Media campaign for the re-launch of HMS Belfast, May 2012
Media campaign for the re-launch of HMS Belfast, May 2012
By
Faye Duxberry
Following a six month closure for redevelopment, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) re-opened HMS Belfast in May 2012. The re-launch campaign was a great opportunity for the IWM to build a marketing strategy to meet the ongoing challenge to increase awareness of HMS Belfast as a must-see visitor attraction. This case study describes how this family-focused, promotion-led campaign helped to form an integral part of the overall marketing strategy of HMS Belfast.
Our primary target was families with children aged 8-11. We wanted to continue to target Learning Families – our largest visitor segment to HMS Belfast – who enjoy cultural activities as a family and are looking for an educational trip for the kids, but we wanted our campaign to appeal to families looking for more of a fun and social day out too.
We also wanted to consider how to maximise our marketing to take advantage of the high footfall of overseas visitors in and around the Pool of London area.
Process
We started with some ‘grass-roots’ marketing, aimed at raising awareness and spreading the word across the local area that HMS Belfast is reopening. We managed to use the hoarding surrounding the building work to our advantage, wrapping the boards with graphics and messages from our marketing creative to showcase the ship to people on the shore and reiterate that we are open.
