After several challenging years for retail, 2024 brought some much-needed positives, especially during the festive season. For us, it was another opportunity to help bring consumers back to the High Street, encouraging them to shop and spend locally.
For several years, we’ve had the privilege of creating assets to promote the Watford Gift Card for Watford Town Centre BID. This fantastic initiative supports over 140 shops, restaurants, salons, and businesses across the town.
Following the success of the 2023 Christmas campaign, we knew there was a strong appetite for town-centre spending, one we were determined to build on even further.
The Challenge
Our task was to plan and execute a digital campaign for the lucrative Christmas period, ensuring continued awareness of the Watford Gift Card.
We needed to strike the perfect balance, delivering fresh creative while maintaining strong brand recall. Another key priority was to give the campaign an extra push in the crucial final week before Christmas.
The Solution
Working alongside Watford Town Centre BID, we identified an opportunity to promote ‘The Gift of Choice’. This would highlight the flexibility and convenience of the Watford Gift Card.
The campaign ran for four weeks, predominantly throughout December, ending on Christmas Eve. With the card available in both physical and digital formats, we took a strategic approach:
🎁 Early campaign focus – promoting the physical gift card.
📲 Final week switch – targeting last-minute shoppers with the instant convenience of the digital e-card.
Building on the success of our 2023 campaign, we evolved the creative to ensure a fresh and engaging look, while still being recognisable to our audience.
Deliverables
Based on insights from previous campaigns, we deployed a targeted digital strategy across the most effective channels:
✔ Google Display Ads – to reach a broad audience in and around Watford, driving awareness.
✔ Google Search Ads – targeting high-intent searches with strong conversion potential.
✔ Facebook Carousels & Video Ads – reaching the right people based on location, demographics, and relevant interests.
The Results
With the success of 2023 setting a high bar, our 2024 campaign needed to deliver big, and it did.
📈 over 874,500 impressions
📈 over 27,000 clicks
📈 11.4% increase in sales vs the same 4-week period in 2023
This uplift in gift card sales reflects a growing appetite for shopping and socialising on the local high street, an encouraging trend for town centres everywhere.
To learn more about how we achieved these results, check out the full case study.
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