Case study – Objective: Prompt action
Halfords teamed up with The Mail on Sunday to galvanise the nation to down screens and get outdoors over the summer.
Thanks to a gloomy economic outlook and the rising cost of package breaks, foreign holidays were out of reach for many. With this in mind, Halfords set about promoting staycations via quality outdoor activities. In short, the aim was to make Halfords the home of summer experiences and drive footfall to stores during a crucial sales period.
With 90% of parents worried about how much time their kids spend on screens and 75% of teens considering it important to spend more time together outdoors, Halfords teamed up with The Mail to encourage consumers to ‘unplug and reconnect’.
Over three months, the editorially-led partnership prompted families to ditch the gadgets and get outside. The campaign ran across all of the Mail’s platforms, with over 370 individual pieces of content created around three simple principles: campaigning, inspiring and converting. At different stages, activity spanned native articles in print and digital, supplements, branded video, interactives, in-store activation, bespoke emails and social extensions.
Significantly, the campaign drove a six-fold increase in footfall and was the most effective ever to feature in Halford’s econometric modelling.
The staycation campaign with The Mail is the most successful and profitable summer ‘partnership’ campaign we have ever delivered. The Mail brought editorial disciplines and a campaigning platform that allowed us to create an inspirational story.
Caroline Waller, head of advertising, digital marketing & PR, Halfords
