Halloween at Festival Place

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a welcoming destination for leisure and entertainment all year round

Basingstoke’s Festival Place houses over 140 big brand stores alongside 20 eateries. The centre strives to be a welcoming destination for leisure and entertainment all year round. Wanting to boost awareness of the centre’s library facilities and raise its profile as a family-friendly attraction, the Xcite team were an undisputed choice for producing spooktacular activations over the Halloween season.

"Xcite's event significantly increased footfall, dwell time and spend but also boosted the centre’s social media profile. "

The Brief

The Basingstoke Discovery Centre, housed inside Festival Place offers a wealth of educational and entertainment tools for all ages. It is a potential magnet for guests, enabling families a new way to engage with Festival Place and its full retail and leisure offering.

However, Xcite needed to boost its profile making it an attractive and enjoyable option for family days out during the often-stressful half-term period.

Additionally, seamless event management, entertainment talent and staffing were required to maximise guests’ enjoyment for the full four days.

Our Solution

From day one, guests were attracted to the Basingstoke Discovery Centre with special two-hour Witches and Broomstick workshops. As parents took some much-needed time out to discover the centre, children’s imaginations were sparked as they created miniature toy models of spooky characters.

Further on in the week, kids got active as they assumed CSI agent roles on a carefully conceived trail riddled with clues and puzzles. Xcite sourced suitably entertaining talent to teach little ones real forensic techniques and solve a mystery Halloween crime.

Finishing up the week, Xcite built and installed a creepy mad scientist’s laboratory providing professional face-painting talent and immersing children in the Halloween spirit with trick or treat bag decorating workshops.

Not only did Xcite significantly increase footfall, dwell time and spend but also boosted the centre’s social media profile. Encouraging visitors to use the #spookyfp, Xcite created bespoke sets that enabled guests to take photos of their heads in a jar. Xcite successfully ensured the centre was a top-of-mind Halloween attraction for existing and new guests alike.

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