Articles Tagged with: engagement

When a Brand Becomes Bigger Than a Logo – Durham Case Study

When a Brand Becomes Bigger Than a Logo

Jazz Holverson, Strategic Account Manager

A successful brand should do more than identify a service. It should connect places, communications and experiences, while giving people a reason to engage.

That thinking has shaped the development of thrive by Alliance Leisure’s Insight & Engagement team, in partnership with Durham County Council.

What began as an identity for the county’s leisure service has grown into a complete platform for communicating with residents – thrive now connects major campaigns, digital advertising, social media, websites, apps and customer communications, while giving individual facilities and services the flexibility to promote their own offers within one recognisable brand.

Our Insight & Engagement team have been central to that evolution, combining audience insight, creative development and ongoing performance analysis to understand not simply what people respond to, but how the brand can remain relevant to different communities.

That approach came to life through Together We Move. Rather than leading with facilities or traditional fitness messages, the campaign used real people and lived experiences to show the many different reasons people choose to be active. The flexible platform could become Together We Swim, Together We Play or Together We thrive, allowing individual services to speak directly to their audiences without losing the connection to the wider brand.

Here is an example of a Sky TV advert that we produced with the client, along with some still assets:

The results provide strong evidence of the branding and campaign’s impact. The thrive active membership base increased by 11%, more than 4,000 new Leisure users were welcomed and overall visits increased by more than 366,000. Soft play visits increased by 17% and casual swimming by 31%.

The thrive case study shows what is possible when insight, creativity and consistent delivery turn a visual identity into something much bigger: a brand people recognise, understand and increasingly choose to be part of.

Could your brand be doing more?

Talk to Alliance Leisure’s Insight & Engagement team about turning your brand into a platform for greater engagement.

Find out more about how we work

LEARN MORE

5 Top Tips for Launching a New Build Leisure Centre

Neil Harrison, Head of Engagement

Launching a new build leisure centre is a proud moment for any local authority, operator, project team and community. It represents significant investment, creates new opportunities for participation and provides a platform to support health, wellbeing and community connection for years to come.

However, a successful launch does not happen by chance. It requires early planning, a proactive marketing approach with a structured marketing plan, clear objectives, strong implementation and a commitment to ongoing development once the doors are open.

A useful way to structure this is through our PROUD framework:

Plan, Reach, Objectives, Unveil and Develop.

1. Plan: Start Early and Build the Foundations

A strong launch begins long before the centre opens. The planning phase should bring together all key partners, including the client, operator, project team, marketing team, customer service teams, sales teams and community stakeholders.

At this stage, it is important to agree the overall vision for the centre. What role will it play locally? Who are the priority audiences? What makes the facility different? What customer needs is it designed to meet? How will the new centre support wider health, wellbeing, social value and participation outcomes?

The launch plan should map out all key milestones, from brand development and community engagement through to pre-sales, recruitment, staff training, operational readiness, open days and the official opening. It should also identify key risks, such as construction delays, system issues, programme changes, pricing decisions, customer migration from an existing facility or confusion around opening dates.

Planning should also include a clear customer journey. From the first time someone sees the centre advertised to the moment they join, book, visit or take part, every stage should feel simple, joined up and positive.

The earlier this work starts, the easier it is to build momentum, manage expectations and avoid the launch feeling rushed.

2. Reach: Create a Proactive Marketing Campaign

Launching a new leisure centre is not just about promoting a building. It is about reaching the right people, building excitement and helping the community understand how the centre can support their lifestyle, health and wellbeing.

The marketing approach should be proactive, phased and planned around three key stages: pre-sale, opening and post-opening.

During the pre-sale phase, the focus should be on building awareness, generating interest and creating a strong pipeline before the centre opens. This may include teaser campaigns, construction updates, behind-the-scenes content, countdown activity, lead generation forms, early access membership offers, community engagement, PR, PPC advertising, social media campaigns and email journeys for people who have registered their interest.

This stage is about creating momentum early. By the time the centre opens, there should already be an engaged audience ready to join, visit, book or take part.

The opening phase should convert that interest into action. This is the moment to maximise visibility through launch events, open days, facility tours, founder member offers, local media coverage, partner activity, outdoor advertising, digital campaigns and clear calls to action across all channels.

Messaging should make it easy for people to understand what is available, how to join, how to book and why they should visit. The customer journey at this stage is critical. If the joining, booking or enquiry process is unclear, it can quickly reduce the impact of the launch campaign.

The post-opening phase is equally important. Once the initial excitement has passed, marketing should continue to build momentum, support retention and drive participation across the full facility mix. This may include targeted campaigns for health and fitness memberships, swimming lessons, soft play, sports clubs, junior activities, community programmes, wellbeing services and casual use.

