1.
DIGITAL DESTINATIONS
Dr Philip Alford
Bournemouth University
www.digitalhub.co.uk
www.pinterest.com/digitaldest
www.slideshare.net/DigitalHub
ddp@bournemouth.ac.uk
@schooloftourism | @philipalford
#DDBU

2.
Digital Destinations project is an ESRC funded research project,
delivered by Bournemouth University,
with an overarching aim to:
‘capture change in the adoption and use of digital technologies
and to develop a strong, competitive local tourism economy.
Through increased understanding and use of emerging digital
technologies, visitor economy businesses will be in a position to
increase their marketing and management effectiveness, and
develop new products and services that will provide an
enhanced experience for visitors to their destinations’

3.
The businesses benefited from 4 workshops which covered:
 Background to on line marketing
 Individual Business objectives
 Developing the strategy
 Measuring impact
 Reporting outcomes via case studies
All course material can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/DigitalHub
All business outcomes and blogs can be found at http://www.budigitalhub.co.uk/

4.
The following presentation is the case study provided by Castlepoint
Shopping Park
Castlepoint Shopping Park wanted to move further into the fashion market and be
known as a fashion destination to their customer. One of the key objectives to
achieve this was to create a personality for the centre and in doing so enhance and
show this through their digital marketing. Castlepoint were active in most elements
of on-line marketing but required more focus on social media, in particular Facebook
and Twitter. Customer relationship management was a critical element to their
overall marketing strategy for 2013.

5.
Castlepoint Shopping Park
DDP Project

6.
Agenda
• Background
• Social Media Review - 2012
• Social Media Proposals - 2013

7.
Background
• Castlepoint is a fashion and home orientated shopping park located in
Bournemouth, Dorset. It offers a unique shopping experience for its customers by
having some of the biggest retail stores in the region. Since opening in October
2003, Castlepoint is now the largest shopping park in the UK (Castlepoint, 2013).
• Having over 3000 free car parking spaces and late night weekday openings till
8pm, Castlepoint is a convenient place for customers to shop in one location
• The key strategy for Castlepoint in 2012, was to build on the personality of the
centre and introduce a more ‘human dimension’ to it. The aim was to create a
more emotive emphasis through PR and the introduction of original and more
community inspired events
• A challenge that Castlepoint currently faces, is being compared to other retail
parks, however as part of their strategy for 2013, Castlepoint are looking to move
further into the fashion market and be known as a fashion destination to their
customers. One of the main aims to achieve this is by creating a personality for the
centre. One way they can enhance and show their personality is through digital
marketing.

8.
Review of 2012

9.
Social Media Review - 2012
Social Media
Facebook was introduced in 2012 and has chimed
positively with shoppers. The results have been well
ahead of expectations with Facebook ‘Likes’ now
standing at 3,258 (end of December) and regular
engagement taking place. Notable peaks were…
• Student Lock In
• Fun Run
• Olly Murs
• Seasonal Events

10.
Website Statistics

11.
• Check Ins have reached 15,087 (as at end of December)
• Rapid increase of ‘check ins’ during the Student Lock In event.
(66 check ins 1/10/12 – 31/10/12 – measured per week)

12.
Students
• For the first time we put a concerted effort into
the targeting of students.
• This centred around a Student Lock In event on
the 1 October
• It gave students targeted discounts and
atmospheric benefits in the way of
entertainment.
• It also saw is partnering with Yellow Buses who
provided increased bus routes for the event.

13.
Student Lock In

14.
Student Lock In Statistics
• 24 retailers and 3 concessions agreed either up to 20%, a special offer, competition or
giveaways
• 1700 students pre-registered for the event
• In excess of 3000 students turned up on the evening between 6.00 pm and 8.30 pm
• Car park stats were up 4% in comparison to previous Monday
• Car park stats were up 18% on the year (please note that last year, the weather was
exceedingly hot, therefore car numbers were depressed)
• Car park stats between 6pm and 8 pm were up from 1539 to 1855
• Social Media “check in” activity on our Castlepoint Facebook page increased by 100 between
6.00 pm and 8.30 pm
• Our Castlepoint Facebook page had 2,295 fans, 151 talking about it and 13,005 check ins on
the day of the event - www.facebook.com/CastlepointShoppingPark
• Our Castlepoint Student Shopping Facebook page had 968 likes by the day of the event and
138 taking about it - www.facebook.com/castlepoint.studentshopping
• 74 followers on the Castlepoint Student Shopping Twitter Page by the day of the event
• Wilts and Dorset Bus Services also increased their passenger numbers during the month of
October by 5.33% in comparison to September 2012. Wilts and Dorset confirmed that this
was due to the uplift in numbers during the Student Lock In event.

