bristol walk fest 2018 evaluation report · 1.3.4 marketing and publicity 2. project background 3....

Authors

Jo Coulson, Freelance Evaluation Consultant for Bristol Walk Fest

Kerry Morgan, Marketing and Project Management Consultant,

Freelance Project Coordinator for Bristol Walk Fest

Bristol Walk Fest 2018

Evaluation Report

Table of contents

1. Executive summary

1.1 About this report

1.2 Evaluation methods

1.3 Summary: evaluation findings and festival impact

1.3.1 Audience demographics

1.3.2 Participant feedback

1.3.3 Event/walk provider feedback

1.3.4 Marketing and publicity

2. Project background

3. Governance, management and funding

3.1 Festival owners

3.2 Festival delivery team

3.3 Funders and supporters

3.4 Suppliers

4. Festival aims and objectives

4.1 Festival vision

4.2 Festival aims

4.3 Festival objectives

4.4 Support for programme providers and contributors

5. Findings and interpretation

5.1 Festival outputs and monitoring

5.2 Walk and event participant feedback

5.3 Provider feedback

5.4 Evaluation strengths and limitations

6. Marketing and communications report

6.1 Branding

6.2 Print materials and distribution

6.3 Digital screens

6.4 PR and media

6.5 Blogs, case studies and features

6.6 Social media

6.7 Website

6.8 Discovery pathways: graph 11

6.9 Photography

6.10 Active 10 Challenge

7. Conclusions and recommendations

7.1 Conclusion

7.2 Recommendations

7.2.1 Recommendations: festival content and organisation

7.2.2 Recommendations: marketing and publicity

7.2.3 Recommendations: evaluation

7.2.4 Other recommendations

Graphs

1. Gender (participants’)

2. Age

3. Ethnicity

4. Where participants live

5. Participants’ self-reported walking frequency

6. Time participants spend walking

7. Participants’ intention to increase walking

8. Satisfaction with event submission process

9. Satisfaction with marketing toolkit

10. Satisfaction with walk leaders’ toolkit

11. Discovery pathways

Appendices

Appendix A - Infographic (main findings)

Appendix B - List of walk/event providers

Appendix C - Bristol Walk Fest 2018 Steering Group

Appendix D - ‘Destination Bristol’ marketing report

Appendix E - About the authors and declared interests

Appendix F - Recommendations from 2017 (‘They said, we did’)

Appendix G - References

Appendix H - PR and media summary

1. Executive Summary 1.1 About this report This report presents findings from the evaluation for Bristol Walk Fest (BWF) 2018, along with resulting conclusions and recommendations for the future. It details the evaluation methods and findings in relation to the delivery of the festival - including its aims, objectives and measures of success. 1.2 Evaluation methods

The purpose of our evaluation was to understand if the event was a success, identify

learning for any future BWFs, and to demonstrate accountability and transparency to

funders and stakeholders. We took a mixed-methods, summative approach and the

analysis was predominantly based on self-report data gathered via participant and

walk/event provider surveys. We also present monitoring and output data such as

participant demographics and media activity.

For the purposes of this report, and the data and presented herein, LinkAge Network is the

‘Data Controller’ (as per General Data Protection Regulations 2018). Walk participant data

supplied to the freelance evaluator was non-identifiable: personal information was

removed ahead of transfer and analysis and, in any case, restricted to the people that

chose to add contact details for the purposes of the prize draw. There were not considered

to be any significant ethical issues with the nature of the data or evaluation overall.

Overall, the responses of 649 participants and 41 providers were analysed for this report.

1.3 Summary: evaluation findings and festival impact

1.3.1 Audience demographics

• 163 walks and events were delivered by 69 organisations - compared to 155 walks

and events delivered by 60 organisations in 2017.

• At least 4,448 people attended BWF 2018: 2,915 more people than in 2017 (a

190% increase), and a 39% increase on 2016 (an estimated 3,200 attendees).

• Eight in ten participants were aged 50 and over.

• 66% of participants identified as female, 31% male and 3% ‘other’.

• 82% of attendees lived in a City of Bristol postcode.

• Only 6.2% of participants were from non-white/Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic

groups, meaning many ethnicities and Bristol communities were under-represented.

• 6% of attendees considered themselves disabled, and there is still room for

improvement on making the festival as inclusive as it can be.

• 45% said they only walked once or twice a week: 3% said they ‘never’ walked. BWF

therefore may have reached a good proportion of people who didn’t meet the UK

national guidelines on physical activity for health.

1.3.2 Participant feedback

• Immensely popular event with enthusiastic praise for organisers and walk leaders.

• No significant operational problems with fewer than five mixed/slightly negative

comments.

• Simple thematic analysis revealed that people enjoyed ‘learning-as-they-walked’,

and the physical and social benefits of participation.

• Festival promotion by far the most dominant theme: people loved the printed

programme and thought the website was much better, especially the online

calendar.

• Participants still wanted the ability to download a print-out from the website.

• Walk accessibility and variety were highly praised: the festival was felt to be

ethnically-diverse and inclusive - with the feeling of a ‘warm welcome’.

• However, even greater accessibility would be appreciated e.g. more variety in start

times and walk pace, more children’s walks, and better timing of walk-starts to

coincide with older walkers’ free bus pass usage.

• People wanted to be able to give feedback on individual walks.

• Concerns expressed about future festival funding, with some suggestions for

income generation.

• People wanted ‘even more of the same’: even wider publicity and for the festival to

carry on and mature.

• 74% said the festival would encourage them to walk more.

1.3.3 Event/walk provider feedback

• All 41 providers wanted to contribute again next year.

• Took part for a variety of reasons including to increase audiences, reach new ones and be part of a citywide/national event.

• The large majority felt satisfied/very satisfied with the event submission process, marketing and walk leaders’ toolkits, with a few helpful suggestions for next time round.

• No-one gave any completely negative feedback - only suggestions where there was still room for improvement e.g. around further website improvement, and in avoiding everything feeling ‘last minute’.

• Providers felt highly-supported by the BWF Project Coordinator with promotion and marketing, which happened alongside their own.

• People felt the website had been vastly improved - especially the online calendar. But also in the ability to check their own listings and their presentation.

• Website features that people found a bit tricky were: specific event searching and not being able to find the participants’ evaluation survey very easily.

• Reasons for not linking through to BWF’s electronic media were: not having own website/using social media, “not enough time” and employers’ internet restrictions.

• Providers greatly benefited from involvement, particularly appreciating: the publicity, attracting new walkers, more community awareness about their work, ‘being part of something’, networking, and the pleasure of seeing people out walking and enjoying themselves.

• The Project Coordinator highlighted challenges around festival delivery such as: ~70 working days to organise it, start to finish (with, consequently, insufficient time for optimal website development), reduction in funding (versus 2016), providers

making last-minute changes to walk details and, generally, the rapid transfer to a voluntary community sector provider - with incomparable infrastructural support and inherent resource to Bristol City Council.

• Bristol City Council’s in-kind support/resource was still highly-valuable. 1.3.4 Marketing and publicity

• 8,814 users (visitors) to the website 1 April - 1 June 2018.

• Between 15 January and 1 June, the BWF Facebook page likes increased from

1,358 to 1,587 (16.9% increase).

• From 30 March to 1 June 2018, the BWF Twitter account had 352 new followers

and achieved 152,500 tweet impressions - an average of 1,700 impressions per

day. There was a total of 2,613 engagements.

• The most popular ways of finding out about the festival were (in descending order):

through walking or community groups (n=204 people, 31.4% of all 649

respondents); word of mouth (n=190, 29.3%); poster/festival programme, the

website, ‘other’, social media and newspapers - the latter being a discovery

pathway for only 11 people (1.7%).

Please also refer to Appendix A for a summary of some of our main findings presented as

an infographic. Encouragingly, there was a high level of triangulation between provider and

participant feedback, and festival provider observations about successes, learning and

rooms for improvement for future festivals.

Finally, and to conclude our Executive Summary, we consider that evaluation analysis and

reporting were more robust than in previous years.

2. Project background

Bristol Walk Fest (BWF) took place from 1 to 31 May 2018. The festival included 163

walks and events delivered by 69 organisations, as well as individual volunteers.

We received providers’ attendance numbers from 162 of the walks and events which

indicated that over 4,400 people got involved - a 190% increase from the previous year,

which attracted an estimated 1,532 participants. Participant numbers at separate walks

and events ranged from 0-111. Four walks and events were cancelled due to the providers

not being able to run them.

The Bristol Walking Festival started in 2013 with over 500 people taking part across the

city: 2018 marked the sixth year of the programme. The original event offered over 40

walks - varying from urban exploring, apothecary walks, history trails to hikes led by

walking groups, including the Bristol Ramblers. Festival marketing encouraged people to

explore the city and enjoy the social and healthy activity of walking.

This year, the festival was coordinated by Active Ageing Bristol - a collaboration between

Bristol Sport Foundation, The Anchor Society and St Monica Trust, in partnership with the

LinkAge Network and Bristol Ramblers. Investment from Active Ageing Bristol, the

Travelwest Fund, Bristol Ramblers and Bristol Ageing Better. See Appendices B and C,

and Section 3, for further information on all our funders, providers and partners.

Throughout the month of May, there was a packed programme of walks in and around

Bristol. Many of the walks/events were free and, with different walks available nearly every

day, there was something for everyone - especially local people.

Our aims were to bring people together around walking activity in all its forms; celebrate

some of Bristol’s great existing walking projects; strengthen our diverse walking

community - including to learn from each other and stimulate new links and initiatives.

Working together as a city gave us a unique opportunity to showcase and nurture Bristol’s

already-vibrant and diverse walking offer - co-creating the active walking opportunities we

want for the future, whilst celebrating existing opportunities.

For the last six years, BWF has encouraged people of all ages to go out and get active at

whatever level they can. Good weather played its part during this year’s event, but from

the available evidence, we consider this year as having been most successful - and on

many levels - with improvement on previous years’ delivery and evaluation.

3. Governance, management and funding

3.1 Festival owners

LinkAge Network took on the role of event lead, providing banking, insurance and a policy

framework. This was done on an in-kind support basis.

3.2 Festival delivery team

The core Active Ageing Bristol festival delivery team comprised:

• Karen Lloyd, Active Ageing Bristol Manager

• Kerry Morgan, Freelance Project Coordinator (part-time equivalent)

• Eileen Bartlett, volunteer Admin Support Officer (0.4 FTE).

