Visit County Durham

Travelscape were commissioned by Visit County Durham in March 2008 to conduct an evaluation of phase II of their Hidden Gems marketing campaign. The primary objective of the proposed research was to evaluate attitudes and opinions of the campaign target audience towards the ‘visitcountydurham’ and ‘visitTeesvalley’ short break propositions.

The research also sought to establish and to measure some general tracking indicators such as awareness, familiarity, perceptions, recommendations and conversion. The results of this survey could be used to provide a benchmark for comparison with future evaluations which would map and inform improvements or otherwise in the success of future marcomms exercises.

Both pre and post evaluations were conducted using a face to face survey methodology. Interviewing took place across 4 areas at each stage, namely Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. This was equally split. The pre stage surveying took place in the three days prior to the radio campaign start date. The post stage surveying took place in the 4 days after the campaign end.

Our sample of respondents were specifically targeted as those people who regularly listened to either Smooth Radio or (the then) Century Radio (now Real Radio) and read local newspapers in the North East of England. In terms of measuring the uplift in awareness of Tees Valley and County Durham as an outdoor break destination, there are some very positives messages about respondent’s awareness and favourability towards the 2 areas.

The overarching results of our research surveys demonstrated that by jointly positioning the County Durham and Tees Valley proposition in front of potential visitors that the messages serve as a reminder and educator as to the shared offering.

Our results showed that there was little difference in the recall rate between the two versions of the Hidden Gems campaigns. And whilst, our respondents tended to be very favourable towards County Durham as a destination for a day trip, the awareness of the website address and the specific attractions was similar between the two campaigns albeit promoted by a differing radio group.

Within our recommendations, we were able to highlight the positive impact and subsequent opportunities afforded in using advocates across the North East of England to promote the two destinations.