dalton-parkTV ad buys among Dalton Park’s most productive marketing moves

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anyone hail the merits of television advertising. But for Heather Scott, the medium hasn’t lost any of its marketing appeal. The marketing manager for Dalton Park outlet center in Murton, UK used it as one of the primary vehicles for the new advertising campaign that she launched last October. In fact, she said that TV was the media vehicle that worked the best.

“TV had very good value for money as our catchment exactly matches the transmitter region for the local ITV channel,” Scott noted.

The spots were backed by other forms of advertising, including print, posters and direct mail.

To develop its ad creative, Dalton Park relied on the team at the Stark Hartley Atkinson agency, with which it has been working for only one year. The center left it up to long-time collaborator Robson Brown to handle the media buys—the center has been working with the firm for six years.

The look and feel of the center’s campaign imagery varied from one advertisement to another and from season to season. However, the sub-text was consistent: Dalton Park is a place that can not only ensure shoppers discounts of up to 50 percent on brand name merchandise, but it also promises to deliver a quality experience that will complement and enhance their lifestyle.

Dalton Park counted on that clear message to engage consumers at a time when they were less than receptive to marketing pitches that would tempt them into spending money.
“[The reason for the new campaign] was to increase footfall and arrest any effect by the credit crunch and retail recession,” Scott explained.
“Our goal was to increase the number of visitors to reach last year’s levels and also increase sales.”

It seems that the combination of bright, colorful, up-beat images and ad copy that explicitly communicated the savings, services and entertainment available at Dalton Park spoke to shoppers.

Traffic for the first half of 2009 increased by six percent over the same period last year, while sales increased a healthy 10 percent.

When asked if there was anything she would change in her center’s latest campaign, Dalton brings up a more familiar strategy for these digital times.
“I would add in more new media, especially social media formats like Facebook, Twitter and texting, among others.”

Given that Dalton Park usually updates its advertising campaign every year, new creative should pop up soon.


Aug.
2009
Posted in Cover
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