RHS Blooms as Attendances at Cardiff & Chelsea Flourish
May 15 2009
After launching the brand new £1million integrated campaign with Sheffield based advertising agency Front, the RHS has enjoyed success and exceeded targets at the first two events of the year; RHS Show Cardiff and RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Despite a tough economic climate, visitor numbers at RHS Show Cardiff were up by an impressive 22% from the previous year with the total number of attendees standing at 17,017. Whilst at RHS Chelsea Flower Show the full 157,000 capacity sold out one day ahead of schedule.
The RHS is the UK’s leading gardening charity dedicated to advancing horticulture and promoting good gardening. Nicky Childs-Clarke, shows marketing and partner promotions manager at the RHS said; ‘The shows offer the perfect platform to inspire all those with an interest in gardening and encourage excellence in horticulture.’
The new creative and strategic campaign includes online display, search and affiliate marketing as well as a heavy emphasis on traditional offline national media, outdoor advertising and radio. The overall creative strategy has been to develop a consistent and compelling creative platform that works across all shows. Each show has its own personality which has been built upon without loosing the core creative thread that links them together.
Nicky Childs-Clarke also said; ‘The attendance and ticket sales for the first two shows have been fantastic. We know 2009 is a hard year for the majority of the public but these results and numbers really do prove that people want to get value for money and are attracted by the RHS shows proposition.'
The remaining show dates in the 2009 calendar are; Hampton Court Palace Flower Show – 7th to 12th July and RHS Show Tatton Park – 22nd to 26th July.
Joe Chetcuti, director of Front, concluded; ‘This first set of results is a great reflection of all the hard work and creative thinking that has gone into the new campaign and focus. We firmly believed in the offering and it’s exciting to think that another two events are on the way.’
