Case study: Marketing campaign for the inaugural RHS Badminton Flower Show

Client: The Royal Horticultural Society

What we did

We delivered a comprehensive marketing campaign for the inaugural RHS Badminton Flower Show. Taking place over five days in July 2026 at the Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire, the show was a major new event for the county and the first of its kind in this region.

We developed a targeted marketing strategy to raise awareness with relevant audiences and support visitor targets, running an integrated campaign across print, digital, out-of-home advertising, events, partnerships, PR and community activity. We built strong relationships with local organisations and identified and secured a wide range of promotional opportunities. This enabled us to build momentum quickly and deliver a strong campaign with broad reach across the South West.

With a relatively short campaign window, it was important to create momentum early while continuing to generate coverage and secure promotional opportunities right up to the show, especially as buying patterns showed that many people are now purchasing tickets late. We needed to identify key target audiences, understand their behaviours and where they spent their time, then use these insights to deliver results, ensuring the advertising budget was spent effectively.

The campaign needed to generate interest and excitement, make a measurable impact, build strong local connections and maximise every available touchpoint across digital, print and out-of-home channels.

Our implementation

We put our strategy into practice through a wide-ranging programme of promotional activity, delivering a targeted and comprehensive marketing campaign that was thoroughly researched and implemented.

Our work included:

Audience development: We identified distinct audience groups within a 90-minute drivetime that encompassed major cities, destinations, towns, villages and visitor sites.

Identifying opportunities: We put together a comprehensive plan to maximise reach across local tourism websites, magazines, shopping centres, railway stations, attractions, prominent locations and community groups.

Local digital coverage: We secured coverage across a range of relevant local and regional organisations’ websites, including event listings, editorial articles, advertorials, banner advertising and What’s On features, alongside newsletters, social media and press activity.

Tourism partnerships: We built relationships with destination management organisations and other tourism businesses including Cotswolds Tourism, Visit Bristol, Visit Bath and Explore Gloucestershire to extend the show’s reach through established tourism networks.

Badminton Estate collaboration: We worked closely with the Badminton Estate team to make best use of its audiences, events, channels and existing followers.

Event and festival promotion: We identified opportunities to promote the show at major regional events including the Badminton Horse Trials, RHS shows and the Royal Bath & West Show. With around 200,000 people attending the Badminton Horse Trials, we had to make sure our marketing stood out, securing and delivering a promotional package that included a 30-second video shown on big screens, a 30-second radio advert, a full-page programme advert, advertising boards in the main arena and gift bag inserts. Rather than booking a traditional stand we created a major focal point with a sculpture by James Doran-Webb, hoardings and floral display.

Local print advertising: We secured advertising opportunities across regional magazines and newspapers including Cotswold Life, The Bristol Magazine, The Local Answer, Gloucestershire Echo, Bath Life and Bristol at Home Magazine.

Print distribution: We managed the design, printing and distribution of 50,000 A5 leaflets across the target area to tourist information centres, hotels, garden centres, community groups and visitor attractions.

Roadside, poster and banner advertising: We arranged promotional signage at key junctions, venues, railway stations and visitor attractions, alongside posters and banners distributed across the surrounding area. We coordinated additional poster and planter displays at Chippenham Railway Station to promote the free shuttle bus from there to the show.

Out-of-home advertising: We coordinated advertising activity across railway stations, bus stations, petrol stations, supermarkets, roadside sites and bus supersides, as well as video advertising at Millennium Square in Bristol and Cribbs Causeway.

Garden audiences: We coordinated campaigns with relevant gardening resource websites and publications including Great British Gardens and Country Gardener Magazine.

Community groups: We identified local gardening clubs, relevant community groups and schools, sending them posters and leaflets and encouraging them to get involved with the community and schools displays at the Flower Show.

Local collaborations: We developed promotional partnerships with organisations including Westonbirt Arboretum and Highgrove Gardens, including ticket discounts and distribution of promotional materials.

Ticket competitions: We secured several opportunities to run competitions to generate additional engagement, encourage interaction and extend the campaign’s reach.

Press and influencer outreach: We identified relevant influencers and invited them to a press morning on the first day of the show to generate high-quality content and give their followers an enticing preview of the show. We also attended the press morning, liaising with them to support wider coverage and took over Visit Bath’s social media, creating and publishing our own video and photo content captured that morning.

Key campaign outputs:

• Key local organisations partnered with: 34
• Websites providing coverage: 24
• Event listings: 18
• Newsletters: 17+
• Social media posts: 80+
• Leaflets distributed: 50,000
• Posters distributed: 250, plus railway station placements
• Roadside signs: 14
• Shopping centre/city centre video advertising campaigns: 2
• Print advertising placements: 7
• Ticket competitions: 4
• Visitor/festival guide inclusions: 4

The campaign with SoGlos generated 356,196 total reach, combining display advertising, editorial, content and social activity.

Our campaign with Great British Gardens targeted garden audiences with quality website content and social media coverage resulting in 112,533 views, 8,500 engagements and 417 link clicks from just two Facebook posts.

We delivered a substantial programme of physical promotion, out-of-home activity, presence at relevant events and strategic partnerships, extending the campaign’s reach beyond digital channels.

We also established cross-promotional partnerships with local visitor attractions and venues, providing further access to highly relevant visitor audiences.