St Pancras

St Pancras International wanted to promote the launch of its fresh produce market to help drive daily footfall to the station. They wanted to create a media partnership with a brand with strong food credentials as well as reaching a wider audience to establish St Pancras as THE destination station for all Londoners.

Our strategy

In September 2009, the fresh produce market launched with a Foodie Fortnight which was to be the main platform of our partnership.
We wanted to create excitement and encourage visits to the event by offering our readers a reason to visit St Pancras every day using editorial, promotions, online and on street activity.

The big idea

The launch of the market was supported editorially as it was significant to our readers. Rosie Boycott referred to the launch of Sourced (the market) within the regular editorial column Grow your Own as did Charles Campion within Smart Shopper which he ran every week in the Food & Drink section.

St Pancras continued the association with the Smart Shopper throughout the Foodie Fortnight as the content dealt with fresh/seasonal produce providing them the optimum environment. We offered ownership by adding their logo to the column with reference to the market as well as directing readers to a daily commuter recipe on the i-Standard, our mobile enabled application. Charles Campion further supported the Foodie Fortnight by appearing at the event and giving a short talk on 'The rules to shop, cook and dine by' followed by a Q&A session with the public.

Each week we also produced tear-off recipes within our Food & Drink section which were supplied by the head chef of The Grand in St Pancras directing them to the market for their ingredients.

The promotional element further engaged for our readers with an exciting competition that offered one reader the chance to have their dish appear on the menu at The Grand. We also had exclusive offers for other retail outlets within St Pancras to encourage visits and help drive regular footfall.

The whole campaign was supported by display advertising in paper and Standard.co.uk as well as added exposure via our vendor bills and digital screens.
During the Foodie Fortnight, all units within St Pancras showed week-on-week increases with sales up 8% on the previous week and 12% against forecast sales. The market as a whole was up 20% by the end of the promotion.

The results

Post campaign analysis showed that perception had changed. St Pancras being considered as a top destination had increased by 8% and visitors to Standard.co.uk had seen over 7,000 unique visitors and 850 to the i-Standard site.