Westminster City Council was Westco Communications' biggest client and as a result we have handled most of their big communications campaigns over the years. When the first lockdown ended, they turned to us to create a brand to encourage locals and visitors to use the shops again safely.
We developed an optimistic logo construction that embodied the word local within a heart, as a way of leveraging the overwhelming support towards Westminster’s businesses and communities during lockdown. The branding was then adapted depending on the application, to show a variety of actions such as Eat, Cycle or Maintain Social Distancing.
The digital campaign drove visitors to a ‘Reopening Westminster’ branded page on the Westminster City Council website. More than 5000 people clicked through from our social media posts in the first five weeks.
The campaign was shared on social media by councillors, celebrities and publishers such as Time Out, which helped it create a huge footprint. It also featured in numerous news stories on many channels including BBC news, Sky news, LBC, BBC radio London, The Evening Standard and Metro.
The campaign won a Hermes gold award and was a Creative Moment finalist, both in the Public Sector Campaign of the Year category.
The campaign won a Hermes gold award and was a Creative Moment finalist, both in the Public Sector Campaign of the Year category.
Sightsee Crowd Free
Following the reopening of high streets after the lockdown had eased, the next issue for Westminster was to lure back tourists. Westminster’s businesses were disproportionally affected post-lockdown due to the high number of them that rely on passing footfall from visitors and commuters, rather than local residents.
Social Media
Our campaign turned a negative into a positive: with London’s streets virtually empty, you could now enjoy the sights without the crowds.
I decided we should illustrate the campaign rather than use photography. This would to capture the imagination of the viewer, and feel far more vibrant and exciting than showing empty streets. The style was influenced by the London Transport posters of the 1930s, many of which were designed for exactly the same purpose: to encourage people from surrounding areas to visit London.
Posters
The social posts were used across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, targeting residents of other London boroughs and the home counties.
The campaign was very successful. The Sightsee Crowd Free webpage on the Westminster website was viewed more than 5,000 times in six weeks and the social media posts generated more than 26,000 click-throughs. The video content was viewed a total of more than 3,600 times.
As well as social media executions we produced digital posters for stations in and around London.
The campaign was shared on social media by local celebrities, travel influencers and online publications such as Time Out. The media picked up on the story with a full-page story on page three of the Evening Standard the day before launch, with mentions in other news outlets included Radio London, LBC, Metro and Metro.co.uk.
Mobile phone GPS tracking data showed a sharp rise in visitors coinciding with the campaign’s launch, peaking at a 38% increase. Visitors from the home counties increased by more than 50% over the period the campaign ran.
We also produced a number of videos made from vox-pops of people who had already ventured in and had positive experiences. These were very powerful in demonstrating what a good time it was to come into the West End for the day.