THE ROCHDALE EXCHANGE GOLD RUSH

Gold RushThe Rochdale Exchange Gold Rush brought the excitement of the 19th and 20th century gold rushes to Rochdale town centre. Five hundred gold bars were placed in and around Rochdale Exchange over five days giving customers the opportunity to find one and bring it in to the centre for their chance to win a family holiday to Spain.

The implementation of the Rochdale Exchange Gold Rush started months before the gold bars were placed around Rochdale. The build up consisted of letting the people of Rochdale and the surrounding community know about the event. This was done through a variety of media vehicles to reach the intended target market:

  • Flyers within the centre that customers could pick up, read and take away
  • A1 posters were positioned in and around the centre
  • Adverts on television screens within the centre

External

  • Adverts in the local papers
  • Online advertising via the Rochdale Exchange website and Facebook
  • Adverts on Real Radio in the build up to, and during the event
  • Micro site on the Real Radio website

The event officially began at 5.30am on Monday 9th of May as 100 gold bars were placed around Rochdale town centre. Each gold bar had information attached indicating what number bar it was and information regarding what any lucky gold hunter should do on finding one. After five days of gold hunting the event officially finished at 5pm on Friday.

Once all the data was collected a winner was drawn and announced on the Rochdale Exchange website. The winner was called and informed that they had won a family holiday to Spain.

Ten people who played the online game on the Rochdale Exchange micro site were informed that they each won a £50 gift voucher to spend at any stores within Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre or Rochdale Markets.

The event was a huge success in many different ways. It achieved the objectives set of increasing the footfall during the week of the event and increasing the brand awareness of Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre. In addition it achieved one of the main objectives for 2011 which was to generate more traffic towards the website.

Here is a break down of some of the results the Gold Rush generated:

  •  Footfall figures increased by 6.2% from the previous week and a significant 16.1% increase from two weeks prior to the Gold Rush.
  • Data capture was almost 400% above the target set.
  • Total unique visitors to the websites increased by 37.2% the month of the Gold Rush compared to the previous month.
  • The microsite also created;
    • 1,218 Unique Visitors
    • 363 Entries into the competition
    • 111 click through to the Rochdale Exchange Website
  • The event and micro site was posted on the Money Saving Expert forum which showed the thread had been viewed by 302 people and 20 members had thanked the person who had started the thread.
  • Links to the website and event were also posted on the Rochdale Online website, silobreaker as well as numerous twitter and Facebook accounts

The event was a huge success and a very positive step for Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre. They created an event that encouraged local community participation helping to increase the brand awareness.