Of these roles, only that of the Active Ageing Bristol Manager was permanent full-time, and

she committed two days a week from February 2018 to May 2018 on tasks to support the

Project Coordinator. All other roles, including contractors and consultants were part-time,

temporary, freelance and/or voluntary/in-kind.

A steering group of partners and volunteers was set up to help guide event delivery

(Appendix C).

3.3 Funders and supporters

Funders

The festival was funded to the total value of £15,557 by the following organisations:

• Active Ageing Bristol (£7,557)

• Bristol Ageing Better (£1,000)

• Bristol Ramblers (£1,000)

• Travelwest Fund (£6,000)

The team did not have the time or capacity to seek out additional sponsorship

opportunities this year.

Supporters

The festival was only made possible by the additional support, both direct and in-kind, from

institutional and commercial partners:

• BWF partners and contributors, including some in-kind hours from the report

authors.

• Bristol City Council: provided office space to house the delivery team one day a

week, and several officers were members of the BWF steering group.

• Bristol Ramblers: provided the volunteer Admin Support Officer, promoted the

festival via their marketing channels. Several members were also part of the BWF

steering group.

• Bristol Walking Alliance: provided a four-day exhibition hub in the Vestibule to

promote information about walking in and around Bristol.

• Cotswold Outdoor Bristol: donated £100 gift voucher for the participant survey prize

draw which was promoted on the printed programme and surveys.

• Clifton Hotels: offered accommodation discounts at selected hotels for people

booking a stay during the festival and promoted the festival via their social media

channels. It transpired that, surprisingly, no-one took up any of these offers.

• LinkAge Network: promoted the festival via their website, e-newsletter, social media

channels, and helped with leaflet and poster distribution.

• Living Streets: provided marketing content for use on the BWF website, included

articles in their newsletter, helped with leaflet distribution to council offices and

selected schools.

• Destination Bristol: provided marketing support to target tourists (See Appendix D

for details).

3.4 Suppliers

Bristol Walk Fest 2018 official suppliers were:

• Aurora; web copy and editing services.

• Bristol City Council; web design and hosting services.

• The Branding Coach; branding consultant and graphic designer.

• Jeni Nott Photography; photographer.

• Pear Communications; print distribution agency.

• 42 Group; a media, content and copywriting agency.

• Jo Coulson; independent/freelance Evaluation Consultant*.

• Kerry Morgan; Marketing and Project Management Consultant*.

*Please also refer to Appendix E for more information about the report authors and their

declared interests.

We are also very grateful to the following suppliers who provided support in-kind:

• The Branding Coach; branding consultant and graphic designer.

• 42 Group; a media, content and copywriting agency.

4. Festival aims and objectives

Building on the success of the 2017 festival, BWF 2018 followed a similar model. Its aims

and objectives were adapted slightly to reflect the funding requirements and the

recommendations made in the 2017 evaluation (Lowman et al., 2017).

4.1 Festival vision

“The UK’s largest urban celebration of walking”.

4.2 Festival aims

The aims of the 2018 BWF were to:

• Encompass walking for travel, health, leisure, learning and inspiration/creativity.

• Encourage people to get out walking to enhance health and wellbeing.

• Bring people together in a way that benefits individuals, communities and the

environment.

• Showcase organisations and professionals providing walks in Bristol.

• Raise the profile of Bristol as a walking destination.

• Evaluate the festival impact on peoples’ attitudes towards walking and behaviour

change.

4.3 Festival objectives

The objectives of the 2018 BWF were to:

1. Form a steering group to support and develop the festival.

2. Offer a programme of over 100 walks and events across the city.

3. Offer walks on 25 out of 31 festival days.

4. Offer a more even split between morning, afternoon and evening walks.

5. Broaden the range of walk themes e.g. history, art, education, creative, fitness.

6. Engage with 25 different organisations offering walks or events.

7. Achieve a reasonable geographical spread of walks or events across the city.

8. Make at least 80% of walks free.

9. Increase the number of walking sports (previously two events).

10. Make some walks accessible to people with physical, mental and sensory

impairments.

11. Organise 8 evening walks (through Bristol Ramblers).

12. Organise a partnership health walk (through Walk for Health Bristol).

13. Achieve at least 60% of journeys to walk-starts accessible via public transport or

active travel.

14. Start at least 90% of walks within the Bristol boundary.

15. Provide a positive experience for providers, so that they would be open to hosting

future walks and events.

We were also very keen to address the recommendations in the BWF 2017 Evaluation

Report (Lowman et al., 2017). To help contextualise progress since last year, our actions

and achievements are summarised in Appendix F, taking a ‘They said, we did’ approach.

4.4 Support for programme providers and contributors

BWF 2018 supplied programme providers and contributors with the following resources to

help them make the most of their involvement:

• Guide for walk/event organisers: guidance notes before completing the ‘Event

Submission Form’.

• Risk assessment template: a resource for providers to carry out a risk assessment

of all their routes (for ‘best practice’).

• Marketing toolkit: to help providers promote their walk/event, which included:

o The Bristol Walk Fest logo.

o Standard copy for newsletters, magazines and websites.

o Poster templates.

o Suggested social media posts and images.

o Press release template.

• Leader/organiser resource packs which included an:

o Event and walk checklist: to help run safe and enjoyable walks/events.

o Event and walk register: for capturing attendance numbers.

o Promotional programmes, posters and marketing materials such as

drawstring bags and water bottles (old promotional stock).

o Participant feedback surveys: for distribution to walkers/attendees.

5. Findings and interpretation The programme of walks and events at the festival was devised to meet the festival aims

and objectives listed in Section 4. The purpose of our evaluation was to understand if the

event was a ‘success’. Its aims were to identify learning for any future BWFs and

demonstrate accountability and transparency to funders and stakeholders. We took a

mixed-methods, retrospective approach - presenting here festival outputs, participant

demographics, media monitoring and summative/self-report festival experience data. Data

sources were:

1. Walk and event ‘submission forms’ (online): Registered the nature and details of the

walks and events, input by providers before the festival - to allow population of the

programme.

2. Online booking system and attendance register: Participant numbers per walk/event

were collected by the provider and sent to the Project Coordinator by email, which

were then recorded on a spreadsheet.

3. A Participant-Reported Experience Measure (PREM) - print and online versions of a

survey: Completed by festival attendees. It included questions about demographics

and the festival experience. The print versions were sent to walk/event providers in

advance - to distribute at each of their walks/events, for the whole 31-day

programme.

4. A second PREM survey – for organisers/providers (online only and completed after

the festival).

5. Social media (Twitter and Facebook insights) and website analytics (Google

analytics).

6. Monitoring of print and broadcast coverage: Media impact was collected and

recorded by the Project Coordinator, including via Google searches.

To ease understanding, we have incorporated relevant observations and interpretations

into each section of the findings.

5.1 Festival outputs and monitoring

• 163 walks and events were delivered by 69 organisations - compared to 155 walks

and events delivered by 60 organisations in 2017.

• The average walk length was 2.5 miles, and we estimate that the total, cumulative

miles walked by all participants across all walks exceeded 7,323 miles.

• Walks and events took place every day in May 2018. They were split between 102

(62.6%) morning walks, 32 (19.6%) afternoon walks (12 noon-5.59pm), and 29

(17.8%) evening walks (starting after 6pm). Although a more even split may be

more beneficial to some of the population (e.g. working adults), this was largely

determined by what providers could offer. Also, academic research (Davis et al.,

2011) found that, amongst older people living in Bristol, physical activity levels are

significantly greater in mornings than afternoons and evenings. In attracting older

people as the key audience, this suggests that our offer may have largely met their

needs/preferences, and might have indeed incentivised attendance.

• 132 (81%) of the walks and events were offered for free. Thirteen (8%) were ‘pay

what you think/donations welcome’ and 18 (11%) were charged up to a maximum of

£30.

• 30 walking sports were offered, compared to two last year: a fifteen-fold increase.

• There were nine art and creativity walks, 46 health and wellbeing walks, 38 history

and architecture walks, 31 nature and wildlife walks, 30 walking sports and nine

education and learning walks. The last two were introduced for the first time this

year.

• 42 (25.8%) walks were listed as wheelchair accessible, a 17% increase on last

year. A number of other features were listed in the programme key to allow people

to assess their suitability - including mobility scooter friendly, accessible toilets and

frequent rest stops. Last year, 36 walks were listed as wheelchair and mobility

scooter accessible: again, all well-evidenced environmental and accessibility

considerations for the high proportion of older participating walkers (Moran et al.,

2014).

• Bristol Ramblers delivered 11 evening walks - exceeding their target of eight.

• 143 (87.7%) of walks/events were accessible by public transport, although we do

not know what proportion of people arrived this way. Active travel options were

encouraged by including a links to the Travelwest journey planner and website, and

the BWF website – which included the nearest bus stops to walk/event start

locations.

• Only six (3.7%) of the walks started outside the Bristol boundary. It is important for

the festival to retain a high percentage of walks that start fairly centrally for

accessibility to the widest audience. Even for these six, the majority of providers

organised return car shares (with a request for petrol contributions) from a Bristol

central meeting point.

5.2 Walk and event participant feedback

Participants’ demographic profile

The following graphs give a breakdown of the demographic information we collected from

the 649 BWF walk and event participants that completed our feedback survey.

Gender: graph 1

The first graph shows that nearly two-thirds (n=425, 66%) of participants identified as

female, 31% (n=204) as male and 3% (n=20) as either transgender or preferred not to say.

This compares to Bristol local authority’s female-male split of 49.9%/50.1% respectively

(Bristol City Council, 2018).

Age: graph 2

Around eight in ten participants were aged 50 and over (n=518, 79.8%). This is

proportionally more than the >50s in the wider Bristol population - at 27.6% (Bristol City

Council, 2018). The 25-49 age group was the second most common (n=112, 17.3%). Only

ten individuals were aged 24 or under.

204 (31.4%)

425 (65.5%)

1 (0.2%) 19 (2.9%)

Walk participants: gender (n=649)

Male Female Transgender Prefer not to say

Notably, these figures don’t include the 1,800 children and young people who were

reported to have attended the ‘Happyshoes Day’, but for which age group breakdowns

aren’t available. This is a national event, run by Living Streets, where children and adults

wear the shoes that make them happiest (see Appendix G), and it ran on 22 May 2018. It

was beyond the scope of this evaluation to investigate the incorporation of any of their

routinely-collected participation data.

