This is a bit of a departure from my usual blogs, which focus solely on the industry and DVO’s perception of the challenges that brands face. But, this time around I wanted to take a look at a piece of work we were involved in through 2014 with The National Literacy Trust (NLT), an amazing charity which works tirelessly helping to raise literacy standards in the UK.
As an agency that values content so highly, including the editorial variety, it seemed like an obvious fit to offer our services for the Books About Town campaign. It involved digital, installations, and a good deal of participation from famous authors and artists to create book benches, which you may well have seen dotted around London as part of four trails. On Tuesday, with summer and prime outdoor reading weather having drawn to a close, the benches were auctioned off. In total, over £250,000 was raised for the charity, funds that are vital for the NLT to be able to continue its good work in the UK.
As the digital partner, we designed and developed the website and bench trails, managed the content, and even had our own bench commissioned, that of C. S. Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was great fun and really allowed us to show off our creative thinking and our design and technical skills, coordinated across multiple stakeholders.
The site performed really well, averaging 85,000 visitors a month over the campaign duration, from a standing start. This was no-little thanks to our analyst Luke who optimised the site and put a plan in place to ensure maximum visibility in search, as well as solid social media integration.
The campaign itself is a great example of the real world and digital working harmoniously, with a strong communications plan implemented to drive maximum exposure. We ensured that the digital elements used available technology to enhance the overall experience – and feedback, particularly that witnessed in social media, signified that consumers really enjoyed following the trails as well as using the interactive map and check-in facility that were all part of the platform.
For DVO, this is exactly the sort of campaign we feel is set up to be successful, because fundamentally it acknowledges how consumers interact in the real world and with technology. By understanding these touch-points, we were better able to deliver that experience, which resulted in significant fundraising for the Trust, and (we like to think) helped make London a happier place with a whole lot of people visiting the benches, attending the events, and interacting with the digital aspects.
If you’re interested in how DVO can shape a digital marketing strategy that is driven by behaviour, facilitated by technology and really engages the people who can become your customers give us a call or better still, drop us a tweet.
Image credits
Feature: Martin Prettitt
Bottom: Martin Prettitt
