A group of ten major North-east festivals has taken home a highly sought-after festival and event award.
Aberdeen Festivals was awarded the ‘Marketing & Digital Festival Excellence’ prize at this year’s E Awards, Organised by EventIt. The accolade recognised the collective’s effective digital marketing campaign carried out across a 12 month period.
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Created to jointly promote Aberdeen’s festivals, develop audiences and strengthen the sector, Aberdeen Festivals, undertook a collaborative and integrated digital marketing campaign profiling each festival to local, national and international audiences.
Angela Michael, Festivals and Culture Director at VisitAberdeenshire, commented, “Aberdeen Festivals is well deserving of this award; the work the group has undertaken over the past year has made a significant difference to the profile of culture and the festivals across the region.”
Aberdeen Festivals’ marketing activity successfully secured the award with a strong profile of digital excellence. All 10 festivals worked in tandem to raise the bar for North East festivals using a range of online channels including social media as well as online partnership working with The List and STV.
Angela continued, “Not only have our festivals’ digital marketing efforts positively raised the profile of festivals within Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, they have also helped position the city as one of cultural prominence. The creative offering exists and Aberdeen Festivals has highlighted this to a previously untapped audience.”
On the back of the winning campaign, festivals have wholly reported a consistent increase in audience participation. In early 2016, SPECTRA, welcomed 35,000 people, an increase of 25,000 participants from its 2015 festival. In 2017, SPECTRA reported yet another rise in participation to 63,000 visits. Aberdeen Jazz Festival experienced a 40% rise in ticket sales in 2016.
Aberdeen Jazz Festival is the next up in the Aberdeen Festivals line-up. Organised by Jazz Scotland, the festival takes place from 15-19 March. Fiona Alexander, Director of Jazz Scotland, said, “Aberdeen Jazz Festival is so delighted to be part of an award winning group. Since joining Aberdeen Festivals in early 2014 we have seen a remarkable rise in Aberdeen Jazz Festival’s online exposure, ticket sales and we have continued to expand our programme. With our annual festival kicking off next week, the award will help us boost our profile even more.”
Members of Aberdeen Festivals are SPECTRA, Aberdeen Jazz Festival, Look Again Festival, May Festival, Aberdeen International Youth Festival, TechFest, True North, North East Open Studios, DanceLive and sound. Aberdeen Festivals is sponsored by Nexen and is supported by VisitAberdeenshire and Aberdeen City Council. The group was created three years ago as a gap for partnership working amongst festivals in Aberdeen was recognised by industry.
The E Awards celebrate excellence in Scottish events and festivals, and took place on Thursday 9th March at the SEC in Glasgow.
