Our country’s finest restaurants
Taste Festivals showcase the country's finest restaurants and top chefs. Brand Events were keen to raise consumer awareness and create buzz and excitement about Taste Festivals taking place in Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Bath and Birmingham. We were tasked with promoting the events with the ultimate aim of driving ticket sales and attendance.
To deliver the objectives, we implemented a phased broadcast strategy maximising our collateral of celebrity chefs, prizes from exhibitors and access to the country's finest restaurants. An interactive Web TV programme presented by BBC food writer Nigel Barden whetted consumer appetites by showing highlights of last year's events and revealing what to expect from this year's festivals.
We created bespoke video podcasts centred on key features of Taste. The first was produced using existing video footage, which was re-edited to create an engaging and light-hearted insight into our favourite chef's thoughts on British food. Going behind the scenes at top London restaurant China Tang, we revealed how to make authentic Peking duck. Finally, optimising British Airways sponsorship of the London event, we produced a wine guide at 35,000 feet.
To sustain momentum prior and throughout the festival season, regional radio and targeted online competitions gave away tickets and reinforced the key messaging that this is a must-attend event for all lovers of food and fine dining. All competitions drove traffic to the website for further information and ticket purchase.
As the majority of tickets are sold in the week leading up to the event, the final phase of our strategy focussed on optimising this last minute rush. Utilising our research agency Opinion Matters, we commissioned a survey on behalf of Taste Festivals to generate interest across both news and feature broadcast programming. The insight gained from the research enabled us to secure speech-led opportunities such as interviews and audio features within stations in a 2-hour radius to each event. In addition to this, we invited chefs to their local station to cook speciality dishes live on-air for the breakfast show – typically the highest RAJAR show within radio programming. On site at Taste of London, we managed all broadcast media and co-ordinated interviews for TV, radio and online throughout the duration of the event.
We secured 162 items of radio coverage (including BBC Radio 2, IRN & 10 regional BBC stations), 38 items of online coverage (including Guardian Unlimited, Telegraph TV, ITV.com, This is London and Delicious Magazine) and 7 items of TV coverage (including a feature on This Morning and several live broadcasts on both BBC & ITV London direct from the Regent's Park event. There was an increase in ticket sales and attendance from last year and Taste of London festival was sold out.
View the Highlights Video below