reached 228,200 accounts

YouTube videos 495 views

Audioboos 295 plays

Great British High Street competition

Penny Mordaunt on tour

5–14 August

Minister Penny Mordaunt’s tour of high streets, fire stations, seaside towns and Enterprise Zones • Mentions of the tour reached 253,339

Twitter accounts• Tripline map 441 views• Storify story 166 views

35 Broadcast pieces, 8 print, 56 online articles

June–August

Entries to the competition (week 1 = 18 June)

Media/ digital boost

& toolkit

Great British High Street competition: Evaluation

Direct relationship between social media engagement and website visits to thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk

18 June to 30 August

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endorsements

Facebook promoted post 22 – 23 Aug• 162 likes, comments and shares• Engagement rate 1.1 (Gov average 0.22)• Cost per click 35p, click rate 1.12

• 6.5K unique visitors• 23% referrals from social media• 684 organisations tweeted• 32m twitter impressions• 12% of traffic to website from Twitter referrals

Great British High Street shortlist announcement

Media coverage so far...

3 October 2014

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endorsements

8 broadcast 10 print pieces 41 online articles

3.9 million Twitter impressions1,300 Tweets using #GBHighSt Press release was tweeted 417 times and reached 9m newsfeeds 128 tweets from @CommunitiesUK, RNN, @TheGBhighSt Most influential twitters include – Stephen Fry with 7m followers

Social Media activity

Hugely positive response on Twitter