South West 2009 show was backed by 'massive' ad campaign
Published: 22nd Mar 2009, 21:23:58 | Permalink | Printable
Hundreds of leaflets, posters and plugs in the local press and by the local radio station advertised this year's RISC OS South West 2009 show, according to event publicist Rob Hodson.
The advertising blitz came following increasing calls for RISC OS shows to be publicised in more mainstream publications and outlets, away from the platform's own media, in order to attract more non-RISC OS users. Despite efforts to reach out to more punters, Rob admitted it was hard to tell if it made any difference to attendance figures for February's show at the Webbington Hall Hotel in Somerset.
Stilt-walking sandwich board advert man Rob said: "Partly in response to criticisms last year and partly because of lessons I learned from unrelated exhibitions, there was a massive publicity campaign this year in the local area.
"1,700 leaflets were put through doors in Weston-super-Mare itself, villages
around the venue, Cheddar, Bath, and Chippenham. 27 Posters went up in Chippenham, Bath, Weston, Cheddar, Winscombe, Cross, Axbridge, and Lower Weare. Stilt-walking went on over three days with a teaser advert a week before, and proper boards on the Friday and the sunny Saturday, in Weston, Winscombe, Worle, and Bristol.
"In addition, there was a mention in the Weston and Somerset Mercury on page 32 the Thursday before the show, and plugs on Star FM on the Friday and Saturday, the day of the event."
Rob continued: "It's hard to tell if it made any difference. There's no use making it free admission if visitors need a 14 quid taxi journey to get to the venue (up a hill in the middle of nowhere), and while the credit crunch may not have impacted that badly on RISC OS companies, it has on the local visitors. Some RISC OS enthusiasts commented that the national publicity, through Drobe and Iconbar, was late although I do not believe this was the case."
He added that the Webbington Hall Hotel was still an ideal location for the show due to its size and car parking space.
South West show 2009 show report
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Great work in publicising. I guess the lesson is to keep going. It's possible you may have started some momentum and something may have lodged in peoples' minds.
AW on 23/3/09 7:34PM
RiScript in delivery delay shame
When silence is not golden
13 comments, latest by JGZimmerle on 4/5/06 9:24PM. Published: 29 Apr 2006
"RISC OS development is a waste of time with [Drobe's] aggressive attitude towards reporting and disregard of facts"