BASINGSTOKE

TOGETHER

Event Proposal March 2016

Contents

1. Overview

2. Basingstoke Position and Catchment

3. Proposed Events Programme

4. Marketing Activity

5. Evaluation

6. Relevant Experience and Track Record

7. Financial Allocation

1. Overview

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC)

As stated in the 2014 Top of the Town Concept Masterplan, ‘Top of the Town is the historic heart of

Basingstoke. In many ways the most interesting and dynamic part of the town but an area that has been

somewhat neglected in recent years’.

A key objective was ‘to enhance Top of the Town as a destination in the town through a year round events

programme with Market Place forming the focus of these activities’. Since the formation of this Concept

Masterplan, BDBC has successfully commissioned local partners to deliver a dynamic event programme.

BDBC are now looking to enhance the creative and inspiring events programme in the Top of Town, which

has been delivered over the last few years.

Basingstoke Together (BID)

Basingstoke Together was established in 2016 by Basingstoke Town centre businesses to champion their

interests and deliver change for the better. Basingstoke Together is a commercially led, independent, not

for profit company, which represents approximately 500 businesses in the town.

During the consultation for the formation of Basingstoke Together, businesses across Basingstoke Town

Centre highlighted an appetite for the BID to run a programme of visitor events across the town, linking

in with existing initiatives. As a result, this aspiration formed a key priority for the BID and became one of

the 12 pledges that the BID would deliver during its 5-year term.

As Basingstoke Together’s remit is to support the town centre as a whole, it presents the perfect

opportunity to unite a previously fragmented events programme. The first step to achieving this united

offer is to work with BDBC on its Top of the Town events programme.

Basingstoke Together have therefore compiled the following proposal for consideration by BDBC.

2. Basingstoke Position and Catchment

As a destination, Basingstoke is ranked 54th across the UK, with nearby competing centre Reading being

regarded in the top 20 destinations. Basingstoke has the potential to enhance this ranking, as

Basingstoke’s market position is much lower when considering the catchments affluence.

Basingstoke is fortunate to be home to the internationally acclaimed Anvil Concert Hall and Festival

Place, which was recognised in the top 20 shopping centres in the UK in 2016. Both assets represent

significant drivers for visits to Basingstoke. The next step is to present a united offer as a destination,

which aligns with the catchments expectations and taps into their interests.

2.1. Local Population

Basingstoke and Deane borough in 2015 had 173,900 residents living in the area, with a near enough

50/50 split between males and females (86,100 M and 87,800 F).

Residents in the borough earn on average considerably more than those across Great Britain and

propositionally higher than those in the South East – potentially indicating that the residents have higher

disposable income. Since 2008, the earning by residence has seen a steady increase in the Basingstoke

and Deane Borough with a higher trajectory than both the South East and Great Britain. The current

catchment represents a predominately mid to high affluence, and fall within CACI’s categories Affluent

Achievers and Rising Prosperity.

As identified by the St Michael’s proposed development retail assessment, on average 67.9% of local

residents chose Basingstoke as their destination for non-food shopping. The market share of residents in

Zones 6,7 and 8 is considerably lower, with 53.4% of residents in Zone 6 shopping in Newbury, 19% of

residents in zone 7 opting for Andover and 22.6% in Zone 8 opting for Winchester. This could result in

leakage of disposable income out of Basingstoke and Deane Borough.

2.2. Shopper Demographics

The current shopper profile represents a disproportionally mid to low affluence, with shoppers falling into

the ACORN profiles: Comfortable Communities, Financially Stretched and Urban Adversity.

CACI (2015) found that 17.6% of the spend within Basingstoke’s catchment is currently expected to be

spent within the town centre, meaning 82.4% is being spent in competing locations (Reading, Newbury,

Guildford and Winchester).

CATCHMENT AREA

2.3. Future Research

Through the EU Retailink project, it is currently proposed that detailed analysis will be conducted to

understand current perceptions of Basingstoke, in addition to a gap analysis being completed. The

results will help shape the event programme and communications.

In addition, continuously monitoring will take place of Basingstoke Together’s digital platforms – which

all provide consumer insights.

