The GWCT Scottish Game Fair 2019 :
Integrated Marketing Campaign

The Campaign Brief

The GWCT Scottish Game Fair has been held annually since 1988, attracting around 30,000 visitors over three days to become the biggest countryside sports event in Scotland. Cunningly Good Group was appointed in 2019 and, drawing on a review of audience research, digital statistics and ticket sales postcode analysis, identified untapped potential to attract new visitors from North-East Scotland, Perthshire and Dundee, alongside a gap in the Fair’s proposition: there was no clear audience message that emphasised the abundance and accessibility of activities on offer.

We developed an integrated marketing campaign designed to deliver against the following key objectives:

Strengthen the branding of the Fair as a GWCT Scotland event.
Increase attendance, driving ticket sales in excess of 30,000 for the event.
Increase online ticket sales (advance purchase) from 7,000 in 2018.
Increase understanding of countryside issues and explain the case for science-based decision-making to meet GWCT’s overarching objectives.
Maintain levels of positive press coverage and drive awareness for future years, with a particular emphasis on pushing into new geographical markets to generate new visitors to the Fair.
Maximise the event’s position as Scotland’s leading event for outdoor country sports enthusiasts and countryside conservation.

Research showed that the key challenge was building a compelling audience proposition rather than simply reaching more people. Our strategy therefore focused on reforming the Fair’s entire marketing approach from root to branch, targeting three distinct audience segments through an integrated mix of paid, earned, shared and owned media.

Cunningly Good Group’s Approach

We refocused the campaign’s target markets into three groups: Over-Nighters, the population of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh with an interest in country sports and countryside conservation; Day Trippers, the population living within a 90-minute drive of the event with a passing interest in the countryside; and Door-Steppers, local people in the immediate Perth, Dundee and Stirling areas likely to make a spontaneous, weather-dependent decision to attend.

We started by re-evaluating every channel for its effectiveness at reaching these audiences and for its affordability and stripped out thousands of pounds of print spend which was reaching dwindling audiences, replacing it with a strategic media partnership deal offering direct reach into our targeted geographical markets. The whole campaign was packaged and branded under the “Game On! One Fair. Hundreds of Activities. We’re Game” positioning, agreed with the client to give the Fair a clear position with bold creative that set it apart as a countryside sports event with broad appeal to all visitors.

We introduced the event to outdoor advertising for the first time in its history, using bus rears and street-liners targeting Perth and Stirling and 48-sheet billboards targeting Aberdeen, Auchterarder and Perth, to build geographical presence and support our public relations activity. We combined this with tried-and-tested direct mail campaigns to recover lapsed customers in target postcode areas.

We ran an extensive public relations campaign to generate coverage in key trade and consumer titles, supported by a digital campaign of paid, earned, shared and owned media designed to drive online engagement, community sharing and, crucially, advance online ticket sales.

Marketing tactics included highly targeted media buying in publications aligned to the outdoor enthusiast market, including Shoot in Scotland, Scottish Field and Trout & Salmon Magazine, and a strategic media partnership with DC Thomson worth £25,000 in advertising plus guaranteed editorial coverage across The Courier, Press & Journal, Scots Magazine and Living Magazine.

We also developed a Trader Marketing Toolkit to maximise reach through the Fair’s 400+ exhibitors, produced weekly e-newsletters to a database of 8,000+, and ran a “Facebook first” monthly social media calendar with regular content delivery, community management and advertising management. Eleven press releases were issued, alongside a media call to announce opening, daily photo releases during the event and two dedicated “roving reporters” producing live social content on-site.

Creative campaign design ensured consistent brand visuals carrying the new Game On! message across every touchpoint, from print advertising and outdoor sites to social content and the Trader Marketing Toolkit, giving the Fair a single, unified identity for the first time.

The Cunningly Good Results

The campaign exceeded its objectives across every key measure. We delivered over 100 pieces of campaign marketing creative, creating a consistent branded look for the event, and an outdoor media campaign with an estimated OTS (opportunities to see) of 2.5 million. This supported a 74% increase in website traffic during the campaign, demonstrating enhanced reach and better ROI for the media deployed.

Social media engagement grew significantly, with a 136% increase in Facebook reach during event week (from 160,000 to 378,109) and a 12% increase in followers, a 4% increase in Twitter reach and 13% increase in followers, and a 38% increase in Instagram followers. Commercially, the campaign delivered a 7% increase in tickets sold and a 10% increase in ticket revenue, meeting our key objective to increase attendance. Online advance ticket sales rose by 21%, with online revenues up 27%, comfortably surpassing the general 7% uplift in ticket sales and delivering a 2% increase in yield per ticket, showing that advance sales growth was not simply driven by discounting.

We generated 128 pieces of positive coverage, including feature pieces successfully sold in to The Scotsman, Farming Scotland, Shooting Scotland, Country Lifestyle Magazine and Gamewise, with coverage focused on countryside management issues and the case for science-based decision-making, meeting one of GWCT’s overarching objectives. Our DC Thomson media partnership delivered major features in Living Magazine, The Courier, Press & Journal and Scots Magazine, extending reach into Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Dundee, while 111 members of the press were accredited to attend. The event was filmed for two episodes of BBC Farmers’ Country Showdown, with news coverage on STV and BBC reaching an estimated national broadcast audience of over 6 million.

The campaign helped generate event revenues of circa £1 million across ticket sales, sponsorship and exhibitor income, a Return on Marketing Investment of £18.23 for ever £1 spent on marketing, meeting our objectives to grow attendance, strengthen the Fair’s brand and extend its reach into new geographical markets.

“Having worked with the Cunningly Good Group over the past few months in the planning and delivery of the GWCT Scottish Game Fair, I have found them to be an extremely professional PR & Marketing agency. They provide excellent advice, offer innovative ideas, deliver their work within the appropriate timescales and are always available for discussion and consultation. Their staff are extremely efficient, courteous and polite and have been a joy to work with.” Ewen West, Event Director, The GWCT Scottish Game Fair, Strathmore Event Services