The festive season is a significant and busy time of year for all of our businesses and the town. Each year, Kingston First organises a programme of Christmas activities and installations to drive footfall and create a festive town centre experience for the local community and visitors.
We have a created an exciting offer and range of experiences, including free activities to encourage families to spend time in Kingston this Christmas. The ‘Make it a Kingston Christmas’ campaign will target new visitors and locals through advertising and social media, highlighting the offer and experiences available for a family day out this Christmas.
This year, we have some unique challenges facing all of us with the impact of the cost of living crisis. Despite this we still want to bring the joy of Christmas to the town centre and create an exceptionally magical and unsurpassed Christmas experience that everyone can enjoy, no matter their circumstance.
Our goal is to deliver an impactful and memorable ‘Make it a Kingston Christmas’ marketing and communications campaign which positions Kingston as the best Christmas destination outside of the West End.
You can find summary of our plans below, and the full briefing is available here.
New For 2022
Building on our goal to be the bets Christmas destination outside of the West End, we have built in a number of new elements and experiences to help us achieve this.
- Consumer website that will highlight Kingston’s Christmas offer and experience, including business listings, festive offers, news and events
- Giant reindeer light installation in Ancient Market Place and bespoke neon tree decorations on Church Street
- Curling lanes experience in the grounds of All Saints Church (Alpine Village)
- Candy Cane Forest in Memorial Gardens with children’s rides and installations.
- Christmas trail for families to encourage people to visit businesses and explore the town
Returning Favourites
Lots of our popular installations and attractions will make a return this year.
- Lighting around Kingston including the ‘I Love Kingston’, ‘Giant Bauble’ and ‘Candy Cane Hat’ light installations.
- Two giant bauble covered trees on Clarence Street and outside Kingston stations.
- Christmas market in the Ancient Market Place Selling festive food and gifts.
- Stage in the Ancient Market Place hosting festive and musical performances.
- Signage and information across the town to help people move around.
- Plenty of free activities for families to encourage them to spend time in Kingston this Christmas.
Marketing Campaign – ‘Make It A Kingston Christmas’
We have developed an integrated marketing campaign, to raise awareness of Christmas in Kingston, and bring visitors from the local area and further afield. This promotion includes
- PR / Owned Media – Press releases to local and national press, SEO-friendly content and blogs on our www.kingstonuponthames.info website and, organic social media content creation and competitions to drive engagement and awareness through our @InKingston social media accounts.
- Print / Physical – Branding and promotion through the town on hoardings, toblerones, JCDecaux boards and other signage. As well as reaching wider SW London area through print and radio advertising including Time & Leisure, Visit Surrey, Radio Jackie & More
- Digital Advertising – Online banner ads on local/national news and lifestyle websites, targeted Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and PPC campaigns including to new visitor audiences and social media influencer partnerships with Surrey-based family content creators to drive new audience acquisition.
You can see a sneak peak of what these campaigns will look like below.
Key Dates
Please see the key dates below. If you have any questions, please contact us.
20 October – Features on website about offer, activities and experiences this Christmas in Kingston; Send your offers and opening times to us so we can promote
31 October – 9 November – Christmas market build starts in Ancient Market Place
1 November – Marketing and advertising campaign begins
10 November – Lights turned on, Christmas market opens
26 November – Candy Cane Forest opens in Memorial Gardens
15 December – Christmas Trail launched; Contact us if you want your businesses to be featured in the trail
3 January 2023 – Xmas Market and Candy Cane Forest, derig and clean-up begins
January – Surveys, evaluation and campaign impact reviews. Feedback in February.
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