Highcross is Leicester’s flagship retail destination, with more than 80 shops as well as a huge range of restaurants and cafes. After developing the ‘Highcross Happiness’ campaign in the summer, we were briefed to evolve the campaign for the festive season.

The Challenge

The festive period is always a vital one for retailers, and despite reports predicting cutbacks in consumer spending, cost of living stresses had eased. Highcross enlisted us to create and deploy a campaign to remind customers that they are the number one destination of choice for ‘Christmas feel good fun’ in the city. From lights to shopping, meals and cinema trips, we wanted to evolve the Highcross Happiness campaign in a way that empathised with the mood of the nation.

The Solution

Creating a fully integrated festive campaign designed around happiness and human connection, with the objectives focused around driving footfall, but also encouraging customers to enjoy ‘shared experiences’, rather than just spending. We created 168 creative assets for the campaign that were used in-centre, out-of-home and across digital, including:

- 125 digital creative assets incorporating tactical messaging
- 48 in-centre creative assets
- Above-the-line media including TV, radio ads, and bus liners
- Video and photography shoots
- Onsite support for Highcross’ free festive event

The Outcome

Impressions were high across our social media campaign, including 618,279 Meta impressions and 1,493,180 TikTok impressions. On both platforms, we noticed a significant uptick in performance after introducing in-centre footage into our campaigns. Our organic social content, which was created to support the campaign and highlight individual retailers, generated 152,763 impressions.

Our digital display and remarketing ads performed extremely well, earning 1,091,334 impressions across the campaign.

Across our Sky Adsmart TV campaign we achieved a total of 1,030,679 impressions, and our radio campaign achieved a total of 12,535,902 impacts. The local placement of bus backs achieved an audience reach of 294,543 with a total of 1,973,438 impacts.

Reflecting on our Christmas campaign, I am really happy with the outcome & positive results driven by the team at Rock Kitchen Harris. RKH's dedication & expertise were the key to ensuring our message reached the right audience through the most effective channels. Their strategic approach not only boosted footfall to the centre and contributed significantly to the success of the Bright Christmas light event, but ensured Highcross was amplified as a positive & joyful place for our visitors to spend the Christmas period. Working with Sam and the team has been fantastic, and I'm thankful for their part in making this festive season such an achievement across all channels. 

Megan Griffin, Senior Marketing Executive - Savills

By the numbers

2,111,459

Paid social impressions

152,763

Organic social impressions

2,477

Social engagements

1,091,334

Display and remarketing ad impressions

45,295

Total ad link clicks

12,535,902

Radio impacts achieved

1,030,679

Sky AdSmart impressions

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The Team

Annabelle Harper

Annabelle Harper

Director

Baillie Horwood

Baillie Horwood

PR Account Manager

Ben Scothern

Ben Scothern

Senior Copywriter

Ciaran Turner

Ciaran Turner

Search Marketing Manager

Dominic Palmer

Dominic Palmer

Creative Director

Katie Smith

Katie Smith

Senior Social Media and Content Manager

Katie Westwood

Katie Westwood

Senior Planner

Sam Baxter

Sam Baxter

Senior Account Manager

Selina Conroy

Selina Conroy

Social Media and Content Manager