Customer testimonials, success stories, feedback, usage data and case studies can help demonstrate the value of the centre and encourage new audiences to engage. Ongoing digital activity, CRM journeys and local outreach should continue to move people from awareness through to enquiry, trial, joining and long-term participation.

HHYD250701 Hyndburn Summer Campaign Assets3

HHYD250701 Hyndburn Summer Campaign Assets5

HHYD250701 Hyndburn Summer Campaign Assets9

HHYD250701 Hyndburn Summer Campaign Assets21

3. Objectives: Set Clear Targets from the Start

Every successful launch needs clear objectives. These should be agreed early and linked to the wider aims of the project.

Objectives may include building awareness, achieving a specific membership target, increasing swim lesson enrolments, driving attendance at open days, engaging local clubs, supporting health and wellbeing outcomes, creating positive community sentiment or successfully transitioning existing customers into the new facility.

Targets should be realistic, measurable and understood by everyone involved. These could include membership sales, number of leads generated, website visits, enquiry volumes, email sign-ups, social media reach and engagement, open day attendance, swimming lesson occupancy, programme bookings and customer feedback scores.

Clear targets help focus activity and give the project team a shared definition of success. They also ensure marketing is not seen as a standalone task, but as a key part of the wider launch strategy.

Objectives should be reviewed throughout the campaign, not just at the end. This allows the team to understand what is working, where more support is needed and whether activity needs to be adjusted before opening.

4. Unveil: Deliver a Strong Opening Experience

The opening of a new leisure centre is a key moment. It is the first real opportunity for many people to experience the facility, meet the team and decide whether the centre feels right for them.

A successful unveil should feel professional, welcoming and well organised. This means ensuring staff are fully briefed, the customer journey is clear, signage is in place, systems are working, launch offers are understood and all customer-facing teams know how to answer common questions.

Open days, preview events, tours, partner visits and official opening activity should be carefully planned. These moments are not just operational events; they are part of the wider marketing and customer experience strategy.

Every touchpoint matters. Is the arrival experience clear? Are customers welcomed confidently? Can people easily understand the membership options, activities and programmes? Is there a simple route to join, book or register interest? Are follow-up communications in place after the visit?

The unveil stage should turn interest into confidence. People should leave feeling excited, informed and motivated to return.

HHYD250701 Hyndburn Summer Campaign Assets33

5. Develop: Keep Improving after Opening

The launch does not end when the doors open. In many ways, this is when the next phase begins.

Once the centre is live, the focus should shift to developing the customer base, improving the experience and building long-term momentum. This means regularly reviewing campaign performance, membership sales, customer feedback, usage data, programme uptake, enquiry trends and retention.

The first few months are a valuable learning period. If a particular audience is not engaging, the marketing approach may need to be refined. If enquiries are high but conversions are low, the sales process may need reviewing. If customers are asking the same questions, website content, FAQs or staff briefing materials may need improving.

Development should also include ongoing engagement with the community. Local clubs, schools, health partners, community groups and residents can all play a role in helping the centre become embedded locally. A strong launch creates momentum, but ongoing development turns that momentum into long-term success.

Final Thoughts

Launching a new build leisure centre is about much more than opening a new facility. It is about creating confidence, building relationships and helping the local community understand the value of the investment.

By using our PROUD framework — Plan, Reach, Objectives, Unveil and Develop — project teams can create a clear, practical and memorable approach to launch planning.

Done well, a new leisure centre launch can generate excitement from day one, support strong early performance and create a lasting positive impact for the community.

Get your Marketing Planner Template

DOWNLOAD HERE

5 Key Takeaways from Performance Marketing World Unlocked

Last week some of our Engagement Team and Central Marketing Team attended Performance Marketing World Unlocked – a marketing conference full of insight and actionable advice from over 70 expert speakers from different industries.

Here are our key takeaways from across both days at the event.

1) Build a Culture of Experimentation

One of the strongest messages from the event was that too often testing is pushed aside because teams feel they don’t have the time, but as Grace Miller from Flight Story, the producers of the Diary of a CEO podcast, said: “Not having time to test isn’t a reason, it’s a signal that testing should be a priority.”

Small experiments, such as testing different imagery, colours or thumbnails, can have a significant impact on ad performance. A useful approach shared at the event was to allocate around 10% of campaign budget specifically for experimentation, allowing teams to test new ideas or platforms without risking core campaign performance.

