July 24, 2015

Glow, Bluewater

Pancentric Digital worked with Bluewater to brand and launch their new events venue, Glow

The challenge

When you’re spending £60 million on a new events venue, you want to achieve instant impact as soon as you open your doors – especially online. High on the client’s wishlist was distinctive branding, strong showcasing of the venue space and features, event promotion and strong social media integration.

Strategy and execution

We used Big Design Up-Front principles to establish a clear user-journey, branding and project direction early on. By tabbing between the venue site and the sister Bluewater site we aimed to leverage an existing 2.5 million annual web visits and the wider 28 million Bluewater shopping audience.

An events calendar, venue finding and support directories for visitors, organisers and exhibitors were all crucial features of the site. Whilst sharing functions and on-site Facebook commenting helped generate buzz around events and ensured a thorough and well-executed social media strategy.

Results

Glow, Bluewater is currently in soft-launch mode, so data can’t be shared on ticket sales. However, key event promotions to date include: The Great British Home Show, The Good Food Show, Championship Boxing and major experiential events. Related social media strategies grew share of voice by 50 per cent over the first six months, outstripping Earls Court in the same period. Latest monthly figures show Facebook following up by 20 per cent, again outstripping its rival venues.