Ethnicity: graph 3

Most participants were white (n=578, 89.1%). Excluding people who didn’t want to say, or

for whom there were missing data (n=31, 4.8%), the remaining 40 (6.2%) were from Black,

Asian and Minority Ethnic groups. This compares with the 22% of Bristol’s population who

are not ‘White British’ (Bristol City Council, 2018) - meaning that, unfortunately, such

population groups were under-represented. This could be an area for targeted

development for any future BWFs.

2 (0.3%) 9 (1.4%)

112 (17.3%)

228 (35.1%)

236 (36.5%)

54 (8.3%)

8 (1.2%)

Walk participants: age groups (n=649)

Under 16 16-24 25-49 50-64 65-74 75 or over Prefer not to say

*B/A/C/BB = Black, African, Caribbean or Black British.

Where participants live: graph 4

Over 90% of attendees (n=587) lived in a City of Bristol postcode or in one of the three

surrounding local authorities (South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North

East Somerset). Tourism-related income may have been brought to the city from the 4%

(n=26) that came from other areas of the UK or overseas.

511 (78.7%)

67 (10.3%)

9 (1.4%) 9 (1.4%) 15 (2.3%) 7 (1.1%)26 (4.0%)

5 (0.8%)0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Walk participants: ethnicities (n=649)No. participants

531

35 28 23 20 5 5 1 10

100

200

300

400

500

600

No. participants

Unitary authority or other home location

Walk participants: home postcodes (n=649)

Self-reported disability

Forty-two people (6%) considered themselves to be disabled, 583 (90%) did not and 24

(4%) preferred not to say.

Walking behaviour

We asked three questions relating to participants’ self-reported ‘normal’ walking behaviour

(e.g. not during the festival). Their answers are represented in graphs 5 to 7.

Participants’ self-reported walking frequency: graph 5

Graph 5 indicates that about half of participants reported that they already typically walked

reasonably frequently - at least three times a week. However, encouragingly, BWF still

attracted many (n=294, 45%) that only walked once or twice a week, and 19 people (3%)

said that they ‘never’ walked.

Time participants spend walking: graph 6

It was an almost half-and-half split of people reporting that they typically did (n=352, 54%)

and didn’t (297, 46%) accrue at least 30 minutes of walking a day.

19 (3%)

158 (24%)

136 (21%)

336 (52%)

Walk participants: typicalwalking frequency (n=649)

Never Once a week Twice a week Three times a week

The UK national guidelines (Department of Health, DoH, 2011) state that both younger

and older adults should aim to be at least moderately active, for at least 30 minutes, on at

least five days of the week. Older adults should particularly minimise the amount of time

they spend being sedentary because they always gain benefit from any movement: even

slow walkers would have benefited health-wise from their festival participation. This is

irrespective of any additional psycho-social benefits and the intensity with which

individuals exerted themselves. We did not ask about other forms of structured exercise,

lifestyle physical activity, active travel or sport in the short evaluation form. So it is quite

feasible that what appears to be a population that doesn’t meet the DoH guidelines may be

active in other ways.

Additionally, we discovered that two-thirds of people ‘never’ (n=165/649, 25.4%) or only

‘sometimes’ (n=268, 41.3%) walk in a group. Consequently, this format offered people the

opportunity to try this type of group activity which is associated with additional psycho-

social benefits (DoH, 2011). Belonging to a group doubles the odds of older people being

physically active (Crombie et al., 2004). Furthermore, not having an activity companion

has been shown to be a high-impact barrier to physical activity for older people living in

Bristol (Stathi et al., 2012).

Participants’ intention to increase walking: graph 7

We were also interested to know if there might be some sort of ‘legacy’ from the event in

terms of behaviour change. An impressive three-quarters of participants (n=482/649,

74.3%) thought the festival would encourage them to increase the amount they walk. A

minority said it wouldn’t (n=83, 12.8%) or that they weren’t sure (n=84, 12.9%). Although

intention to change behaviour can be a long way from actually managing to, and although

we only have a rough indication of how active participants already were, this is still very

encouraging.

30 (5%)

121 (19%)

146 (22%)

352 (54%)

Walk participants: how long theynormally walk for (n=649)

0 -10 mins/day 11-20 mins/day 21-30 mins/day >30 mins/day

Qualitative data

A single, open-ended question asked participants if there was anything they wished to say

about their experience of BWF 2018, including improvements if it were run again.

Two hundred and eighty-seven of the 649 total survey respondents (44%) filled this in, and

41% of these provided or implied specific suggestions. We undertook simple, inductive

content analysis on the data which is a method that identifies emerging themes. All

quotations are verbatim and considered illustrative of the theme.

The overall message was overwhelmingly positive: comments were punctuated with

thanks and words such as “excellent”, “fantastic”, “enjoyable”, “great choice of walks”,

“informative”, and “well-organised”. Twenty-seven people praised their walk leader, often

naming them. There was a sense that people wanted ‘more of the same’ and, indeed, for

future festivals to mature to be ‘even better’.

“An excellent experience and congratulations to all involved in the organisation of

this event. Same again next year...”

“This year was excellent, much better than 2017.”

“Thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm.”

“Really excellent - just keep going…”

“It was magical.”

“I feel so lucky to have taken part.”

“Truly wonderful experience taking part and renewing one's heart.”

482 (74%)

83 (13%)

84 (13%)

Walk participants: intention to walk more

Yes No Not sure

“Please just keep doing it, so we can experience more from walking.”

There were fewer than five negative comments across all the material, and they covered

different subjects. This convincingly indicates that there were no significant problems with

the delivery of the festival.

“Stop businesses using events to promote themselves, charging for public free

spaces for money!”

“Explanations are not always followed on most walks, as well as lots being more of

a march especially The Ramblers.”

“It would’ve been much appreciated if the main organiser of the walk hadn’t arrived

15 minutes late … [had] printed out the list in alphabetical order before she arrived

and had a clipboard.”

Seven key themes were identified from the raw data and are described below: promotion

and media, learning, accessibility, physical activity benefits, social benefits, future funding

and evaluation.

Promotion and media

With just over one in five people mentioning the nature of the festival’s promotional activity,

this was by far the most dominant theme. Having a printed programme was highly-

appreciated, especially as one wasn’t produced last year.

“Very impressed with leaflet/brochure.”

“Much easier to have a printed programme.”

Generally, people wanted there to be much wider publicising, although one person noted

the improvement on last year.

“Seems to have been well publicised this year.”

“Somehow need to get it even more known. I still meet people who don't know

about it...”

Participants’ main suggestion for improvement was for the website: that a print-out of the

whole programme - inclusive of every walk and its features - be available for people

without computer access/literacy (and in addition to the online calendar).

“It wasn't until I was on one of the walks that a person told me that there were even

more walks listed on the website.”

It is important to explain that the online calendar had all the walks and events listed with

the most up-to-date available information - whereas the printed programme featured a

large selection thereof. Naturally, there has to be a point when a hard copy goes to print

and a line has to be drawn under inclusions and edits. The Project Coordinator tried to

make this as clear as possible in several ways - for example by including in the hard copy

version two ‘signposting’ sentences about how to get the very latest information on the

web. Therefore, although this feedback is understandable, and there may be room for

improvement with longer preparation time and sufficient budget, we consider that this

situation was unavoidable and intrinsic to standard marketing practicalities - especially

when combined with the short time-span to organise the event as a whole: something that

a provider themselves reflects on later on in this report.

Learning

Over 40 comments were made around this theme, suggesting that people really enjoyed

the experience of learning something new as part-and-parcel of their walk. This related to

both exploring Bristol (e.g. finding things they’d never seen before), as well as gaining new

knowledge via themed walks - the ghost walk being mentioned more than once! People

seemed to want more educational walks in the future.

“A wonderfully informative introduction to unfamiliar - and familiar - parts of Bristol.”

“Lots of informative walks - very enjoyable. The Downs Ghost Roads walk was

fascinating.”

“I think it is a great way to keep fit and get to know Bristol better.”

“More local history and wildlife events please…”

Accessibility

Around the same number of people that commented on learning did so about walk

accessibility. This was mostly in a positive context and related to different aspects e.g. a

walk being perceived as ethnically-diverse or suitable for people with limited mobility.

There was an overall sense of getting a warm, inclusive welcome.

“Great multi-faith walk.”

“Definitely enjoyed today - opportunity to go ‘downhill route.’ Liked the challenge

[with] my walking frame.”

“The dog walk was great. We felt very welcome even though we don’t have a dog!”

“Good to have central walks.”

Nonetheless, a handful of accessibility-related suggestions were made.

“There is a lack of resting places – benches, even ‘perching’ bars that cyclists can

lock bikes onto.”

“More audio walks please…”

Access via public transport/active travel was mentioned the most - in that older people

wanted to be able to arrive by bus centrally using their free pass. Optimal timing of

morning walks is an important learning point in relation to the festival’s demographic, the

aim to achieve as many journeys to walk-starts as possible via public transport/active

travel and, indeed, some of our key partners’ target audiences.

“Start times should be 11am since pensioners often cannot use their bus passes to

get there on time.”

Overall, participants complimented the wide variety of walk types. However, walk

frequency and pace, and there being as much variation in start times as possible still had

potential for improvement.

“More flat ones please!”

“A walk that's slower with organised meals please.”

“Go into various companies and promote it... Try to time the walks for one hour to

coincide with lunch hour.”

“Have the festival across two separate months [to enable] people to attend sessions

they couldn’t in the festival… Get the dates out earlier so [I can] book them out in

my diary.”

A few people mentioned that there should be more walks for children and younger people.

“Maybe something else for young children?”

“The Lamplighters storytelling was really fun and captivating for young and old

alike.”

Physical activity benefits

Five to eleven people made comments on the remaining themes, starting with the festival’s

role in promoting physical activity for health benefit.

“A great way to encourage you out of the armchair and into the outdoors!”

“A really important event which promotes activity and health.”

“Introduce some hill walks and walks to increase fitness.”

“More walking groups would be great. Good for fitness and social…”

Social benefits

Participants clearly enjoyed the social interaction with new and old faces.

“It's fab to be out and about meeting different people.”

“It was nice to see a few new faces.”

“Good to be able to chat to like-minded people.”

Future funding

Some participants vocalised their concern about future festival funding, disappointed that

Bristol City Council weren’t able to contribute more.

“Make sure the festival happens in 2019. Ensure council funding helps the festival.”

