Driving Racegoers Back to Royal Ascot

Challenge

Royal Ascot 2022 was back to full capacity following Covid – and the ambition was to make it the best ever.
Key objectives of the media strategy were to increase attendance, especially from racegoers new to Ascot, and increase ROI.

Planning

• Data revealed two key customer segments: ‘early birds’ and ‘late buyers’.
• Our phased approach up-weighted during peak ticket demand and fell during quieter periods, minimising wastage.
• A soft launch targeted ‘early birds’ with an omni-channel digital presence – search, social, display – plus radio and video.
• The full campaign targeted both segments with TV, cinema and OOH from mid-March to mid-May, when the focus shifted to the late buyers.
• As the creative approach centred on ‘Drama’, we chose media channels with the most dramatic impact – cinema and large-format OOH.

Performance

All targets were exceeded: the highest number of racegoers to Ascot since 2018 and a campaign ROI of £7.33 for every £1 spent. New-to-Ascot racegoers, critical to long term growth, were significantly up on previous years. These thoroughbred results have enabled the Marketing team to secure more budget for 2023.