The key principle was simple: If you’re not testing, you’re guessing. Continuous testing ensures campaigns evolve, improve and stay relevant to the audience

2) Strength in Storytelling

Giovanni Pupo explained that the product itself is rarely the true driver of purchase. Instead, what converts is the story surrounding it.

In performance marketing we tend to optimise heavily for mechanics such as bids, clicks and conversions, but rarely for emotion or cultural relevance. Yet while algorithms reward engagement, humans reward meaning. An advert may win the auction and generate a click, but that does not necessarily make it memorable or persuasive. Discounts can drive short-term conversions, but conviction built through storytelling sustains demand over time and reduces price sensitivity.

Pupo described this through a story-led performance framework built on three stages: Meaning, Memory and Mechanics. Meaning comes before the click and asks fundamental questions about a brand – what it stands for, why it exists and why anyone should care. Memory happens during the moment of attention and asks whether the brand is distinctive, recognisable and emotionally anchored. Mechanics come after conviction and include the familiar performance tools such as creative testing, bidding strategies, audience expansion and landing page optimisation.

Many brands start with mechanics, but Pupo argued that you cannot effectively optimise something people do not care about. When applied correctly, this framework shows up clearly in metrics: meaning drives stronger hook rates and growth in brand search, memory leads to higher click-through rates over time with slower creative fatigue and lower blended customer acquisition costs, and mechanics deliver improved conversion rates and incremental return on ad spend.

Ultimately, a brand with a compelling narrative can maintain demand even as algorithms and platforms change.

3) Drive Continuous Digital Improvement

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, continuous improvement is key to staying relevant and competitive. Technology, user expectations and market trends evolve rapidly, and businesses that proactively adapt their digital presence can better meet customer needs, enhance brand perception and capitalise on new opportunities.

Sophie Dorn, Head of Digital at TALA, stressed the importance of user experience, noting that 32% of website users leave after a poor experience. Improving this often begins with a website opportunity audit to identify pages that need improvement and to uncover the performance gaps. Surprisingly, the homepage isn’t always the top landing page – users often start their journey elsewhere on your site. It’s crucial to identify these frequent entry pages and focus digital advertising efforts on them, while ensuring they are fully optimised to convert.

4) Why Smarter Campaigns Matter More Than Bigger Budgets

A key takeaway from PMW Unlocked 2026 was how much more competitive digital advertising has become. Data shared during the event showed that the average cost per lead on Google Ads has increased significantly in recent years, while click-through rates across many industries have remained relatively stable. In simple terms, this means it’s becoming more expensive to generate the same results if campaigns remain unchanged. For many of our clients who operate with smaller PPC budgets, this makes it even more important that spend is used as efficiently as possible rather than simply increasing budgets.

At the same time, platforms like Google and Meta are increasingly automating elements such as bidding and audience targeting. This means the biggest opportunity to improve performance often lies in areas we can control together – particularly creative and the experience users have after clicking. While refreshing creative regularly is important, it’s equally important to keep strong performing ads live while they continue to deliver results. By analysing what has worked well in previous campaigns and applying those learnings to new creative concepts, we can continuously test and refine messaging, visuals and formats to improve performance over time.

Alongside this, emerging advertising platforms are also creating new opportunities to reach audiences beyond the traditional channels, giving brands additional ways to extend reach and test new approaches while still making the most of existing budgets.

5) Rebalancing the Scales of PPC Advertising

A few speakers, but notably Alberto Ciot from Quantcast made us think about the distribution of our time online versus the budget we spend on pay per click advertising.

In our day-to-day lives, we might turn on radio on our smart speaker or listen to a podcast on our way to work. At lunchtime, perhaps we read the news on a publisher website or watch some catchup TV while getting a treadmill run in. In the evenings, we sit down to binge some episodes of Netflix or watch any number of TV channels, YouTube series etc available to us.

Sure, while social media browsing, or doomscrolling, will play a part of our day, or perhaps even overlap some of these other activities, research has shown that 70% of our time online is spent on the ‘open web’ versus 30% on the ‘walled gardens’ of social media. Yet for so many of us, the historically high and easy to measure conversion metrics of social media leads us to spend the majority of our budget right there. In fact, Alberto’s research shows that on average 72% of PPC budget goes to socials, with the remaining 28% on the open web.

Alberto doesn’t say a direct reversal is necessary, but with new efficiencies AI is bringing to display and performance advertising, as well as new platforms becoming available to make advertising cheaper than ever before, he recommends experimenting by moving 10% of your social budget into open-web advertising, to see what effect placing your ads where your clients are actually spending their time has on your conversion rates.

We hope you found our takeaways insightful and look forward to more marketing events later this year.

Find out more about the engagement team

LEARN MORE