It should be noted here that not only did the council offer a lot of in-kind support, but they

contributed financially via the Travelwest Fund - which provided a substantial proportion of

the overall BWF 2018 funding. Most participants would have not have been aware of this,

as Bristol City Council advised that only the Travelwest logo should be used on all

promotional materials in relation to their involvement. Some additional fundraising

suggestions were made, like charging for programmes and take-home maps of the routes

to be able to enjoy them again, or try more of the walks that were on offer.

“Fundraise early!”

“Please ask for voluntary donations. Most people would love to feel they are

making a difference...”

Evaluation

A few participants recognised that there might be some room for improvement on the

event evaluation form, in having an opportunity to provide feedback specific to each walk.

“This form doesn't ask which walk I'm on.”

5.3 Provider feedback

All walk and event providers were given the opportunity to complete an organiser survey,

which was sent via email link in early June 2018. Although completion wasn’t incentivised,

and some providers gave more than one contact name, 41 out of a maximum 74 filled it in.

This 55% response rate was very high as it is commonly accepted that survey data

collection typically yields around a 20% hit-rate.

Organisers’ reasons for taking part

Providers reported that they took part in BWF 2018 for a variety of reasons including to

increase numbers, reach new visitors/audiences, and to be part of a citywide/national

event. One organisation added that it was for “community engagement” and another

because “We believe that the more people that pray for the good of our city, the better!”.

Volunteer involvement: estimates

Although it was beyond the scope of this year’s resources to collect precise monitoring and

evaluation data from volunteers, providers were asked to estimate the approximate

number and age range of the people volunteering on their walk/s - which, like participants,

was predominantly older people. Only three (7%) of the activities didn’t have any volunteer

support. Volunteer support and involvement is clearly an integral, essential and highly

valuable ingredient of the festival’s implementation and success. And is obviously in line

with contemporary public policies to increase volunteering.

Satisfaction with festival organisation

We asked providers to give feedback on their event experience, via 20 questions - nine of

which were fixed-response and eleven of which were open-ended (qualitative).

Organisers clearly felt highly-supported by in terms of BWF 2018’s promotional channels. All but two people (4.9%) answered ‘yes’ (95.1%, n=39) to this yes-no question. Satisfaction with event submission process: graph 8

We asked organisers what they thought of the process of registering their walk/event

details online in advance, it being the mechanism enabling them to run. Over 80% (n=33)

rated their level of satisfaction as 4/5 or 5/5 (very satisfied). No-one was very unsatisfied.

Satisfaction with marketing toolkit: graph 9

Satisfaction levels were identical for the marketing toolkit, with another 80% high

satisfaction rate.

18 (43.9%)

15 (36.6%)

8 (19.5%)

0 00

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Very satisfied (5/5) 4/5 3/5 2/5 Very unsatisfied (1/5)

Satisfaction: event submission process(by no. of respondents, total=41)

18 (43.9%)

15 (36.6%)

8 (19.5%)

0 00

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20


Satisfaction: organisers' marketing toolkit(by no. of respondents, total=41)

Satisfaction with walk leaders’ toolkit: graph 10

Satisfaction with the leaders’ toolkit was only marginally less, with a couple of people

rating it as 2/5. However, over three-quarters of people were satisfied.

When people had been ‘very unsatisfied’ in any way, they were asked to expand. Although

no-one had actually said they were, eight people went on to give further feedback - with

the main two themes being around the providers’ packs and the online registration/event

submission process.

“Event submission process was a bit long-winded if submitting events for multiple

days.”

“[Include] the emergency contact details form as part of the sign-up process in

Eventbrite.”

“The submission process isn’t great when you are an event rather than a walk, as

the process is understandably geared towards walks.”

“I couldn’t get the online form to work properly and needed help from the

organisers.”

Suggestions for improvement next year

One question asked whether, if respondents didn’t feel well-supported by BWF’s

promotional channels, why: only five people commented. Given this low number, these

findings have been subsumed under the forthcoming themes - although one ad-hoc

comment is relevant to highlight here:

17 (41.5%)

14 (34.1%)

8 (19.5%)

2 (4.9%)

00

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18


Satisfaction: event submission process(by no. of respondents, total=41)

“Everything was rushed and was very last minute, but all came good in the end.”

Building on from the emphasis on the website launch, then its improvement, through 2016

and 2017, and the related recommendations in both evaluation reports (Bristol City

Council, 2016, Lowman et al., 2017), the focus of our media evaluation was on the site.

When asked which of its features organisers found most useful, there was consensus

around the online calendar - where you could see the most up-to-date information on all

walks and events. Providers also really appreciated being able to check their own listings.

Others gave feedback that the site was well laid-out, clearly-presented and included

“lovely big images”.

“It was all really useful!”

“Calendar, good to see easily when walks were happening.”

“I didn't really use it myself but several people told me they thought it was a vast

improvement on the previous website - which is good!”

Excluding people who wrote “none really”, N/A etc, and the process of applying to host a

walk described above, the website features that people found least useful were: searching

not being easy enough (e.g. inability to find walks on specific days), and not being able to

find the participants’ evaluation survey. Other ad-hoc suggestions resonated with some of

the walkers feedback:

“Unable to download a PDF version of the walks programme for those who don't

have internet access.”

“Would have perhaps been good to make the start (and end) locations on the

events link through to a map?”

Although every effort was made to address suggestions for improvement mentioned in the

2017 report, the Project Coordinator did highlight certain challenges such as only having

short timescales for website development - as part of the bigger picture of the narrow

window to organise the festival as a whole, despite Bristol City Council’s support in this

respect - and providers making last-minute changes to walk details.

When asked how their offer was promoted, and what they found most useful/helpful about

this, 15 of 39 providers explained that they’d done their own promotion - some using social

media. This took place alongside BWF’s and partners’ promotional activities.

We also asked them what stopped them from linking to the BWF from their own site or

following the Facebook page and/or Twitter account, if that was the case. In descending

order, barriers were:

• Technology e.g. don’t use Facebook/Twitter, have a website etc (nine comments).

• Not having enough time (three comments).

• Their employers’ website policies/restrictions (two comments).

• Their own resources, walk spaces filling up quickly, the potential to confuse their

audience in the context of their own walk offers (one comment each).

Organisations were asked to share what they’d gained from being involved in the festival

and provided a lot of immensely positive feedback on this. Six themes emerged from this

analysis: promotion/publicity, new walkers, community awareness, ‘being part’ of

something, organiser networking/contacts and pleasure.

Promotion/publicity

Organisers appreciated the promotion and publicity they obtained from having been

involved. This is likely to have had a positive (direct or indirect) impact in the days or

weeks afterwards in terms of initiation into or more regular participation in providers’

regular activities. Indeed, some said this was the case in their feedback. It would be worth

considering if/how we could follow up, and consequently get a better sense of this, should

BWF be repeated.

“Local people more aware of our churches being open as visitor attractions [and of]

the Churches Conservation Trust, and the work we do.”

“It definitely helped put Creative Workspace on the map for new people who didn't

know we were here.”

“Promotion of Badock's Wood [and a new walk trialled]: several people had never

been before … and would not have found out about it otherwise … [They] might not

have thought somewhere so lovely is in the locality.”

New walkers (and walks)

Linked to this, some providers recruited new members, started new routes, generated

extra income or attracted new faces to their group/s.

“More books sold. 25 people enjoyed a very good walk - some of whom had never

walked as far before.”

“A new permanent women’s walking football session for Gloucestershire Football

Association.”

“New visitors.”

“We attracted new members to the group.”

‘Being part of something bigger’

Some organisers mentioned the advantage of contributing to something bigger than the

normal boundaries of their standard offer.

“Being part of a Bristol event.”

“The opportunity to be part of a city-wide festival.”

Community awareness

Providers appreciated the opportunity to have made links with their local communities and

target populations.

“The opportunity for local residents to be involved in a new activity at a taster

session level, without committing to a group.”

“Increased community awareness of Clean Air Bishopston.”

Organiser networking/contacts

The opportunity to connect with similar providers came through strongly.

“New opportunity to link with a partner organisation … It definitely helped put

Creative Workspace on the map…”

“BWF 2018 allowed us to form links with walk leaders which will, in turn, help us

develop the concept of promoting three walking hubs within easy reach by rail of

Bristol Temple Meads: Bradford-on-Avon, Severn Beach and Yatton.”

“Allowed us to engage with a group of local stakeholders that we would have

otherwise not reached. Really great experience and positively received. Thanks for

the support.”

“Connections to a new group of people supporting walking in the city.”

Pleasure

A couple of organisers brought a ‘human touch’ to their experience: they simply enjoyed

being involved, and seeing others having fun at the event.

“Pleasure in seeing others get to know and enjoy the walk. Recognition that it is a

good and worthwhile project.”

“Satisfaction from relevant local events and groups tying in with a city-wide festival.”

The large amount of positive feedback can be interpreted as an indicator of success –

especially given that from the point that funding was confirmed (20 January 2018) to the

start of the festival (1 May 2018), there were only 70 working days to organise the event

from start to finish. This included the transfer to a voluntary and community sector provider

(Linkage Network/Active Ageing Bristol) - who naturally have incomparable infrastructural

resource when compared with Bristol City Council.

Importantly, all 41 providers wanted to be involved if a festival were held again next year.

5.4 Evaluation strengths and limitations

Strengths

• Both Participant-Reported Experience Measures were mixed-methods and targeted

the two key stakeholder groups.

• The number of participant survey responses (n=649) dramatically exceeded those

collected last year (n=90 in 2017, i.e. a 621% increase), albeit the festival having

also attracted more walkers. A relatively large volume of helpful qualitative material

was elicited, giving a valuable indication of the experiences of many participants,

and the event’s tremendous success.

• Analysis of the raw data was undertaken retrospectively by an evaluation consultant

who is published in physical activity and well-being research - but was not at all

involved in the planning, organisation or operational delivery of the event.

• Whilst we were able to take useful learning from the 2017 BWF report (e.g. in

producing an A5 size participant evaluation form, rather than a larger version that

did not incentivise people to fill it out), we consider the BWF 2018 analysis to be

substantially more robust and insightful than the previous evaluation reports.

Limitations

• The evaluation data is unavoidably self-report and cross-sectional.

• Despite enthusiastic attempts to encourage providers to assist with distribution of

participant surveys, returns weren’t collected from everyone so can’t be claimed to

be fully representative.

