Overview

Research carried out at a number of public engagement events showed that Lincolnshire was relatively unknown as a visitor destination for many rail users in the south of the UK. To remedy this, the Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership teamed up with Visit Lincoln to create a marketing campaign promoting Lincolnshire as destination that’s easily accessible by rail.

The campaign used the national celebration of the Battle of Lincoln as leverage for the campaign and in May 2017 the Poacher Line and Visit Lincoln promoted Lincolnshire with an exhibition stand at London Kings Cross station, as part of Community Rail Network’s Community Rail in the City event.

Activity

The Lincoln Knights’ trail was being launched to celebrate three historical events: anniversary of the Battle of Lincoln; signing of the Charter of the Forest in 1217; and for the first time in 150 years the Domesday Book was being moved from London to join the Magna Carta in Lincoln Castle for summer festivities. The stand needed to be eye catching, engaging and facilitate conversation, so a decision was made to involve the knights themselves, taking five to King’s Cross.

Outcome

This campaign was hugely successful, generating ten hours of media coverage, including interviews and live reporting from the event by BBC Radio Lincolnshire. The value of this media coverage was estimated at £3,000.

Approximately 300 new consumer email addresses were captured to receive further promotional materials, in addition to over 1,200 one to one conversations with passengers and members of the public.