How can we make this historical flight an attraction that draws attention to the city of Haarlem and attracts visitors to the city? In other words, what programme should we select to celebrate the Fokker Spin Centennial Festival and how should we organise the event? The municipality and the festival organisation asked us to help with developing the communication approach and the press policy.
We started by selecting the essential means of communication: a
festival website, a festival publication, a
festival poster,
flyers and
social media. In addition, we designed a special house style for the event. It was important to get a good balance between attention for the festival in general and the specific programme items in particular.
Choosing a well-established media partner was essential for ensuring effective information in the region. We chose HDC Media partly because it publishes the Haarlems Dagblad. One of the results of the partnership was the production of a special festival publication that was enclosed with the Haarlems Dagblad several weeks before the festival.
We drew up a media plan for contact with the press. Not only for the festival itself, we also wanted to create sufficient attention in the run-up to the festival. For example at the start of the production of a special Fokker beer, and the
arrival of an original Fokker Spin in Haarlem.
The festival received plenty of coverage in the national and regional media. The highlight was the arrival of the Fokker Spin in Haarlem. NOS-journaal reported the event. In addition, during the festival week, RTL Nieuws, Hart van Nederland, and RTV Noord-Holland broadcast the event and various daily newspapers also covered it. Weatherman Piet Paulusma came to Haarlem and presented his weather forecast from “Het Fokker Concept” exhibition in the Grote of St. Bavokerk. The exhibition attracted more than 30,000 visitors. According to the City Traffic research bureau, the festival brought a large number of visitors to Haarlem. The media value of all the publicity amounted to over one and a half million euros.