• Participant responses may have been ‘skewed’ by there not being a questionnaire

per walk/event. Some people clearly attended more than one and may have had a

different experience on each. Equally though, there was very limited resource and

time to plan the evaluation as a whole.

• There may be potential to increase survey response rates. However, choosing to

focus on this could have substantial resource implications e.g. substantially more

manual data entry for hard copies (which still needs to be an option for participants),

especially if the festival attracted higher even more people and providers in future.

• Questions about participants’ usual physical activity patterns didn’t accurately

reflect the UK national guidelines for physical activity (DoH, 2011).

• Survey questions and measures were not fully aligned with festival aims and

objectives. Furthermore, the evaluation wasn’t supported by a logic model or formal

evaluation plan. This is best done with key stakeholders as soon as funding has

been agreed and operational planning discussions start - and certainly involving

someone with evaluation expertise/experience. However, these are all aspects that

could be improved upon if repeated, and with adequate budget.

6. Marketing and Communications Report

Overview

The marketing plan was managed and delivered by the Project Coordinator, with

assistance from several external agencies/services who were commissioned to help

deliver elements of the marketing plan - including PR and media, branding, print,

photography and website development. This was mostly due to the lack of a dedicated

press and media officer, designer, photographer or web developer within the festival’s core

management team.

Festival promotion for 2018 was directed through four key media channels - print, public

and press relations, online and social media.

An updated marketing toolkit was produced and sent to walk/event providers. This

included guidance on how to publicise a walk/event using local press, online and social

media, template posters and links to further resources. However, most providers continued

to rely almost completely on BWF to promote their walk/event.

Part of the marketing process involved a handover of the BWF marketing channels from

Bristol City Council to the new festival organisers (Linkage Network/Active Ageing Bristol).

Whilst most of this was fairly straightforward, it did take time to resolve some more

complex issues around accessing the channels, Google Analytics, costs, data protection

(including the new GDPR regulations).

In light of the above, and the costs associated with outsourcing some of these services,

there was a limited advertising budget available. Therefore, marketing spend was

focussed on the recommendations made in the 2017 BWF evaluation report (Lowman et

al., 2017). These consisted of improving and updating the website, producing a printed

programme, distribution, digital materials, photography, blog content and Facebook

advertising.

Below is a summary of the activities which took place.

6.1 Branding

Due to the move away from direct council management and delivery of BWF, the logo was

refreshed slightly and a new brand developed to engage a wider audience. The brand

used images and words to form an emotional connection with people, and to highlight the

‘experience’ that walkers would get - rather than the simple ‘act’ of walking. It was very

much aimed at encouraging non-walkers, whilst still engaging those who had participated

in previous festivals.

Six image-based icons - based on the festival themes (art and creativity, education and

learning, health and wellbeing, history and architecture, nature and wildlife and walking

sports) - were developed to visually highlight what the walker might see and feel on a walk,

as well as highlighting the accessibility of the walks.

6.2 Print materials and distribution

BWF 2018’s approach to print materials was an improvement on last year, despite the

reduced marketing budget:

• 6,000 A5 programmes and 500 A4 posters were designed, printed and distributed

across Bristol, to the Bristol Tourist Information Centre, local GP surgeries (57),

leisure centres and swimming pools (17), community centres (50), libraries (27) and

other key outlets via our partners and providers. Further commercial distribution by

Pear Distribution sited them in 30 outlets (i.e. city-wide tourist, transport and retail

outlets).

• 11 A3 premier poster sites secured via Pear Distribution for four weeks’ advertising

in key locations throughout the city, such as train stations, leading shopping centres

(e.g. Cabot Circus) and supermarkets.

• 5,000 A5 double-sided surveys were designed, printed and distributed to providers.

• Old promotional stock from last year’s event was used for the walk leader packs,

including branded drawstring bags and water bottles.

6.3 Digital screens

Digital promotional slides were created to help promote the festival on the following

outdoor and indoor TV screens:

• Big Screen Bristol (outdoor).

• Bristol Tourist Information (indoor).

• M Shed (indoor).

• Various GP surgeries (indoor).

6.4 PR and media

This was achieved through the activity of both the Project Coordinator and marketing

agency, 42 Group. They were commissioned to assist with creating a PR/content plan,

writing up case studies, sourcing and writing up celebrity blogs, features and writing and

distributing a photocall and press release.

This year the festival generated the following press coverage:

• Eight radio slots (versus one in 2017)

• One piece in the Bristol Post

• One piece in The Bristol Magazine

• Two pieces in Bristol 24/7 (versus one in 2017).

Despite the extensive radio coverage, and improvement on last year’s hard copy

distribution, it was slightly disappointing that we did not get any TV coverage. However,

although both ITV West and Made in Bristol had planned to attend the launch event, a

high-profile court case on the same day meant that they were unfortunately unable to

attend in the end.

Six case studies were sourced to support the media activity.

See ‘Appendix H’ for the full PR and media summary.

6.5 Blogs, case studies and features

To amplify the festival messages a range of blogs, case studies and features were

produced and promoted via the festival website and social media channels:

• Six ‘My favourite walk’ blog posts: posts featuring a Bristol personality or celebrity,

blogger or charity rep, for example: Mayor Marvin Rees, comedian Mark Olver and

model and TV presenter, Amy Willerton.

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/news/

• Two ‘Bristol Walk Fest’ blog posts: ‘Bristol Walk Fest: Top 10 highlight’ and ‘Bristol

Walk Fest: Bank Holiday walks’.

• Two general blog posts to tie in with national campaigns and marketing

opportunities: ‘National Walking Month: Top 10 highlights’ and ‘Walk to School

Week: Seven top tips to get children walking’.

• Six case studies: posts featuring local walking champions, local walking route

creators, walking and dementia, walking and complex post-traumatic stress disorder

(CTPSD) and ‘my favourite walking sport’.

• Two ‘Bristol Walk Fest’ features: ‘Pick up a Bristol Walk Fest 2018 programme’ and

‘Walk Bris Way’.

6.6 Social media

Social media was used to engage the public and partners prior to and during the festival -

with regular updates on Facebook and Twitter encouraging providers and participants to

promote and share their experiences using #BristolWalkFest.

The use of the hashtag and a robust tweet schedule is enough to promote the festival on

this platform. 42 Group used Buffer to manage and pre-schedule a small number of posts

on Facebook and Twitter. Manual posts were also posted to keep it ‘organic’.

The social media channels were managed by the Project Coordinator.

Twitter

A new Twitter account (www.twitter.com/briswalkfest18) was set up for BWF 2018 (30

January 2018), as Bristol City Council had previously used its own Twitter account to

promote the festival. This meant we had to build a follower base from scratch and, for the

purpose of this report, we are unable to compare data with last year’s.

One hundred and forty-five tweets were issued from 30 January onwards and into June

2018.

Twitter generated positive results (30 March 2018 to 1 June 2018) which are outlined

below:

• 152,500 tweet impressions, an average of 1,700 per day and a total of 2,613

engagements. Our engagement rate was 1.9%.

• 353 new followers.

• 513 link clicks: on average, we earned six link clicks per day.

• 436 retweets: on average, we earned five retweets per day.

Our top tweet achieved the following interaction: 17,437 impressions; 674 total

engagements; 16 link clicks; 16 details expands; 18 likes; 2 Retweets; 1 hashtag clicks,

and 601 media engagements.

http://www.twitter.com/briswalkfest18

It should also be noted that 42 Group managed to secure an interview with Amy Willerton

for the blog and she retweeted our message to her 257,000 followers - a great

achievement.

Facebook

The BWF Facebook page (www.facebook.com/bristolwalkfest) was handed over to the

new festival organisers on 15 January 2018 and had 1,358 page likes and 1,344 page

followers.

Facebook generated positive results which are outlined below for the period 15 January –

1 June 2018:

• 155 posts (versus 140 in 2017, an 11% increase).

• 89,077 people reached (versus 41,084 in 2017, a 117% increase).

• 1,587 page likes (the number of people who liked our page) - 229 new likes (versus,

for the same period last year, 208 new page likes – a 10% increase).

• 4,246 post engagements (number of times users engaged with our posts through

likes, comments, shares and more) - versus 1,981 in 2017 (a 114% increase).

Facebook advertising

Facebook advertising campaigns were set to focus on website click-throughs to try and

maximise the number of people visiting and looking at the full programme:

• Six ads were created and scheduled for 18 to 25 May 2018.

• They targeted anyone within 20km of Bristol.

• ‘Interest targeting’ included: architecture, Bansky, nordic walking, outdoor

recreation, walking, hiking, cultural history, wildlife, dog walking, cultural heritage,

fitness, health and wellness.

The Facebook campaign achieved the following results:

• Total reach: 40,067.

• Total impressions: 45,371.

• The most popular ad was the health and wellbeing ad. The least popular was the

walking sports ad.

http://www.facebook.com/bristolwalkfest

• Cost per result ranged from 26p - 64p, with the cheapest being the generic BWF ad

and the most expensive Active10.

Since BWF haven’t run Facebook ads before, it isn’t possible to make a comparison.

However, 42 Group have advised that, in their experience of working with other

clients/events, this is an excellent result.

For the budget allocated to this project there was significant achievement and reach.

Given the limited spend, we received extremely good value - particularly when balanced

with the content and social media support in-kind which we received from 42 Group.

6.7 Website

A new website for BWF was launched in 2017 and was the focus and target destination for

all online activity.

Due to the short lead in time and limited budget, the Project Coordinator decided that it

was best not to move the existing WordPress website to a new supplier for 2018. Instead

they commissioned the current supplier (Bristol City Council) to help with website design,

hosting and training.

The Project Coordinator also commissioned Aurora to populate the online calendar with

details of all the individual walks and events.

A number of design changes were made to the website which included the site map (e.g.

added a ‘News’ section) and calendar of walks and events (e.g. changed/updated fields

and filters, and added a photograph to all listings).

The website was managed and updated by the Project Coordinator which included

sourcing content, writing and adding new content, resizing photographs for use on the site,

and updating event/walk listings to include cancellations and those which were fully

booked.

The source of the statistics presented in this section is a Google Analytics website data

report. The figures below cover the period April 1 to June 1 2018, and are compared to the

same period in 2017:

• Sessions (views) have gone up to 13,412 from 11,841 - a 13.3% increase on last

year.

• New users rose 12.6% - from 7,677 to 8,646.

