Celebrating 150 years
When we were tasked with publicly celebrating the 150-year anniversary of Hanmer Springs’ first dressing shed, we knew we’d need a compelling idea to drive it.
Our research led us to local historian Rosemary Ensor who told us the dressing shed was built by John Fry. He leased the Jollies Pass Hotel and would bring guests by horse and cart to bathe in the thermal pools.
Given the fact that shed has now grown into a multi-million dollar complex, we knew we had a nice story but not one that every media outlet would pick up on.
We knew television would best showcase the complex, and the resulting 7 Sharp story featuring General Manager Graeme Abbot and reporter Rachel Parkin proved us right!
We still wanted to find a way to amplify awareness via other media and social media.
We landed on giving away a pool pass valid for the next 150 years. It would be stainless steel for durability and expire in 2171. The terms enabled the pass to be bequeathed to direct descendants of the winner.
Video content promoted the competition on social which drove entries to the complex’s website. We used the opportunity to collect stories about people’s connection to Hanmer Springs and why they deserved to win the pass.
The content was compelling - stories from people with terminal illnesses; dozens of wedding proposals; pictures and videos from old family holidays, weddings and special occasions – even a story of an engagement ring lost (and then found) in the pools
Impact
The competition’s reach on social was 543,149, and more than 2,100 people entered (that is an additional 1,200 people for the pools’ customer database).
The winner (a couple who’d gone down the hydroslide in their wedding attire) received the pass in a presentation that was live-streamed on the pools’ social pages and those of Canterbury influencer Chris Lynch. His livestream video has been viewed 34,000 times.
Stories on the pass ran on One News, Newstalk ZB news, Newstalk ZB’s Saturdays with Jack Tame, Avenues magazine, The Press and stuff.co.nz, Hurunui media and The Breeze. The combined audience was 1,009,952. 7 Sharp’s story was gold.
We exceeded all expectations – even our own!