3. Proposed Events Programme – Aims and Objectives

Basingstoke Together will create and deliver a programme of events that will link to, and expand upon,

existing activity; additionally, a programme of new events and promotions will be delivered. The events

programme will be tailored to Basingstoke by highlighting Basingstoke’s USP’s, capitalising upon the

cultural diversity of the area and by ensuring that events are appropriate and attractive to the local

population and target market within the 30-minute drive time catchment area. Basingstoke Together

intends to deliver a sustainable events programme throughout the term of the BID i.e. during the next four

financial years with the programme incorporating and involving the arts, the local community and the

commercial heart of the town centre. The aim of the events programme is to build engagement with

businesses, cultural and arts organisations, community groups, partners and schools over a period of

four years; it is anticipated that this coordinated approach will drive footfall, sales and assist in

positioning the town as a major regional shopping and leisure destination. It is also envisaged that by

engendering civic pride and further building the loyalty of residents to the town centre, Basingstoke will

become a more vibrant, appealing and competitive town centre.

3.1. Made in Basingstoke (14th July - 13th August)

This month long programme of activities and events in July and August as part of the Summer in

Basingstoke campaign will be a celebration of the rich offer, range of goods, services and people that

have their origins in Basingstoke. Linking to Independents month, local independent businesses will be

a prominent feature during certain elements of the event. Local education establishments will be

engaged with opportunities for students to showcase their talents, industry and creativity. Town centre

businesses that produce their own goods and create culinary delights on site will have the opportunity to

engage with the event and feature in video’s and workshops. Basingstoke Together also intends to deliver

a Made in Basingstoke Market, working with local producers, artisans and educational establishments.

The event will also celebrate the borough’s rich cultural diversity and capitalise upon Basingstoke’s

creative industries. Links will also be established with Basingstoke Live and Festival.

At present during the event, the Jane Austen statue is due to be revealed. As the reveal will take place

during the event it will enable additional promotion to take place about Jane Austen’s connection to

Basingstoke.

Partnership Working

In order to deliver a comprehensive offer, Basingstoke Together will work together with partners from

across Basingstoke and Deane Borough. A potential list of partners is below.

Business

- 503 businesses in the Basingstoke Together BID area

- Hotels in the Basingstoke area

Creative Industry

- All our own Crafts

- Anvil Arts

- Basingstoke Live and Festival

- Hampshire Open Studios

- Little Brown Dog Ceramics

- Overton Art Group

- Proteus Theatre

- Tadley Art Studio

- That Gallery

- The Glass Studio, Old Basing

Culture and Heritage

- Basingstoke Historical Society

- Destination Basingstoke (Sitting with Jane)

- Hampshire Cultural Trust

- Hidden Britain Tours

Education and Young People

- BCoT

- North Hampshire/Basingstoke Young Enterprise

- Basingstoke Consortium

- Queen Mary’s College

Food and Drink Producers

- A Basing Bakes

- A Basket of Bees

- Andwell Brewing Company

- Anvil Coffee Roasters

- Berry Bros. & Rudd

- Bombay Sapphire

- Bramley Village Bakery

- Fernworth Farm

- Fyffes Bananas (packaging)

- Hampshire Cheeses Ltd

- Harroway Organic Garden

- Indigo Bakery

- Laverstone Park Farm

- Northdown Orchard

- Oliver’s Fish & Chips

- Sainsbury’s distribution

- Selecta UK – Vending Machines

- Summerdown Mint

- Turners Butchers

- Vitacress

Performer’s

- Basing Singers

- Basingstoke Academy of Dance

- Basingstoke Amateur Operatic Society

- Basingstoke Choral Society

- Basingstoke Hospital Ladies Choir

- Basingstoke Hospital Male Voice Choir

- Basingstoke Ladies Choir

- Basingstoke Male Voice Choir

- Basingstoke Rock Choir

- BATS Next Gen

- Carnival Chorus

- Hurst Singers

- JG Dance Basingstoke

- Kingsclere Singers

- North Hampshire Academy of Dance

- Ooh Ma Ma

- Overton Choral Society

- Sing Bramley

- Stagecoach Theatre Arts Basingstoke

- Steventon Singers

- Tadley Singers

- Theatretrain

Strategic Partners

- Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

3.2. Exit 6 Film Festival (23rd September)

The Exit 6 Film Festival is an international film festival which takes place annually in Basingstoke, UK, at

the end of September. The festival is a celebration of independent short film from around the world,

providing a platform for filmmakers to showcase and discuss their work, directly connecting with the

audience. Basingstoke Together intends to work closely with the event organisers to assist in growing the

event by engaging with town centre businesses, venues, arts and cultural organisations, hospitality

venues and hotels.