• Page views decreased from 54,755 to 50,021 - an 8.6% decrease.

• The number of pages viewed per session decreased from 4.62 to 3.73 (down

19.3%)

• The average time spent on the site decreased from 3 minutes 55 seconds to 3

minutes 1 second.

• The bounce rate (people leaving the site on the first page they see) increased from

38% to 50%.

How people are reaching the website

• Direct traffic (e.g. people going straight to our website) decreased from 43.4% to

21.8%, with the total number of such traffic also decreasing from 3,830 to 1,494 (a

61% decrease).

• Referral traffic - traffic direct from other websites - dropped slightly from 2,793

sessions to 2,259 (a 19.1% decrease).

• Slightly fewer referrals came from the Visit Bristol website in comparison to 2017.

• Social media traffic increased from 16% to 24% of the total traffic, and the number

of sessions rose from 1,031 to 2,293 (a 122% increase) – suggesting that the social

media advertising push has been a great success.

From the above, we interpret that, overall, the website saw a decrease in most areas. This

seems likely to have been largely due to there not being a printed programme in 2017.

However, it is also possible that the wider marketing and PR, programmes and press

coverage wasn’t enough in leading people to visit the site. Some of the analytics may also

be explained by the site being more easily-navigable and clearly-presented than in

previous years - meaning that people needed to spend less time on it to get the

information they needed.

Conversely, the large increase in hits via social media was considerable, although not

entirely unexpected in the wider picture around communication methods.

6.8 Discovery pathways: graph 11

This graph shows that the most popular way of finding out about the festival was through

walking or community groups (n=204 people, 31.4% of all 649 respondents). This was

followed closely by word of mouth (n=190, 29.3%), then the poster/festival programme,

website, ‘other’, social media and newspapers – the latter being a discovery pathway for

only 11 people (1.7%). These findings indicate that, although we know community

organisations used a variety of advertising methods themselves, they - alongside word of

mouth - are more powerful agents than either traditional or modern/digital methods in

spreading the word about BWF. Interestingly, these findings generally add support to our

interpretations in the last section - in the pattern being an overall decrease in web traffic.

NB: Respondents could tick more than one response option.

6.9 Photography

Jeni Nott was commissioned by the Project Coordinator to undertake photography at

seven walks and events, and one photo call. The purpose of the commission was to

document the festival and obtain a library of photographs which can be used on the

festival channels in the future.

6.10 Active 10 Challenge

The Project Coordinator worked in partnership with Public Health England to help raise

awareness about their Active 10 app as part of the festival offer. This involved setting up a

web page on the BWF 2018 website. This received 201 page views including ‘organic’ and

‘paid’ posts via the festival’s social media channels.

7. Conclusions and recommendations

We now draw some conclusions about BWF 2018 and make four sets of

recommendations going forwards.

The evaluation showed that, overall, the festival was a great success. Given the late

confirmation of funding, short lead-in time, reduced marketing budget and small festival

core team - without the infrastructural resource from Bristol City Council as the previous

organiser - what we achieved and delivered was impressive. Our mixed-methods

evaluation, drawing from three key data sources - participant and provider surveys, and

website analytics - has evidenced that there was:

• Overwhelmingly positive feedback, satisfaction and gratitude from participants.

• Very strong positive feedback from walk/event provider-partners.

204 (31.4%)190 (29.3%)

162 (25%)

116 (17.9%)

88 (13.6%)

57 (8.8%)

11 (1.7%)

0

50

100

150

200

250

How found out about Walk Fest 2018(n=649 respondents*)

• Important improvements in terms of re-introducing a printed programme, the BWF

website, media (particularly social media) and marketing.

• Several operational and evaluation-related ‘lessons learnt’ which can feed into the

planning and delivery of any future Bristol Walk Fest events.

7.2 Recommendations

7.2.1 Recommendations: festival content and organisation

• Allow more forward planning time for future festivals - including to avoid many

incumbent marketing and delivery challenges in needing to operate in ‘last minute’

mode.

• Source adequate funds to resource a full-time Project Coordinator role as well as

contractors and consultants as required. This should additionally avoid pro-bono

hours accumulating - provided by the likes of the Project Coordinator and various

contractors - to be able to deliver, implement and evaluate the project in a thorough,

timely and successful way.

• Consider a management fee for the event lead.

7.2.2 Recommendations: marketing and publicity

• Increase investment into marketing for future activities - to extend the reach of the

festival and its impact and legacy.

• Invest in further brand designs e.g. a new logo to replace the current outdated one.

• Investigate the options around providers entering and managing their own

walks/events through the website.

• Investigate moving the website to a new supplier, as the costs (£55/hour) to update

the existing website was comparatively high when compared to other web design

services.

• Try to find event sponsors to fund the bill for marketing activity.

• Get more celebrities and influential individuals on board to help increase the

festival’s reach even further.

• Engage local influencers/bloggers: with more time and investment, we could get the

local blogging community involved in creating content and promoting the festival.

• Co-ordinate a bigger launch event - which could perhaps brainstorm ideas to make

it more ‘newsworthy’ e.g. celebrity involvement, interesting locations, more unique

case studies).

• Set up an e-newsletter to help promote BWF.

• Establish the Google Analytics we want to extract by setting up a dashboard in the

account.

• Produce a printed programme which includes even more of/as many of the walks

and events as possible. Also, print more copies which appeals to most of what

indeed transpired to be our audience: older people. (Having more time and

resources should facilitate better inclusion of event details across both media, being

the main request from participant findings).

• Invest in securing a full order and distribution service for festival marketing

materials.

• Use a hashtag tracker like Tweetreach to give more detailed performance statistics

about the #BristolWalkFest.

• Update BWF terms and conditions and agreements by making it a requirement for

walk/event providers to use the logo on all their walk/event publicity, and to

undertake a minimum level of marketing and promotion through their own channels.

7.2.3 Recommendations: evaluation

• Plan the evaluation as soon as funding is in place and operational discussions start,

and review it regularly.

• Obtain expert advice at outset - to help set clear evaluation aims and objectives,

ensure approaches and questions accurately reflect festival aims and objectives

and, alongside any communication and marketing and delivery strategies

successfully attract target audience/s.

• Budget for dedicated evaluation capacity - to be as impartial as possible. If an

‘internal’ evaluator, ensure they can remain independent as possible from the

Project Coordinator or a freelance consultant.

• Involve key stakeholders to develop and gain early consensus on evaluation plans

and aiming for appropriate and representative volunteer and public involvement.

(This also applies on an operational level).

• Develop a logic model e.g. use recommended resources on

http://www.nhsevaluationtoolkit.net/evaluation-cycle/identify/ (accessed 24/8/18).

• Repeat and improve the two mixed-methods Participant-Reported Experience

Measures (PREMS) with potentially better questions: more sensitive demographic

questions, better alignment of questions with UK national physical activity

guidelines and festival aims and objectives, proportionate follow-up to the 2018

event, and perhaps inclusion of walkers’ personal goals. However, be careful to

prioritise well and avoid unnecessary participant burden which would likely

disincentivise survey completion.

• Carefully consider whether to distribute evaluation forms at each separate specific

walk/event – or, alternatively, to include the opportunity to add comments on the

evaluation form allowing respondents to specify which walk/s they’re referring to.

• Carefully consider collecting better quality volunteer monitoring and evaluation data:

notably case studies may be part of a resource-dependent approach to including of

such valuable data.

• Incentivise participant feedback with another free prize draw and consider

affordable incentivisation for walk/event providers - to be able to collect more robust

monitoring data and achieve an even better response rate.

• Following the principles of best practice and transparency, share this year’s and

future evaluation findings/reports via multiple dissemination routes e.g. the website,

other media, and the wide network of stakeholders (walk/event organisers, partners,

funders etc). This should also build an audit trail, data bench-marking and history of

BWF - to facilitate easier and more meaningful comparisons with historic

data/findings.

http://www.nhsevaluationtoolkit.net/evaluation-cycle/identify/

7.2.4 Other recommendations

• Link with First Bus and GWR about advertising on their networks (especially the

Severn Beach line) and getting discounted travel for walkers.

• Include Bus Link walks in the programme offer.

• More lunch time walks/events to enable people who work full-time to attend.

• Carefully consider linking with Bristol hotels to offer accommodation discount deals,

being mindful that people did not take up this year’s offers.

• Explore future opportunities with Cotswold Outdoor and/or others in terms of

sponsorship, discount deals and survey incentivisation.

• Explore if printable maps, online routes and a guide to ‘self-guided’ walks could be

provided.

• Aim to be even more inclusive in terms of better BAME representation, disability

and mobility-friendly features and information, guided walks for blind or partially-

sighted people, ‘bus-friendly’ start times, and a wider children’s/intergenerational

offer.

Appendix A - Infographic (main findings)

Appendix B - List of walk/event providers

1. A Forgotten Landscape

2. Admiral Plum

3. Ambition Lawrence Weston

4. Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust

5. Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project and Friends of the Downs and Avon Gorge

6. Avonmouth Wacky-Walkers

7. Brave Bold Drama Community Interest Company

8. Bristol City Community Trust

9. Bristol City Council

10. Bristol Civic Society

11. Bristol Dementia Action Alliance

12. Bristol Flyers Community

13. Bristol Jets Community

14. Bristol Libraries

15. Bristol Multi Faith Forum

16. Bristol Nordic Walking

17. Bristol Orienteering Klub

18. Bristol Ramblers

19. Bristol Rocks

20. Bristol Rovers Community Trust

21. Bristol Rugby Community Foundation

22. Bristol South Skyline Walk Group

23. Bristol Sport Foundation

24. Bristol United Walking Football Club

25. Bristol Walking Alliance

26. Brunel’s SS Great Britain

27. ClairCity Bristol (University of the West of England)

28. Clean Air Bishopston

29. Clevedon Ramblers

30. Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust

31. Forest of Avon Trust

32. Freelance Mum

33. Friends of Badock’s Wood

34. Friends of Brandon Hill

35. Friends of the Avon New Cut

36. Friends of the Downs

37. Friends of Troopers Hill

38. Gloucestershire County Football Association

39. Gloucestershire Cricket Board

40. Go Foraging

41. Hartcliffe Health and Environment Action Group

42. In Your Dog House

43. Incredible Edible Bristol

44. Inner City and East Bristol Health Team

45. Jacobs Wells Community Hub

46. JustJog

47. Knightstone Housing

48. Knowle West Health Park

49. LGBT Bristol

50. Living Streets

51. Lockleaze and Horfield Strollers

52. M Shed

53. Man Food Project/University of Southampton

54. Norton Radstock Ramblers

55. Parkwood Leisure

56. Robin Tetlow

57. Saint Stephen’s and Holy Trinity Hotwells

58. Southern Links Children’s Centre

59. Southmead Development Trust

60. St George Strollers

61. St Monica Trust

62. Stanfords Bristol

63. Sustrans

64. The Architecture Centre

65. The Churches Conservation Trust

66. The Severnside Community Rail Partnership

67. University of Bristol

68. Wellspring Healthy Living Centre

69. Wild Dye Garden

Appendix C - Bristol Walk Fest 2018 Steering Group

A steering group made up of these partners met monthly to help support and guide the

project.

