The myWorthing marketing campaign – gamifying consumer action

Key achievements:

• Exceeded ‘myWorthing’ app download target by 7%
• Exceeded Active Test target by 10%
• Achieved over 300 prize draw entries
• Campaign team presence at 8 public events
• Simplified the broader campaign objectives for public understanding

The brief:

West Sussex County Council in collaboration with Worthing Borough Council were leading on a centrally funded government project for Worthing called ‘BEACH’, to improve 4G and 5G mobile connectivity along the beach promenade and town centre. The digital infrastructure solution was suitable for an upgrade to supply the connectivity needs of users during peak times and high footfall events. Stronger network coverage and capacity was needed to benefit local Worthing businesses, tourists, and residents throughout the seasons. But mobile network connectivity data was also required, in great volume, to be able to support the technical analysis and later measure the improved network capacity.

An app was developed as the conduit for connectivity data collection and the Active BEACH Test, run from within the app, gathered upload, download and video playback performance data (off wifi). The council project team had already created the visual brand for the app – in line with the town’s place brand – but needed campaign messaging, an incentivisation plan, advertising, social media and a campaign team to promote the app and engage the public. Targets were in place for app downloads and active test runs. They needed capable and creative marketing agency support.

The work:

We planned the integrated marketing campaign and assembled the team. As we had after-dark events included on our attendance list we hired a light-up challenge game to attract attention and gamify public participation. We booked out-of-home advertising, bought a gazebo, an ‘A’ board and designed promotional signage alongside social media content. Biodegradable, branded balloons were ordered along with branded promotional items. A prize draw entry form was created and the grand prize organised. Once the app was ready to go after some testing and tweaks, we were ready to go too!  Due to bad weather, we had a rocky start but we managed to tag some replacement events on to the back end of the schedule along the way – not easy as we only had a small geographical area to work within. At every public event we attended, the team encouraged people to download the app and run an Active BEACH Test on their device. If individuals downloaded the app, they could play the game to get instant wins and if they also ran the connectivity test for us, they got to enter the grand draw. The team interacted with the public to explain what it was all for in a simple way and most people agreed that the local mobile connectivity definitely needed improving.

The results:

This was a fun one. We enjoyed executing the campaign and being such a visible part of the overall project. We hit and exceeded our two targets within the time frame, which provided the wider team with all the data they needed for the 4G & 5G improvements. We were also very popular when giving out our freebies and awarding the randomly selected grand prize winner!