Archive

We had various ONE GREAT DAY’S!

Over 200 shopping centres across the country take part in the UK-wide annual charity fundraising day – One Great Day, including 14 of our centres.   What is ‘One Great Day’ we hear you ask?   One great day is an opportunity to raise money for charity and have a great day doing it! Communities and families from across the UK came together at their local shopping centre to get involved in a day of family fun and charity challenge – supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital and a children’s charity in the local area.   It was initiated by parents whose son received care at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2014 and has so far raised over £850,000 for more than 330 different children’s health charities across the country.   One Great Day’s aim is to inspire, engage and empower the community to make a difference by getting involved in fundraising events.   Each year we help to organise various events for...

New website, who dis?

Captain Cook Square OVERVIEW The existing website did not represent the retail mix at Captain Cook Square, Middlesbrough, it was rarely being visited as it was hard to navigate and not particularly inviting. The website was not appearing in website searches. SOLUTION The new Captain Cook website was built to ensure it was easy to navigate on all platforms and was bright, colourful and welcoming. The SEO on the site was a key focus ensuring that it appeared in search engine rankings. THE RESULTS Compared to the first month of the website launch: +536.4% website visits +509.1% page views +126.4% new visits +102% increase in engagement time Craven Court OVERVIEW Craven Court in Skipton is a very unique shopping destination with a wonderful array of independent businesses in a beautiful setting. The previous website did not represent the brand. SOLUTION The new website we built is stylish and in keeping with the unique nature of the shopping destination. The website...

Multi-Award Winning Community Led Campaign- Stockton Stories

BACKGROUND Castlegate Shopping Centre and Wellington Square shopping centres are located in Stockton on Tees in the heart of the North East England.  Both centres have an active Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, with a clear objective to support and participate in the local community by engaging with local stakeholders in order to positively impact the environment, social needs and wellbeing of the community. Stockton-on-Tees is in an deprived area of the country,  with a large proportion of families where English is a second language and an extremely low literacy rate, with 1 in 4 children unable to read when they leave primary school. The team therefore decided to focus on literacy as a topic for the CSR initiative.  Working with local children and families also reflected the centre’s target audience, the ‘Family’ life stage, and meant that the centre could engage with many different community groups.     THE CHALLENGE  In April 2021 Castlegate and Wellington Square...

The Power of Video!

OVERVIEW:  It’s no surprise that videos have become extremely popular over the last couple of years and are now the leading choice for content consumption.  With the average person predicted to spend 100 minutes per day watching online videos in 2022* It is essential to include video content in your marketing plans for the year.  SOLUTION: We really enjoy creating video content, here are a few of our favourites;  1) Illuminate, London Wetland Centre 2) Culver Square, Colchester  3) Castle Quarter, Norwich 4) St Georges, Harrow  5) Elwick Place, Ashford RESULTS:   Views Engage- ments Impressions Clicks VTR Footfall  YOY Illuminate  102,000 4,774 696,000 3,410 15.59% n/a Culver Square 47,524 1,231 100,831 830 46.42% +19.13% Castle Quarter 38,907 678 96,100 532 39.6% +20.5% St Georges 10,724 53 10669 48 36% +11.8% Elwick Place 2,046 429 N/A N/A N/A +39.8% Seaway  4,500 11 N/A N/A N/A N/A Top ten reasons why you should use video content:  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million Video shows great ROI - brands who use video enjoy 41% more web traffic from search engines than ones that don’t Video builds trust - 52% of shoppers admit watching product videos makes them feel more confident to place an order ...

Why Instagram Reels matter

OVERVIEW Video content has taken us all by storm across social media but in particular on Instagram. Instagram Reels offers a creative way to add a visual experience beyond a grid post to your followers. SOLUTION Being a marketing agency that specialises in content management, we need to start sparking engaging conversations using Reels in our content and with our clients to ensure we stay top of mind and get noticed on Instagram. THE RESULTS Here are a few of our FAVOURITE Reels we have created to date: London Illuminature: from light to dark Toolbox Marketing GLAM-UP Christmas jumper goals with Peacocks, Wellingborough Foodie Friday in Coventry A cosy night in with Travelodge, Ashford Sparkle this Christmas with arc Shopping Centre In a nutshell, if you’re not using Instagram Reels in your content strategy – start! It opens up a massive opportunity to grow your brand, promote your content and encourage high engagement....