• Active Ageing Bristol (Karen Lloyd)

• Freelance Project Coordinator (Kerry Morgan)

• Bristol City Council Public Health

• Bristol City Council Transport

• Bristol City Council Neighbourhoods

• Bristol Civic Society

• Bristol Ramblers

• Bristol Walking Alliance

• Clean Air Bishopston

• Destination Bristol

• Forest of Avon Trust

• Knowle West Health Park

• LinkAge Network

• Living Streets

Appendix D - ‘Destination Bristol’ marketing report

Bristol Walk Fest event listing in the official 2018 Visitor Guide

• Print run of 370,000 copies for 2018.

Bristol Walk Fest event listing on the Visit Bristol website

• Number of hits - 5,121.

• Number of times displayed in a search - 1,244.

• Number of times referred to Bristol Walk Fest website - 401.

E-news - Bristol events in May - 12 April

• Audience - local tourism business and travel providers.

• Number of subscribers - 156.

• Open rate - 52 (34.4%).

• Click rate - 26 (17.2%). Blog post (top 10 highlights of Walk Fest) on the Visit Bristol website - 23 April

• Number of hits - 861. Consumer e-news - 24 April

• Audience - consumers and visitors

• Number of subscribers - 35,714.

• Open rate - 6,146 (17.2%).

• Total clicks - 1,470 (4.1%).

• Bristol Walk Fest article clicks -100. Social media engagement (April and May) Twitter

• Number of posts - 13.

• Impressions (number of times users saw the Tweet on Twitter) - 26,887.

• Engagements (number of times a user has interacted with a Tweet) - 401. Facebook

• Number of posts - 2.

• Impressions (number of users who had any Posts enter their screen) - 13,602.

• Engagements (number of times a user has engaged with Posts) - 558.

Appendix E - About the authors and declared interests

Jo Coulson Jo was the freelance Evaluation Consultant for BWF 2018. She is an evaluation specialist with VCS evaluation and public health project delivery experience. She has expertise in advising on the full evaluation cycle: from start (bid development) to finish (dissemination), helping organisations co-produce evaluation plans, logic models and evaluation questions to be able to conduct robust and proportionate impact measurement. Jo has strong mixed- methods analysis and report-writing skills, and particularly enjoys working with qualitative data. Jo’s freelance clients have included The South West Evaluator Forum (for project management of the 'Public and Patient Involvement in Evaluation Guidelines', Age UK South Gloucestershire (The Integrated Care Service), The University of Bristol (‘Plain English for Academics’ courses) and Close Asset Management (‘Healthy living in retirement' sessions). Jo also has vast experience in: academic physical activity and wellbeing research and pragmatic evaluation - especially with older people. She was Senior Research Associate for the seminal ‘Older People and Active Living’ projects at The University of Bristol - in the academic department that achieved overall highest performance in its category for the Research Excellence Framework 2014. (These studies were the fore-runners of the highly-regarded Project ACE, Active, Connected and Engaged Communities.) Jo has a four-sided publications and presentations list with several first authorships and many peer-reviewed papers. Jo has most recently been employed in Research/Evaluation Officer positions at Penny Brohn UK and within Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire STP – where she advised healthcare commissioners on incorporating evaluation into their primary care and /social prescribing interventions. You can read more about Jo on LinkedIn.

• Declared interests: Jo is an Active Ageing Bristol steering group member. However, she did not have any role in BWF 2018’s steering group, operational delivery or evaluation design. When contracted to lead on the retrospective evaluation, she also had negligible festival background knowledge and didn’t participate in the festival.

Kerry Morgan Kerry was the freelance Project Coordinator for Bristol Walk Fest 2018. She is a freelance marketing and communications consultant who works with a range of small to medium size businesses, specialising in sports, health and leisure, to help shape marketing and communication strategies. Kerry has more than 12 years’ experience in public sector marketing. Prior to becoming a freelance consultant, she was a Marketing and Communications Officer at Bristol City Council.

• Declared interests: Bristol Walk Fest 2018 Project Coordinator, Active Ageing Bristol steering group member.

You can read more about Kerry on LinkedIn.

http://www.bath.ac.uk/health/research/projects/ace

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-coulson-23378b40/

http://linkedin.com/in/kerry-morgan-6387398b

Appendix F - Recommendations from 2017 (‘They said, we did’)

The recommendations in the left-hand column below are taken from the BWF 2017

Evaluation Report (Lowman et al., 2017). The right-hand column lists what we did and/or

had the budget and capacity to action or implement for BWF 2018. If content is

asterisked*, we were unable to meet this recommendation and explain why.

Table 1: Progress since Bristol Walk Fest 2017

‘They said’ ‘We did’

Planning

Review objectives in line with public health outcomes to be achieved.

*Change in festival management unfortunately meant there wasn’t time to review.

Ensure budget sign off by September. *Funding wasn’t approved until late January 2018. This was largely due to the uncertainty around finding a new organiser to deliver the festival.

Festival content

Ensure the Project Coordinator has outreach time to target under-represented communities.

✓ In conjunction with the LinkAge Network project officer, walks were set up to target under-represented communities, such as Dementia Friendly and Wheelchair Accessible walks.

Review the theming and grading of walks, and other ways to improve the clarity of a potential walker’s expectations.

✓ Introduced two new themes (‘education and learning’ and ‘walking sports’) and one new walk grade (fairly easy walks). Revised the walk grade descriptions to make it easier for potential walkers to choose a suitable walk.

For online programme development, send out forms later to reduce number of changes to programme.

✓ Emailed providers approximately 12 weeks before the festival with a link to the ‘Event Submission Form’, giving them the opportunity to proof their print/online listings.

Amend Eventbrite form according to feedback.

✓ Used Google Forms instead of Eventbrite which we found very user friendly. Revised the ‘Event Submission Form’ to make it quicker and easier to submit them.

Allow more time to promote the ‘mile a day’ challenge.

*Capacity/short lead-in time meant we weren’t able to manage this. But this could still be worked upon with sufficient time and budget as a part of a continuous cycle of festival improvement.

Support for walk providers

Run optional workshops (and create a film of it) for walk leaders - providing a brief introduction to: walk leading, risk assessment, promoting their walks, using our new website and disability awareness and inclusion.

✓ As above - although, despite not being able to create a film, we addressed many of these recommendations in other ways e.g. by providing organisers’ packs and improved toolkits.

Introduce a ‘walk providers’ agreement’. ✓ A set of Terms and Conditions were included within the ‘Event Submission


Form’: providers were asked to tick on submission.

Meet as many organisers face-to-face as possible.

*Capacity/short lead-in time meant we weren’t able to manage this. But this could still be worked upon with sufficient time and budget as a part of a continuous cycle of festival improvement.

Marketing and publicity

Improve the external website to ensure user-friendliness and the ability to print off a whole PDF programme or individual walk details.

✓ Updated the website and made a number of key improvements to aid usability. A printed programme was produced and distributed. The online calendar provided details of all individual walks/events.

Review the need for a printed programme to promote walks and events.

✓ Managed to secure external funding from Bristol Ageing Better to help cover the cost of producing a printed programme. This transpired to be a very important achievement in light of the appreciative feedback we received from both providers and participants, many of whom were older and needed this form of inclusivity.

Discuss with Ramblers or other external organisation if they would be able to produce a printed brochure.

✓ As above.

Develop connections with local bloggers. *We weren’t able to develop this as much as we would have liked but started building these relationships, with two bloggers. This could still be improved upon with sufficient time and budget - as a part of a continuous cycle of festival improvement.

Brief news items could deliver audiences to the website for updates, walking tips and ideas.

✓ Developed a ‘News’ section on the BWF website which included blogs from local celebrities talking about their favourite Bristol walks. Also, features to coincide with key announcements, case studies and press releases.

Consider setting up a Twitter account. ✓ Done.

Consider value of creating one or several individual events on Facebook itself as ‘event highlights’ - as another way of promoting or echoing the flavour of walks at main site. But be wary not to dilute focus of event management at the main website.

✓ Encouraged providers to create a Facebook event using their own Facebook account - which we then added to the BWF Facebook events calendar.

Future budget holders should consider spending a small sum on Facebook advertising to present the new offer directly to Bristol’s Facebook audience and beyond.

✓ Ran a Facebook advertising campaign for a week.

Evaluation

Consider a follow-up survey to walk/event organisers to collect views.

✓ Done.

Improve the return rate of evaluation forms ✓ Offered an incentive - a £100 gift


(last year only 90 forms were returned). voucher, courtesy of Cotswold Outdoor Bristol - to encourage attendees to complete a survey. Both online and print versions of the surveys were made available and 649 responses received, leading to an impressive 621% increase in response rate.

Appendix G - References

Bristol City Council/Stuart Riddle (2016). Bristol Walk Fest 2016 Evaluation Report. Bristol City Council (2018). The Population of Bristol - June 2018. Accessed 20/7/18: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/33904/Population+of+Bristol+June+2018/53020277-05de-a153-2052-aa080338bb57. Bristol Walk Fest 2018 website: https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/ (including https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/news/ to see the range of blogs, case studies and features produced). Also see: Bristol Walk Fest Facebook, Twitter and all BWF evaluation reports. Crombie IK, Irvine L, Williams B, McGinnis AR, Slane PW, Alder EM, McMurdo MET (2004). Why older people do not participate in leisure time physical activity: a survey of activity levels, beliefs and deterrents. Age and Ageing, 33, 3, 287–292. Davis MG, Fox KR, Hillsdon D, Sharp DJ, Coulson JC, Thompson JL (2011). Objectively Measured Physical Activity in a Diverse Sample of Older Urban UK Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43, 4, 647–654. Department of Health (2011). Start Active, Stay Active: A report on physical activity for

health from the four home countries’ Chief Medical Officers. Accessed 10/7/18:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216370/dh_

128210.pdf

Destination Bristol: https://visitbristol.co.uk/destinationbristol. Accessed 24/8/18.