Partnership Working

- Anvil Arts

- Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

- Face TV

- Film Hampshire

- Hampshire Cultural Trust (Willis Museum)

- Hotels in Basingstoke and Deane Borough

- Red Lion Hotel

- Restaurants in Basingstoke Town Centre

- The Tea Bar

- Vue

3.3. Autumn in Basingstoke (23rd October – 29th October)

To coincide with the half term break, Basingstoke Together will umbrella brand activity taking place during this

period across the 503 businesses in Basingstoke to encourage families to visit the town centre. In addition to this

promotion, animation will be coordinated across the town to encourage extended dwell time and footfall. The finale

for this week long programme will be a ‘Day of the Dead’ event which will build, adapt and develop upon the event

staged for the past two years in the town centre. The Day of the Dead event will commemorate and celebrate key

individuals who have had an impact upon Basingstoke and will potentially include a mystery Casebook event where

visitors will be invited to crack the casefile on a trail that will lead them around the town centre and will incorporate

ghostly stories of people that have lived in the town. The Day of the Dead event will draw on the best elements from

the previous two years including community engagement and the creative arts whilst growing engagement with

both the daytime and evening economy in the town centre.

3.4. Christmas in Basingstoke (November/December)

Building on the successful Christmas in Basingstoke campaign from 2016, Basingstoke Together aims

to enhance the plans for 2017 by introducing a number of digital campaigns engaging with businesses

across the whole town centre. In addition, to coordinating a comprehensive programme of

activity/entertainment.

With Peter Pan, showing at The Anvil it is the perfect opportunity to sprinkle some magical Christmas pixie

dust over Basingstoke.

Digital Advent Calendar

A key feature of our Christmas in Basingstoke campaign will be the delivery of an online Advent Calendar.

The online advent calendar will enable businesses to offer exclusive discounts/incentives to drive

business into their stores/businesses. In addition, this platform enables data capture to allow for future

communications with visitors of Basingstoke.

http://www.adventcalendaronline.com/

In town Digital Advent Calendar

To compliment the online digital advent calendar, Basingstoke Together will look at ways to incorporate

a digital advent calendar into the town. This will allow for interactions, data capture and business

engagement.

Christmas Trail: Tinkerbell or Peter Pan’s Lost Boys Trail

To allow for families to explore Basingstoke, it is proposed that Basingstoke Together will work with

businesses across the whole town centre to generate a trail for children. The theme will either be festive

or will tie into Anvil Arts Christmas panto – Peter Pan.

Potential Partners

- Anvil Arts

- Basingstoke Discovery Centre

- Build a Bear

- Debenhams

- Festival Place

- Gap Kids

- H&M Kids

- Marks and Spencer

- Next

- Primark

- Proteus Theatre

- Sundaes Gelato

- The Entertainer

- The Malls

- TKMaxx

- Opportunity for all 503 businesses to participate

Christmas Selfies

Opportunities will be provided to take Christmas selfies around the town, with either a festive or Peter

Pan theme. This will provide content for social media channels raising awareness of the Christmas

campaign.

Christmas Entertainment

Basingstoke Together will work with partners to bring animation to Basingstoke over the festive period,

building on the collaborations established through the Made in Basingstoke Festival. In addition, to

bringing in addition entertainment where required.

3.5. Out of Scope Activity

In addition to the proposed activities, Basingstoke Together will also deliver a comprehensive marketing

calendar with promotions for key trading events, including Valentines, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.

4. Marketing Activity

Basingstoke Together has a range of platforms to ensure that each event within the proposed programme

is marketed to a wide audience. Town centre free access WiFi is complemented by a comprehensive

marketing platform, via this platform the Company can conduct targeted e-mail campaigns to users of

WiFi, over the coming months these users will represent a significant audience. WiFi users initially see a

splash page specific to the area of the town in which they log on, this page will be used to promote events

and festivals.

Via the InBasingstoke social media platforms Basingstoke Together will promote all event activity,

although these platforms have only recently been established the Christmas campaign to date has

achieved a reach of 125,000 on Facebook. It is anticipated that in coming months the social media

reach will increase substantially.

