Challenge Introduction. Music by Joakim Karud
1. Discovery
Mid-October 2018 – December 2018
I began with a comprehensive Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats analysis,
including a range of town & country “scapes”. On top of which I also dealt with local and county level development agencies, as well as carried out surveys of residents, businesses, schools and groups throughout the region.
including a range of town & country “scapes”. On top of which I also dealt with local and county level development agencies, as well as carried out surveys of residents, businesses, schools and groups throughout the region.
The resulting 90 page report and the meetings to discuss it formed what I called a Why, How, What (WHW) “1-Pager” Starting Position.
The first positioning statement for the town in which to make any benchmarks moving forward. The Why is the ultimate guiding motivation behind the brief and many within the Association. The How describes what they are doing to achieve it, and the What is a description of the town as a flat service or product.
2. Strategy
January 2019 – February 2019
The Association and I firstly recognised the weak market and Gaeltacht aspects of the town while also facing the disunity in the community, before engaging in a longer term initiative all within the understanding of what is today the “experience economy”.
By attempting to improve stakeholder relations, and promote a coming together by the residents we would be making a grass roots effort to resolve the town's fortunes.
By making it clear that An Fál Carrach could have new relevance if they made a clear delineation and emphasised its character away from neighbouring towns & villages and stressed its unique qualities through clear communications and consistent experience.
The strategy of playing to your strengths and aligning everyone's understanding behind this is vital for most businesses but especially for a singular message for a town that otherwise receives very little of the favour it might have in days long gone.
The Phase ended with the creation of a draft Strategic Articulation & WHW document with an accompanying marketing strategy, brief and draft marketing funnel.
By offering a new perspective of how the town could be seen with an early strategic articulation the new draft WHW doc seems less daunting and more rooted in real day-to-day living, but the task of making the communications was still waiting.
3. Target Research
March 2019 – April 2019
After further iterations of the Town's Strategic Articulation, its USP & Value Proposition, as well the WHW 1-Pager, a marketing funnel was built for two audiences—an inbound visitor group and the local residents, who rarely crossed paths.
The two audiences both availed of the unique but very disparate features within the town. It was necessary to engage the locals with the right message once they are asked by the visitors making use of the niche services and surroundings.
Followed by their respective insights, with a creative brief which identified the objective of increasing engagement of the town's Focus on Falcarragh Facebook account in order to funnel conversation into one area and aid the formation of a common "script" from which residents could repeat consistent messaging.
(Left) The local target were the local school's teens who came from over the entire region to the National School in central Falcarragh, beyond merely the town and therefore had access to a support network of parents and wider family, helping to propel their voice. (Right) Visitors would only be engaged, as expected, by nature and niche hospitality.
4. Creative Messaging
May 2018 – July 2019
At the end of a long process I delivered a creative articulation for the town with an accompanying WHW 1-Pager to keep all experience and communication consistent and an experience parameter.
While the outlining documents is a hard point in maintaining communications 'on script' the hardest aspect remains squarely in the hands of those in the community to take the necessary steps to make sure they engage all aspects of it.
to introduce the the new positioning I built an activation concept to emphasis "where exceptional meets everyday, and using the following:
Insight
Where locals see 'obviously the same as before', visitors see obvious exception.
Concept
the exceptional is only another day.
Activation
Another #DayInFalcarragh
Internal Concept Key Visuals Left (Ga.) "dé luain. Unique Ascent, Na Croisbhealaí. Seo Linn Arís #LáArAnFhálCharrach."
Right (En.) "monday. Unique Ascent, Na Croisbhealaí. Another #DayInFalcarrach."
Photography by Unique Ascent
Internal Concept Key Visuals Left (Ga.) "déardaoin. An Chúltráigh, Na Croisbhealaí. Seo Linn Arís #LáArAnFhálCharrach."
Right (En.) "thursday. The Back Strand, Na Croisbhealaí. Another #DayInFalcarragh."
Photography by Proinsias Carr of Aerial Views Donegal
The work uses the fact within the insight that all of the fascinating things that can be seen in Falcarragh are niche, extreme, and intense, to the visitor, however to those who know that on a daily basis are lost to its beauty. The art work in the concept therefore must be either visually striking showing the best of the scenery and the craft of individual services and businesses available, but also show the wide range of activities unknown to many who even live there, such as the sea-stack climbing offered by Unique Ascent, run by the only qualified man in Ireland available to offer it.