Happy Shoesday, by Living Streets. Accessed 24/7/18:

https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/happy-shoesday.

Lowman C, Nichols C, Hamilton D, Wallis B, Ball J (2017) Bristol Walk Fest: 2017 Evaluation Report. Moran M, Van Cauwenberg J, Hercky-Linnewiel R, Ester Cerin E, Deforche B, Plaut P (2014). Understanding the relationships between the physical environment and physical activity in older adults: a systematic review of qualitative studies. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, 11, 79. Stathi A, Gilbert H, Fox KR, Coulson JC, Davis M, Thompson JL (2012). Determinants of Neighbourhood Activity, of Adults Age 70 and Over: a Mixed-Methods Study. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 2012, 20, 148-170.

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BCC-EVALUATION-REPORT-WalkFest-2016-edited-for-names.pdf

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/33904/Population+of+Bristol+June+2018/53020277-05de-a153-2052-aa080338bb57

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/33904/Population+of+Bristol+June+2018/53020277-05de-a153-2052-aa080338bb57

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/news/

https://en-gb.facebook.com/bristolwalkfest/

https://twitter.com/briswalkfest18

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216370/dh_128210.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216370/dh_128210.pdf

https://visitbristol.co.uk/destinationbristol

https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/happy-shoesday

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/bristol-walk-fest-enjoys-another-successful-year/

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/bristol-walk-fest-enjoys-another-successful-year/

https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-11-79#Aff1

Appendix H - PR and media summary

Media coverage report for Bristol Walk Fest 2018

Two press releases went out about the event:

Put your best foot forward… Bristol Walk Fest is back – 2018 (issued by Bristol

Walk Fest)

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/put-your-best-foot-forward/

This city’s made for walking: Walking cricket game to launch #BristolWalkFest –

2018 (issued by 42 Group)

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/this-citys-made-for-walking-walking-cricket-game-to-

launch-bristolwalkfest/

The second was to publicise a media photocall opportunity which was designed to officially

launch BWF 2018, the UK’s largest urban celebration of walking and three new walking

sports in Bristol: cricket, tennis and women’s football. Mayor Marvin Rees was invited

along to help launch the event and took part in a walking cricket demonstration. The event

was held at St Paul’s Community Sports Academy on Friday, 20 April 2018 at 11.30am.

The media launch for the festival gained the attention from a number of press

representatives including reporters from the Bristol Post and The Breeze South West.

Overall the festival was covered widely by community newsletters around Bristol and other

more mainstream media outlets.

Media coverage and features (based on Google search):

02.02.18 - Bristol Sport: Put your best foot forward - Bristol Walk Fest is back

02.02.18 - LinkAge Network: Put your best foot forward… Bristol Walk Fest is back

05.02.18 - Bristol 24/7: Bristol Walk Fest back for 2018

08.02.18 - Visit Bristol: Put your best foot forward…. Bristol Walk Fest is back

23.02.18 - Bishopston Voice: Put your best foot forward for Walk Fest

March 2018 - SHIRE News: Put your best foot forward … Bristol Walk Fest is back

12.03.18 - The Bishopston Society: Bristol WalkFest event, May 2nd 2018

27.03.18 - Bristol Post: The ultimate guide to Bristol festivals in 2018

13.04.18 - 365Bristol: Bristol Walk Fest from Tuesday 1st to Thursday 31st May 2018

20.04.18 - LinkAge Network: This city’s made for walking: Walking cricket game to launch

#BristolWalkFest

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/put-your-best-foot-forward/

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/this-citys-made-for-walking-walking-cricket-game-to-launch-bristolwalkfest/

https://www.bristolwalkfest.com/this-citys-made-for-walking-walking-cricket-game-to-launch-bristolwalkfest/

https://www.bristol-sport.co.uk/news/put-your-best-foot-forward-bristol-walk-fest-is-back/

https://www.linkagenetwork.org.uk/put-your-best-foot-forward-bristol-walk-fest-is-back/

https://www.bristol247.com/festivals/news-festivals/bristol-walk-fest-back-2018/

https://visitbristol.co.uk/destinationbristol/information/news/2018/2/8/put-your-best-foot-forward-bristol-walk-fest-is-back-a4020

https://www.bishopstonvoice.co.uk/put-your-best-foot-forward-for-walk-fest

http://www.shire.org.uk/shire.php?edition=554

http://www.bishopstonsociety.org.uk/news/other-news/1011-bristolwalkfest2018eventmay2nd2018

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/ultimate-bristol-festival-guide-2018-9992

http://365bristol.com/story/2018/04/13/bristol-walk-fest-from-tuesday-1st-to-thursday-31st-may-2018/6940/

https://www.linkagenetwork.org.uk/this-citys-made-for-walking-walking-cricket-game-to-launch-bristolwalkfest/

https://www.linkagenetwork.org.uk/this-citys-made-for-walking-walking-cricket-game-to-launch-bristolwalkfest/

23.04.18 - Gloucestershire Cricket Board: Mayor Marvin launches GCB’s first walking

cricket programme

27.04.18 - Bristol Property Live: Bristol Walk Fest Returns!

01.05.18 - Brunel’s SS Great Britain: Brunel Walking Trails

02.05.18 - Bristol 24/7: Preview: Bristol Walk Fest 2018

24.05.18 - Gloucestershire Cricket Board: Walking cricket up and running

May 2018 - What’s on Bristol Magazine: Event listing

May 2018 - The Bristol Magazine: Great outdoors: Go Forth and Ramble!

Print

May 2018 - The Bristol Magazine (featured article - see pages 102-103): Walk Bris Way

Bloggers

23.04.18 - Visit Bristol: Bristol Walk Fest: Top 10 highlights

23.04.18 - M Shed: M Shed walk: Exploring Bristol’s street art

27.04.18 - air360: Attention Walking Enthusiasts!

04.05.18 - The Interchange: Step outside for Bristol Walk Fest

Online event listings

Bristol Festivals: http://bristolfestivals.org/events/event/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

Bristol Health Partners:

http://www.bristolhealthpartners.org.uk/events/view/2018/05/01/bristol-walk-fest-2018/323

iVisit England: http://ivisitengland.org/south-west-events/2018/5/1/ivisit-bristol-walk-fest

LinkAge Network: https://www.linkagenetwork.org.uk/events/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

Live For The Outdoors (Country Walking): https://www.livefortheoutdoors.com/walking-

festivals

Ramblers: http://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/events-index/2018/may/bristol-walking-

festival-2018.aspx

Visit Bristol: https://visitbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-walk-fest-p2412853

Walks Around Britain: http://walksaroundbritain.co.uk/walkingfestivals

Radio coverage

16.04.18 - Ujima Radio (Babbers Show) - Nicola Ferris (Bristol City Council) interviewed

about BWF and walking.

https://www.gloucestershirecricketboard.com/mayor-marvin-launches-gcbs-first-walking-cricket-programme/

https://www.gloucestershirecricketboard.com/mayor-marvin-launches-gcbs-first-walking-cricket-programme/

https://bristolpropertylive.co.uk/bristol-walk-fest-returns/

https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/brunel-walking-trails

https://www.bristol247.com/festivals/features-festivals/preview-bristol-walk-fest-2018/

https://www.gloucestershirecricketboard.com/7239-2/

https://thebristolmag.co.uk/walk-go-forth-and-ramble/

https://visitbristol.co.uk/blog/read/2018/04/bristol-walk-fest-top-10-highlights-b791

https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/blog/m-shed-street-art-walk/

https://airthreesixty.com/blog/attention-walking-enthusiasts

https://theinterchange.blog/2018/05/04/bristol-walk-fest/

http://bristolfestivals.org/events/event/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

http://www.bristolhealthpartners.org.uk/events/view/2018/05/01/bristol-walk-fest-2018/323

http://ivisitengland.org/south-west-events/2018/5/1/ivisit-bristol-walk-fest

https://www.linkagenetwork.org.uk/events/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

https://www.livefortheoutdoors.com/walking-festivals

https://www.livefortheoutdoors.com/walking-festivals

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/events-index/2018/may/bristol-walking-festival-2018.aspx

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/events-index/2018/may/bristol-walking-festival-2018.aspx

https://visitbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-walk-fest-p2412853

http://walksaroundbritain.co.uk/walkingfestivals

20.04.18 - The Breeze South West - Mayor Marvin Rees interviewed as part of BWF press

launch at St Paul’s Community Sports Academy.

27.04.18 - BBC Radio Bristol (John Darvall Show)

Karen Lloyd (Active Ageing Bristol Manager) and Margaret (walk leader) interviewed about

walking, BWF and more. Listen around 2 hrs and 10 mins:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p063cpnj#playt=02h10m38s

01.05.18 - BCfm Radio (Wellbeing Show)

Pre-recorded interview with Karen Lloyd (Active Ageing Bristol Manager) about BWF.

Listen around 19:06:http://www.bcfmradio.com/wellbeing

01.05.18 - BBC Radio Bristol

Jack Stanbury (Gloucestershire Football Association) interviewed about BWF, Women’s

Walking Football and Walking Football Tournament.

05.05.18 - BBC Radio Bristol (Dr Phil Hammond Show)

Karen Lloyd (Active Ageing Bristol Manager) and Margaret (walk leader) interviewed about

BWF and the many health benefits of walking. Listen from 09.31 mins in:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p064nl0m

06.05.18 - BBC Radio Bristol (Clueless with Richard Lewis)

Karen Lloyd (Active Ageing Bristol Manager), Dawn (walk leader) and Michael and Linda

(walk participants) featured as part of Clueless (the show which puts you firmly in the

driving seat. Helping two teams crack puzzles, as they travel across the West).

23.05.18 - BBC Radio Bristol (The Martin Evans Show)

Pre-recorded interview about BWF with Karen Lloyd (Active Ageing Bristol Manager).

Other publicity

• Carers Support Centre: https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p063cpnj#playt=02h10m38s

http://www.bcfmradio.com/wellbeing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p064nl0m

https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/bristol-walk-fest-2018/

bristol walk fest 2018 evaluation report · 1.3.4 marketing and publicity 2. project background 3....

Documents