Objectives

The primary objectives of the campaign were to:

- Promote the LIFI festival with a focus on the Leeds population whilst also raising some awareness in other major locations like Manchester and Harrogate

- Sell tickets for all talks, with lower selling talks boosted to drive interest.

iWalkers create great 1-2-1 interactions with customers, as well as providing detailed insight into responses. A dwell time average of 13.5 seconds, showed the artwork was well received across audiences, while 15,000 interactions demonstrate how effective it can be to get a succinct message across to considerable numbers of people.

Strategy and Execution

The promotion of the Leeds International Festival of Ideas consisted of three phases to drive awareness of the festival, promote the talks and speakers and ultimately drive ticket sales.

Phase 1 in February promoted a selection of the talks and panel discussions to intrigue potential audiences and remind Leeds that it will be hosting the great festival again.

Phase 2, the largest of the three phases, ran to coincide with the initial announcement of speakers, and immediately prior to the tickets going live. With confirmed dates and a clear call to action to the website to purchase tickets, potential audiences were reminded that tickets would soon be available.

Phase 3, occurring a month before the festival began, promoted some of the more high-profile speakers to encourage people to specific shows as we looked to sell the remaining tickets.

The strategy over the three phases includes:

- Large motorway billboards on the M621

- Static posters across Leeds main shopping centre, Trinity Leeds

- Static rail posters at over 50 rail stations, with coverage across West Yorkshire, and into major towns and cities in neighbouring regions, with posters at Meadowhall, Harrogate, Middlesborough and Manchester Victoria stations.

- iWalkers in high footfall areas of Leeds City Centre, such as the Briggate shopping street, on the weekends following the tickets becoming available to interact with potential audiences, and communicate the great speakers and talks available.

- Over 100 bus rears, to carry the message across Leeds and into surrounding towns and villages

- Adnozzles in select forecourts in Leeds and Wetherby

- Static posters at Brudenell Social Club in Burley to target students returning to the city's universities.

-Lamppost banners across Leeds city centre.

Promoting Innovative Events to a Modern City

LIFI, since its inception in 2017, has hosted a number of fascinating individuals and discussions and continues to grow year-on-year. It has become a staple event in Leeds and attracts visitors to the city over the course of the Weekend to watch the talks. It brings benefits to the city centre as it collaborates with businesses across the city, offering LIFI ticket holders discounted meals and hotel stays to generate economic activity throughout the city centre.

Our campaign ensured the festival's presence was unmissable and that audiences around Leeds knew who was attending and a flavour of the discussions which were to be had. The strategic campaign we executed delivered considerable impact and helped generate high ticket sales. By utilising the headline guests we were able to promote LIFI as an event which all ages and all audiences could attend.

Guest speaker Ellie Middleton spotted her poster whilst being in Leeds, with the celebrity guests raising awareness through their various social media platforms.