The Power of a Selfie: How London Gets Down(town)

IDA 2016 | Atlanta GAMarketing & Communications Award Submission

London, Ontario, Canada

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.

• 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, cooking classes, dance lessons, hockey games, and more!

• The large frames were consistently requested by businesses, festivals, and events to make appearances.

• Businesses could easily borrow the frame for their events if we couldn’t attend.

• We encouraged downtown businesses to tag their neighbours and challenge others to take a photo themselves!

The “Star of the Show”

The Large Frames:

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 and splitting audiences, we worked together to spread a unified message of downtown London as an exciting destination.

• London is On’s #LDNENT (London Entertainment) complimented our campaign.

We engaged influencers to share the contest through their participation.

• Western University’s Student Council

• Fanshawe College’s Student Union

• Budweiser Gardens

• London Music Hall

• London Art’s Council

• The London Convention Centre

• The London Lightning basketball team

• London Knights hockey team

• Pride London

• London City Council

• Downtown businesses, hotels, and offices

We couldn't have done it without help!

Things are happening downtown. Love the vibe! #GetDTL #LDNENT @MyDundas

- Stephen Turner, City Councillor, City of London@st3v3turn3

Nice to see line ups downtown, vibrant core=vibrant London #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 on 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 hockey games.

- Launched July 24, 2015

- After meeting all of our goals early, we extended the contest from September 27, 2015 to October 25, 2015 to keep the momentum.

- 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 (7% increase)

- 107% increase in Tweet impressions

- 639 new Facebook followers (19% increase)

- 151% increase in Facebook post reach

- 604 new Instagram followers (61% increase)

Results

Lilka Young, our grand prizewinner of

$2,500 Downtown Dollars, was featured in Our London.

Our Grand Prize!

“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)

• Using the remaining materials and creative, Get Down was relaunched at Christmas promoting a Holiday window contest.

• We also created a giant wreath-themed 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.

What’s Next?

See submissions and winners at

www.GetDTL.ca