Blackjack provided teams of Brand Ambassadors in branded uniform to sell copies of The Times and The Sunday Times at Goodwood.
Having staffed the event for the previous few years, Blackjack were delighted to provide staffing teams for 2010's festival. Our experience prepared us for logistical difficulties, weather instability and finding the most effective sales technique for the product, location and consumers.
The Times and The Sunday Times were official sponsors of the Goodwood Festival, therefore the objective was to take advantage of the brand exposure and sell as many copies as possible. Initially, the papers were distributed for free, however Blackjack highlighted the potential gains to selling the copies, using goodie bags and 'freebies' such as Clarkson DVDs as incentives to buy. As a result, the papers have been sold as opposed to given away to such a successful degree, that News International has covered all it's costs of the campaign.
Staff were recruited for the campaign based on their previous sales and promotional experience and outgoing personalities. Furthermore, staff participated in both Blackjack training and a scheme run by The Times & The Sunday Times themselves to ensure excellent product knowledge.
Logstics were organised in response to the feedback from the previous years and we experienced our most successful year yet.
Blackjack were also tasked with staffing The Times VIP area which required staff with excellent hosting and customer service experience.
For the most recent festival (2010):
Blackjack provided 1 Senior Event Manager, 1 Event Manager, 4 Team Leaders and 13 Brand Ambassadors.
Over 18,000 copies fo the paper were sold and over £22,000 revenue was raised from paper sales.
Blackjack's repeat involvement with this event demonstrates it's success.
Knowing the target audience is key to maximising ROI therefore we knew that selling copies here would work as there is a higher percentage of target audience here than other venues. Clear messaging, fun give away and 'bag for life' meant branding continued well after initial contact with consumer wearing bag for the whole day and duration of event.