SO this is Christmas in Southampton

During our Christmas marketing campaign, over 206 BID member businesses were promoted across the Visit Southampton channels, highlighting everything from festive events and nights out to retail offers and places to dine. The campaign covered both digital and physical channels including, print, radio, social, search, website, email as well as digital screens in the city. This year we also designed and printed 20,000 Christmas guides highlighting everything to see and do in the city.

To increase dwell time and spend in the city we also organised the following:

The Great Elf Investigation

November saw the return of our annual free Christmas walking trail, The Great Elf Investigation, which ran from 26 November – 3 January. Offering families a free activity to do over the holiday, the trail also encourages visitors to explore the BID area and see new businesses. Over 9,000 Christmas guides, which featured the trail map, were distributed to local schools to be included in book bags. Of the trail maps returned to either of the end locations, over 150 adults took part and over 700 prizes were collected.

The Big Christmas Giveaway

New to Southampton this year was our Big Christmas Giveaway, aimed to encourage people to shop local this Christmas and be in with the chance of winning some fantastic prizes.

Visitors who spent over the threshold amount in any of the 39 participating businesses received a competition entry form to be entered into the giveaway. A big thank you to the BID members who donated a total of 27 prizes ranging from overnight stays and meals out, to theatre tickets and gift cards. In total we received nearly 400 entry forms with a combined spend of over £49,000.

Countdown to Christmas event returns

To officially kick off the festive season and draw visitors into the city, GO! Southampton organised the Countdown to Christmas event that took place on 17 November coinciding with the start of the new Southampton Christmas market. 15 roaming street theatre acts entertained crowds in the city centre before The Overtones took to the stage with a festive performance ahead of turning on the lights.

Throughout the event, our team handed out over 400 Christmas guides to visitors and adverts from 16 BID businesses were featured on the big screen. During the hours of the event, footfall sensors recorded over 6,255 visitors, with over 40% being new visitors.