Gaining public support for a multi-million-pound regeneration scheme

The Challenge

Clarks Village – the UK’s first event shopping outlet – invested in a brand new play park for its shoppers and wanted to officially launch this with a bang. The highly-anticipated launch was longed for by the more than 4million annual visitors and the Clarks Village management team wanted the public to be excited about the opening and give them some ownership of this.

"The event went very well. I would say we had 250 people in the play park within seconds of officially opening it and it was a fairly constant flow of people throughout the day!"

Steve Burge, Clarks Village

The Solution

To ensure that all opportunities around the launch of the play park were maximised, ADPR developed a comprehensive plan of activity, which included:

A vote to give the general public the opportunity to chose the name of the new play park from three shortlisted options that had been approved by the CV management team.

A pro-active burst of news and teasers to the media and the public in advance of the play park opening, with support in to the social media content plan.

A VIP test day where local schools were invited to test the new play park and give their feedback to the Clarks Village team prior to launch

An official launch party to mark the opening of the park for children (and adults) to enjoy. The party consisted of entertainers, food and activities on site, which as well as organising, ADPR also secured public attendance at the event.

The Results

1,400 people voted to name the new play park ‘King Arthur’s Forest’, with 791 of the votes
More than 150 VIP school children came to test the park in advance of its launch
More than 250 people attended the official launch party
Coverage secured across key regional titles, both print and online

If you’d like a no-obligation discussion about your marketing communications, please get in touch with us on hello@adpr.co.uk or call 01460241641.