- Activation Execution
By having a short campaign aimed at both the local residents and also at visitors who aim for unique experiences, the main idea places ads on Facebook and Instagram directly communicating to them in both English and Irish to watch unfold three Friday itineraries leading up to the Summer festival.
All communication was carried out in both the language of the Gaeltacht, An Ghaeilge (or Irish) and also English.
The itineraries were displayed on a campaign site dayinfalcarragh.ie (no longer available) which housed all of the information and itineraries to experience.
From landing page to itinerary the audience could choose a range of activities and experiences in the town and surrounding area that would show a feature-rich area of culture, activity, and amenities to keep both locals and visitors engaged.
Local school teens became hosts to their own town along with a local outdoor guide and a national television personality, a native of the town who also took part.
With the generous help from local adventure walking guide Séamus Doohan, An Fál Carrach native and national personality and weather presenter Caitlín Nic Aoidh alongside the invaluable contribution from the local school teens the project was able to reach out to many within the town and its neighbouring parishes and region.
The audience were able to see as-it-happened, through photos, videos, comments on posts throughout the day, and later with the guide into the evening of how exception does meet everyday in An Fál Carrach.
One of the most impactful elements was proven to be comments and professional posts on social. With discernment and appreciation for copy and art communications took a step up and the audience appreciated in kind.
I managed production, and designed and directed all video, ads, and web, as well as managed event days and online account coverage.
In total ad spend distribution was placed on five separate days. Two lead up and three event days themselves. The lead up ads were able to emphasise the core position change of An Fál Carrach in general, celebrating that "the exceptional is just another day". Come the event days themselves emphasis was placed on the ease by which excitement, niche exhibition and activity, or social and nightlife could be attained.
While Facebook was by-and-far the go-to app and platform of choice for the vast majority of those in the town, Instagram having connectivity with the FB account enabled to share content and be extra visible. On top of that the unique feature to highlight the videos within Instagram helped categorise what was recorded and in what location. This helps anyone later to review specific locations and plan their own itinerary when visiting.
- Results
The objective was to promote engagement on Facebook and funnel attention to the Focus on Falcarragh Facebook page. While an accompanying Instagram account was also newly set up to help broadcast the event days the advertising Facebook was central.
In the end, engagement was emphatically increased over the campaign period with positive awareness and contribution felt by many within the town and neighbouring region. Not only was the site ranked highly versus nearby comparisons but also owned and organic posts/comments saw huge reach and engagement, way over normal expected percentage of social or local business norms.
The final figures showed a large spike in followership over the period of July. Along with a positive increase of engagement in general the project proved its worth in redirecting people's attention to Focus on Falcarragh in order that they continue to engage back with their audience the people of the town, in order to continue to 'come together'.
A selection of the most commented and engaged posts.
A selection of the most commented and engaged organic posts from others and businesses.
Ad lift for the promotion also achieved high performing results, with high response for the Irish language messaging, suggesting a hunger for professional and balanced communication in the native language.
Instagram too, had steadily increased followership despite zero activity since the end of the campaign, doubling in numbers since the promotion finished, suggesting potential rewards if followed up.
Outcomes
The high reach and engagement from Focus on Falcarragh’s posts with consistent, positive and professional communication coming together around key town elements,
revealed a hunger for consistent expression around what they know.
revealed a hunger for consistent expression around what they know.
- Areas for Improvement
The project did however reveal some holes in the preparedness of the business scene in the town. Despite the range of the tools available today for SMBs, the town's businesses require more training on how to explore them and take advantage of their unique marketable value.
On top of which there was an aversion to sharing or commenting on even clearly beneficial content, unless it was otherwise wholly owned by the creator.
These were all evidence of a culture of siloed efforts, unwillingness to cooperate or support despite the need to promote the whole community as a means to promote themselves, individually.
Stage 1 Completion. Next Steps for An Fál Carrach's Association
Armed with a comprehensive 90 page observation report with key takeaways,
a town articulation:
Na Croisbhealaí
—where exceptional meets everyday.
—where exceptional meets everyday.
along with a WHW 1-Pager AND benchmark figures from their first activation that proves their marketable value it really is an exciting time to continue to build on this foundation.
Original video used for online campaign landing page and was created without music.
Case study additional music by Joakim Karud
Case study additional music by Joakim Karud