Placemaking at Castle Quarter Norwich

The Challenge Castle Mall was challenged by the changing face of retail, shopping habits and fierce competition resulting in many vacant units. Perceptions and performance were poor. As a result, the centre started on a path of evolution both in terms of what it was physically as a product and how it was perceived, the intention to become ‘The number 1 mixed-use destination for Leisure, Entertainment and Shopping in Norwich’, in short, ‘The Heart of Norwich’. The journey built momentum in 2019 culminating in a rebrand as a mixed-use destination and change of name to Castle Quarter in September 2019. The Solution It was important when rebranding CM that the new brand showcased everything available at the centre, but equally as important to create a place that people want to visit and to be a part of.  It was essential to build an emotional connection with the place itself, helping to create acceptance and moreover...

Mental Health Awareness Week at Culver Square

BACKGROUND Culver Square shopping centre, in the heart of Colchester has an active Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, with a clear objective to support and participate in the local community by engaging with local stakeholders in order to positively impact the environment, social needs and wellbeing of the community. Annually the centre supports Mental Health Awareness Week and this year’s theme of ‘Nature and the environment’ had the centre team particularly excited.  The evidence is clear that access to nature is crucial for our mental health and millions of people re-discovered that during lockdowns this year.  The centre’s aim for the national week was to encourage the Colchester community to share in the natural world and experience the mental health benefits. They saw the week as an opportunity to open the community’s eyes to the power of nature. THE CHALLENGE  The theme ‘Nature and the Environment’ inspired the centre team to create two community projects for Mental...

Elwick Place ‘Chill Lounge’

OVERVIEW The outbreak of COVID-19 saw an increase in one-stop visits and a decrease in dwell time. Our 'Chill Lounge' campaign needed to encourage visitors to want to increase their dwell time spent at Elwick Place, which in return, will help increase tenant spend. SOLUTION Full of upside-down ice cream cones and ice lollies, we installed a seating area that was a BIG hit during summer 2021. We offered the perfect place to catch up with friends, have some ‘you’ time after a workout or simply enjoy some downtime after food dates at Elwick Place eateries. We provided wooden benches with branded umbrellas for those who needed a little bit of shade when the sun was shining as provided weekly live music from local company Revelation Ashford. The Elwick Place Chill Lounge also included a competition element, partnering with Ashford College, to further support and add a digital element while, providing visitors with the perfect Instagram photo...

THE ADDED VALUE BENEFITS OF LOCAL MARKETS

OVERVIEW:  Since the coronavirus pandemic began, consumer behaviour has changed, with more shoppers seeing their local food shops and independent businesses in a new light. Support for independents soared and communities showed their value in terms of their unique offering, first-rate shopping experience and convenience for the customer. A solution was needed to help encourage additional footfall to town centre and high streets. Offering a place where the community can come along and eat, drink, taste, shop, socialise, relax, watch, listen, enjoy, discover locally. Something that is more than a generic market and that brings independent makers, visitors & performers together. SOLUTION: We helped launch a range of local unique markets to town centre's that showcase handmade products from local communities. They are makers, creators, designers, inspirers, producers, supporters, patrons, participants, consumers, enthusiasts that either have a long-standing independent business or launched during Lockdown 2020. RESULTS: Vegan Market, Elwick Place, Kent Calling all vegans! We partnered with local company Kent...

Maternity cover for Grand Arcade, Cambridge

OVERVIEW We were invited to cover the maternity leave for the Tenant Liaison Officer at luxury shopping destination Grand Arcade in Cambridge city centre. The role required someone to work onsite to undertake a range of retailer liaison and digital responsibilities while the existing team member was on maternity leave. The role was originally for 9 months but was extended to 13 months. SOLUTION Our Account Manager, Nicole, was based at Grand Arcade bi-weekly, enabling her to form strong relationships with store managers and the centre team. She quickly became part of the Grand Arcade family, rather than just the agency representative. Due to the regular contact with the tenants they were keen to get involved in digital content, competitions and events. By implementing a structured social media strategy, Toolbox Marketing were also able to maximise social media advertising and focus digital content according to the social media platform. Through the strong tenant relations role, Toolbox...