15.
Situation Analysis

16.
SWOT
STRENGTHS
• Convenient High Street
• Scale of offer (breadth of retail fascias and size of
stores)
• Supermarkets
• Familiarity and loyalty amongst the core target
• Safe, secure, environment for families
• 3000 free parking spaces

17.
SWOT
WEAKNESSES
• Difficult to find for a non-user
• Access problems (now perceived rather than
actual)
• Perceived as too busy
• Volume of quality catering
• Lack of some high-fashion or street-fashion
brands
• Lack of covered event space

18.
SWOT
OPPORTUNITIES
• Enhanced retail tenant mix
• More use of segmentation (e.g. students)
• Further use of social media/digital technology (+Click
and Collect)
• Improve event programme/community involvement
• Third-party collaboration
• Giftcard/customer service
• Customer Loyalty
• Children’s Club/events

19.
SWOT
THREATS
• Car-park
• Resurgent Bournemouth/Poole
• New developments in Salisbury
• On-line

20.
The Plan for 2013

21.
What we want customers to think!
“It’s the most practical place to shop in the region”
“It’s friendly and I feel comfortable shopping there”
“The best place for families”
“It has shops and promotions which appeal to me”
“It’s increasingly stylish”

22.
Social Media Objectives
• To increase awareness of Castlepoint as a fashion
destination throught the use of E-marketing,
specifically through social media marketing to
encourage engagement with their customers online
• Introduce a Castlepoint Twitter page to increase
awareness of the centre through engagement of their
customers online and gain 500 followers at year end
• Launch Twitter with a strong competition to encourage
Castlepoint customers who are online to follow the
centre

23.
How?

24.
Digital
• Introduce TWITTER
• Continue with FACEBOOK
• Introduce Pinterest,
• The main website and the mobile version will
be continued in their current form
• A possible “Spend and Win” promotion will be
developed where prizes can be won via social
media based on spend-levels in store

25.
Twitter – The Facts
• Twitter has over 100 million active users and 50% of
them sign in daily.
• 55% of them access Twitter via their mobile phone.
• Every day, 300,000 new users sign up.
• Over 250 million tweets are posted daily.
• 40% of Twitter users don’t tweet but dip into their
timelines to keep tabs on what people are saying.
• What makes people retweet? Interesting content,
humour, personal connection, celebrity status, offered
incentive
• (tangible or viral) or just being asked to “please RT”.

26.
Twitter – Student Lock In

27.
Twitter Profiles - Bournemouth

28.
Twitter Profile Names
• https://twitter.com/castlepointshop
• https://twitter.com/castlepointbmth
• https://twitter.com/cpointshopping
• https://twitter.com/bmthcastlepoint

29.
Twitter Competition
• Castlepoint Twitter Launched on 4 February with
a competition to win £100 for Valentines Day.
The results are:
• 152 retweets
• 23 mentions
• Beginning of the campaign 6 followers.
• End of the campaign 181 followers
• +2916% increase

30.
PInterest
• PInterest was launched on the 11 April. This is
an additional section to Facebook. It is an
online pin board that Castlepoint and online
customers can use to collect images, whether
fashion, food or home wear that inspires them
and they want to share amongst Castlepoint
Facebook fans.
• http://pinterest.com/castlepointshop/

31.
Partnerships
• We will expand on our current partnership
arrangements which now stretch to 60
businesses, Bournemouth Tourism and
Bournemouth University
• Castlepoint has also been selected for a Digital
Destinations project

32.
For more information on DIGITAL DESTINATIONS contact:
Dr Philip Alford, Bournemouth University
ddp@bournemouth.ac.uk
@schooloftourism | @philipalford
#DDBU