FESTIVAL OVERVIEW

1. Background

2. Why Change?

3. What did we do?

4. What did we achieve?

BACKGROUND

DED project team worked effectively over 2 months to a set of objectives agreed with MMCC which explored:

• Benefits brought by the MGP Festival

• Possible negatives of the MGP Festival

• Benchmarking MGP against other events

• Understanding market awareness of the MGP Festival

• Identifying key market factors affecting future success of

events such as MGP Festival

• Understanding TT and MGP Festival interrelations

• Understanding scope for growing the MGP Festival (return on

investment)

BACKGROUND

Consultation and research undertaken:

• Good process of consultation, good responses

• Initial desk research undertaken

• Main questionnaire responses: 1,961

• Supplementary questionnaire responses: 782

• Focus group attendance: 5 focus groups

WHY CHANGE?

• Total cost of MGP Festival to Government was c£1.1m, including c£830k from DED

• Treasury receipts from an estimated c£5m spend by visitors were c£750k, representing a c£370k loss to Government

• MGPF reviewed as having potential to grow and a viable future but needing to change

• Needed to keep as a priority the affinity and allegiance to MGP Races

• Awareness/increased marketing not the issue – limited media interest in existing product

• Better coordination/promotion for single points of contact required

• Incredible heritage of TT and TT course could be further exploited

• Fantastic perceptions on many aspects of TT/MGP compared with other off-island comparator events

• Genuine unity in feedback for potential to develop festival/classic elements of the MGP

WHAT DID WE DO?

• Rebranded the festival ‘The Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling’ retaining all of the existing events and adding a new Classic TT event into the Bank Holiday weekend.

• IOMFOM became the umbrella brand for all the component events allowing clear market positioning.

• Filled a gap in the market with the Classic TT positioned as the worlds leading classic motorcycle event with the best bikes and best riders.

• Developed a content based marketing strategy for the Classic TT leveraging the personalities, the historic motorcycles and the TT brand through the specialist press and social media.

• Used the media values being created to underpin a commercial programme of sponsorships, ticket sales, brand licensing, retail concessions, e-commerce etc.

WHAT DID WE ACHIEVE?

THE HEADLINES:

• Pre event buzz!

• Together with our event partners we delivered a successful event.

• Generated new income streams.

• Opportunities for significant future growth.

• Created a strong brand with the Classic TT.

• Increased the visitor numbers and spend significantly.

• Achieved blanket coverage in the specialist press.

WHAT DID WE ACHIEVE?

THE NUMBERS:

• c£200k of new commercial income

• 50% increase in visitor numbers since last Treasury Report

• Total spend c£8.4m (up from c£4.9m)

• EAV estimated to be over £500,000 at year end

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT