Objective

• Engage with existing customers while targeting new ones
• Encourage debate and interaction on new and existing social media channels
• Position System One as the ‘voice of Greater Manchester travel’
• Communicate the benefits of integrated ticketing and bus travel in a fun and accessible way
• Develop relationships with key influencers and boost buzz across online platforms

Target Audience

• Public transport users in Greater Manchester
• Potential public transport users in Greater Manchester
• Young professionals, students and youth who are considering using public transport

Strategy

• The Wonders of Manchester campaign was created as a platform to promote System One’s key travel messages and routes, by interacting with people in Greater Manchester through a fun campaign
• To engage and encourage debate with target audiences System One focused on harnessing regional pride and competition, within the boroughs of Greater Manchester, as to who has the ‘best wonders’ in their area?
• Develop the existing System One (OneManchester) presence on Twitter to reach and engage with target audiences through the Wonders of Greater Manchester campaign
• Create a Facebook group as an interactive platform to host the main body of the campaign
• Facebook was chosen as the preferred hosting platform, instead of using a micro-site, due to:
  • The popularity of Facebook among target audiences
  • Facebook’s ability to encourage interaction and feedback from audiences
  • Time and cost efficiency
• Engage with target audiences, including local communities, key influencers and bloggers, to encourage interaction with the Wonders of Manchester campaign and endorsement of System One as a whole
• Develop a portfolio of images, to represent key areas on System One’s travel routes, which can be used to support PR/marketing activity and for future promotional/marketing work
• Position System One as ‘the voice’ of Greater Manchester public transport by posting the latest and most interesting news/updates
• Offer audiences an opportunity to connect with System One through a fun mechanic that will boost System One’s online buzz on social networks
• Develop an online presence to seed out product information and discuss key issues such as integrated ticketing and bus travel

Implementation

Set up and Engagement

• A bespoke System One ‘Ten Wonders’ Facebook group was set up with information about the campaign, acting as a central, interactive hub to host the images and comments uploaded by audiences
• The Twitter profile was developed to act as a seeding mechanism, to find and engage with key audiences (e.g. regional media and bloggers’ Twitter profiles) and refer them to the Facebook group, encouraging participation
• Audiences were profiled through a process of keyword searches on both Facebook and Twitter, as well as through friend referrals, to create a community of engaged audiences participating in the campaign
  • To ensure System One was positioned as the voice of Manchester, Juice subscribed to a number of news monitoring services (e.g. PA Newswire) which provide instant updates on breaking news. This facility means that System One always has most up to date content, establishing the brand as the voice of Manchester
• To date, this activity has secured 523 new followers on Twitter (a 43% increase) and 124 members of the Facebook group, with 95 photos uploaded

Generating Entries

• In the genesis of the campaign, entries were incentivised through a one day travelcard give-away, which was seeded out across Facebook and Twitter, securing over 50 uploads in one week
• To maintain the initial momentum of the entry process, key influencers were encouraged to endorse the campaign on social media profiles, supported by subsequent offline media coverage
• In addition, influential bloggers (e.g. insidethem60 and fetchdidsbury) were contacted to secure blog coverage which directed traffic to the social media profiles securing entries

The Ten Wonders

• Due to the initial success of the campaign, a decision was taken to work alongside some online influencers and bloggers to develop a shortlist for the wider online community to vote
• Please note: The judging is taking place at the end of September with the shortlist to be announced online shortly after

Creativity

• To compete with the success of other Manchester-based public transport profiles in social media spheres, the ‘Wonders of Manchester’ campaign was developed to deliver the System One offering through an interactive campaign, designed to captivate the online audience and increase System One’s share of voice, and bring to life areas where people can travel using a System One travel card
• In light of this, Facebook was used as a strategic tactic to re-enforce the interactive nature of the campaign as opposed to developing a bespoke micro-site or blog to host the campaign entries

Results

• Increased buzz by 100% (now receiving 1.14 mentions per day)
• Engaged with key influencers and secured blog coverage with a PR value of £15,000 and a combined reach of 345,000
• Secured 124 members of the Facebook Group, 95 picture entries to the competition and an average of 15 engagements on Facebook per week
• Increased Twitter following by 523 (a 43% increase) and boosted listing from 27 to 47 (a 43% increase)