Basingstoke Together has an annual radio campaign established and events and festivals will be

supported and promoted with radio advertising.

Following the success of the Christmas InBasingstoke brochure which was distributed to 50,000 homes

in the secondary and tertiary catchment areas with an additional 10,000 distributed within Basingstoke,

the Company will produce brochures to support and promote events and festivals and these will be

distributed in the same way.

The recently launched InBasingstoke.org website established by Basingstoke Together provides an ideal

platform to promote town centre events and festivals, this site is promoted widely on a continual basis.

Additionally, when WiFi users sign in, after they initially see the splash page for the area of town in which

they have signed in, they are then directed to the website, this means that visitors to the town centre will

be informed about forthcoming events on a continual basis.

The comprehensive marketing strategy referred to above and the tools the Company has will ensure that

there is a joined up approach to marketing events and festivals. Partnership working via the Promotions

Working Group will assist with providing a consistent marketing message and approach for the town.

5. Evaluation

Basingstoke Together will conduct consumer surveys during events to ascertain visitors’ perceptions.

Additionally, baseline data will be available via Geo Sense and free access WiFi, these systems will

enable the BID to distinguish between new and repeat visitors and gather footfall data. Zone analytics

will provide in depth monitoring of the location of visitors within the town centre throughout event activity,

in addition the BID can monitor and track visitor journeys anonymously, this will show the flow of visitors

through the town centre and details where people arrive and what locations they go to, ultimately she

system pinpoints at what location they are in when their visit ends. The systems that are in place will

afford the opportunity to monitor and evaluate the success of individual event elements in addition to

more general global data for the town centre as a whole.

Basingstoke Together will also monitor its social media feeds and google analytics.

6. Relevant experience and track record

Basingstoke Together is a new organisation, having been set up by the business community in 2016.

Nevertheless, both Basingstoke Together’s Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive have extensive

experience of delivering Town Centre wide events.

Karen Wild

Karen has managed BIDs and town centre companies in Colchester, Bolton and Stratford-upon-Avon

before coming to Basingstoke in April 2016 to take up the post of Chief Executive of Basingstoke

Together. During her career in place management she has created and delivered large scale events

including a covered ice rink in Bolton which operated for a full month, International Clown’s Festival (5

day event), Daytime/Nightime Festival (4 day event), Fashion Show’s and exhibitions. Additionally, she

has had overall management responsibility for BID delivered events in Stratford-upon-Avon including The

River Festival (audience of 50,000 over a 2 day event), The Festival of Motoring (audience of 50 – 60,000

over a 2 day event), and developing and launching a food festival which attracted an audience in excess

of 50,000. Karen has worked with a variety of partners and has a track record of engaging with

businesses and key stakeholders to deliver events which link businesses and communities.

Rebecca Handley

Rebecca previously worked for Kingstonfirst, the UK’s first Business Improvement District. She has

completed various roles in relation to events throughout the 5 ½ years she was with Kingstonfirst –

including health and safety officer, volunteer coordinator, event planner and marketer. The events

programme included numerous Christmas lights switch on, international dance festivals, an aviation

festival, food festivals and markets. 4 showcase events throughout the year saw an incremental spend

of £5.3m into Kingston Town Centre.

7. Financial Allocation

Basingstoke Together will match fund BDBC’s budget of £40,000 in year 1 to create an events budget of

£80,000. Additional grant funding will also be sought to increase the overall budget. Basingstoke

Together will then increase their contribution to the £80,000 budget for 2018 and 2019 to allow for

BDBC reducing their budget to £20,000 and £10,000 respectively. As stated in this document

Basingstoke Together intends to continue to deliver an events programme throughout the term of the BID

(4 years remaining), the precise budget for the financial year 2020/21 has not been included as it is

beyond the scope of the partnership funding identified in this proposal. The funding allocated over the

four year period will be subject to the formal approval of the BID Board prior to the start of each financial

year, with the budget for 2017/18 already having been approved. The BID Board have had sight of this

document and it was approved as part of the future action plan.

In addition, it is anticipated that Basingstoke Together will receive in kind contributions to support the

proposed activity, this assumption is based on existing activities that have occurred.