© 2026 The Cunningly Good Group
Marketing Agency ~ PR Agency ~ Design Agency ~ Website Development
Glasgow ~ Perth ~ Edinburgh ~ Dundee ~ Leamington Spa
The Enchanted Forest 2025
The Campaign Brief
The Enchanted Forest is Scotland’s leading sound and light show, attracting up to 85,000 visitors to Pitlochry each autumn. In 2025 it ran 2 October to 2 November. Following a detailed review of audience data, we identified that audience growth had stalled over recent years and the event had become increasingly reliant on existing customers and owned channels to drive ticket sales.
Working within a total integrated campaign budget of £144,891, we developed an integrated PESO campaign designed to increase awareness, drive new customer acquisition and stimulate demand for the 2025 event, Luminara. Our objectives were to:
- Increase awareness of The Enchanted Forest among new audiences.
- Drive new customer acquisition to 55% of audience share.
- Drive an uplift in sales of “Couples” tickets to 33% of audience share.
- Deliver ticket sales of at least 78,527 and a revenue target of £1.9m.
- Increase website traffic to more than 600,000 visitors and improve conversion performance from 3.5%.
- Generate at least 10 million estimated views through earned media activity.
- Drive at least 40,000 engagements through social media channels.
- Reinforce The Enchanted Forest’s reputation as Scotland’s must-see sound and light show while increasing awareness of its charitable purpose.
Research showed that the key challenge was awareness rather than conversion. Our strategy therefore focused on extending reach through an integrated mix of paid, earned, shared and owned media, while ensuring every channel worked together to convert interest into ticket sales.
Cunningly Good Group’s Approach
We began by undertaking a comprehensive review of historical marketing performance, audience trends and channel effectiveness. This analysis revealed an over-reliance on email marketing and social media channels, which primarily reached existing audiences, and were delivering diminishing returns in terms of growth.
To improve decision-making, we worked with SEE Tickets to implement enhanced end-to-end analytics and attribution tracking so that we could accurately identify which channels were driving website traffic, ticket purchases and revenue.
Our campaign centred on the show theme Luminara, exploring the relationship between nature and technology. We developed an integrated communications strategy using the PESO model, ensuring each channel had a defined role in building awareness, generating engagement and converting audiences into customers. Planning was informed by data rather than assumptions, allowing us to allocate resources where they would have the greatest commercial impact.
Our strategy was built around a central insight: growth would only come through reaching new audiences. To achieve this, we increased investment in awareness-driving activity through paid and earned media channels while maintaining strong shared and owned communications programmes.
Paid activity included extensive digital outdoor advertising, radio advertising, Spotify audio, social advertising and targeted print placements across key Scottish population centres. A strategic partnership with Bauer Radio significantly extended campaign reach and enabled us to access new audience segments.
Earned media activity focused on generating high-quality coverage through proactive media relations with key publications, targeted influencer engagement, media partnerships and collaboration with VisitScotland. Professional influencer activity alone generated 2.4 million views and 184,000 engagements.
Shared media amplified campaign messages across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and partner channels, while owned media channels, including email marketing, CRM and the event website, converted awareness into bookings. The campaign’s greatest innovation was the integration of enhanced attribution modelling with communications planning. Rather than measuring outputs alone, we could directly connect awareness activity to ticket sales, revenue and audience growth, creating a robust evidence base for future decision-making.
The campaign ran from the June on-sale period through to the event opening in October. Paid media included high-profile digital outdoor sites across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling, social advertising, Spotify audio advertising, targeted print advertising and a seven-week Bauer Radio campaign delivering more than 2,400 radio adverts. Through strategic negotiation, we secured media inventory worth over £133,000 leveraging our budget of just £38,000.
Our earned media programme generated extensive local, national and international coverage. We hosted a dedicated preview night for journalists, content creators and influencers, supported by high-quality photography, videography and drone footage. These assets were shared widely across media and tourism partner networks following press preview night.
Owned media activity included 39 targeted email campaigns supported by enhanced audience segmentation, SEO optimisation and website improvements. Shared media activity delivered 1,870 pieces of content across social channels, maintaining audience engagement while amplifying earned and paid activity. Every tactic was designed to work together, directing audiences towards the event website where interest could be converted into measurable action.
The Cunningly Good Results
The campaign exceeded its strategic objectives and delivered significant commercial impact. Most importantly, we achieved our primary objective of growing new audiences. New customer acquisition reached 68.34% of total attendees, exceeding the target of 55% and representing a 32.2% year-on-year increase.
Awareness objectives were also surpassed. Earned media activity generated 14.8 million estimated views, exceeding the target of 10 million by 48%, while social media reach grew to 4.57 million impressions, more than double the original target. Digital performance exceeded expectations. Website traffic reached 621,540 visitors, surpassing the 600,000 target and representing a 21% increase on 2024. Social media activity generated 63,013 engaged website sessions, exceeding target by 58%. Commercially, the campaign delivered 78,956 net ticket sales and £1.91 million in ticket revenue, surpassing its primary target and generating a return of £12.66 for every £1 invested in the integrated campaign.
Enhanced analytics revealed that 90% of ticket revenue originated from three integrated channels, including Direct traffic (44%), Search (30%) and Email (22%). This insight demonstrated how paid, earned, shared and owned activity worked collectively to create awareness, stimulate demand and drive sales. The impact of our integrated approach was particularly evident following the launch of the expanded paid media campaign. Daily ticket sales increased by 180% during September, while overall website traffic increased by 21% and new customer acquisition reached its highest level in seven years. Sentiment analysis demonstrated overwhelmingly positive coverage, with 97% of media content describing the event as a ‘must-see’ experience or reinforcing its reputation as Scotland’s favourite sound and light show, while 38% referenced its charitable purpose and community impact. As a direct result of successful ticket sales in 2025 the Trust we delivered an 8% increase in revenue and a 61% increase in net surplus in what was widely acknowledged to be a difficult year for ticket sales.
By integrating paid, earned, shared and owned channels around a common strategic objective, we successfully expanded awareness, attracted new audiences, generated measurable commercial returns and strengthened the reputation of one of Scotland’s most iconic cultural events.
