On Friday 19 January, we welcomed over 300 Marketing Liverpool partners, key stakeholders and members of the visitor economy to ACC Liverpool to discuss what’s next for Liverpool in 2024.
2023 was a watershed year for Liverpool, once again in the global spotlight for delivering the world’s biggest music competition in extraordinary fashion. And this was all down to the city and the region, coming together to make it all happen.
We won’t be slowing down in 2024 when it comes to events with everything from The Randox Grand National, Comic Con Liverpool, a Eurovision anniversary celebration, a series of exhibitions with National Museums Liverpool, Taylor Swift at Anfield Stadium, an overseas activation in Bordeaux, River of Light and the Labour Party Conference – to name a few – taking place across the region.
At the event Susan Finnegan, Acting Head of Visitor Economy at Marketing Liverpool gave an update on the city’s plans for 2024 and how we as a destination aim to amplify our incredible events through learnings found from hosting the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine with a new vision for 2024.
“Eurovision’s success was down to many people who understood our starting point, the inward investment opportunities, the huge challenges faced by our visitor economy sector – and the views of the very people and businesses whose livelihoods depend on our destination positioning.
They know what makes a Host City experience truly special for a wide range of audiences and how to attract new ones.
Via a streamlined approach and working in collaboration, we will engage far and wide to ensure we reach deep into the fabric of Liverpool City Region with opportunities for everyone to get involved.
And we will, as we did for Eurovision, provide business support, advice and how best to work with VisitLiverpool and Culture Liverpool on promoting your event aligned content.”
In 2024 we will trial three levels of amplification which will include:
1. Increased visibility and access – through city dressing and access to assets for partners.
This will aim to test what a relatively low-level intervention can do around positive sentiment.
2. Visitor welcome including promoter content outside of the event.
This will test how effective city-wide content can be in supporting the success of the core event, positive sentiment and creating a sense of ‘something big’ is happening.
3. Bespoke content to support the event
Can we increase dwell time, spend and visitor numbers by programming bespoke content related to a third-party major event?
“If the Randox Grand National attracts 150,000 visitors, £60.2m in economic impact and 600 million views worldwide with no intervention, imagine what it can do with immersive intervention.If Taylor Swift can generate an economic impact of $320 million in LA and an average spend of between $1300 and $1500 dollars, what can we do together to wrap around content and capitalise on a moment in time.”
Liverpool loves events and we want to make them more than a memory, make them last longer and mean more. Our aim is to position Liverpool as the greatest UK host city and the go to city to celebrate Eurovision every year. From consumer events to business events, we want Liverpool to be the best place to perform, organise and attend an event in the UK and this plan is the next step in that journey.
Interested in finding out more about how you and your business can get involved? Complete this form to express your interest.