City of Hinton
Case Study
How marketing strategies can enhance the image and expand the events of a growing city.
How We Did It
We began working with the City of Hinton at the beginning of 2022 and were excited to help reshape the image of this beautiful train-centered small town in West Virginia. While we created monthly advertisements and kept up social media accounts throughout the year, one of the largest campaigns we were able to run involved Railroad Days, Hinton’s biggest event of the year.
Aerial view of the city during the festival
© Go Duck Media
Largest crowd in attendance at festival
© Go Duck Media
Our approach involved creating awareness of the city for months beforehand by creating videos and photos of other great events they had going throughout the summer. We created social media campaigns, posters, a detailed press kit, a walking map brochure, and much more showcasing the great time the attendees had!
Social Media
A countdown leading up to the festival
Mary Ingles Draper post leading up to Railroad Days #What'sMaryUpTo
An interactive event for people in Hinton. A business scavenger hunt with a brochure Go Duck designed.
Print Ads and Brochures
We used a mix of traditional and digital media to expand outside of the city to surrounding counties, Charleston, Huntington and northern VA. We also prepared videos and graphics to use before the event. We worked alongside traditional media outlets advertising to local TV, streaming services, radio, and state magazines to spread the message of Railroad Days further than they'd ever gone before.
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We also designed a walking map brochure that was given to passengers on the train so they they would easily be able to navigate the town.
How What We Did Worked
In total, advertising for Railroad Days reached an estimated total of 154,000 households in the month of October 2022. This was almost 4x the number of people reached in previous years. Their Facebook page reached over 97,000 people through our content and marketing, with the best organic post reaching 31,100 people.
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Through streaming TV (CTV), our commercials reached over 54,000 households across southern WV and northern VA. Our YouTube ad campaign with two commercials reached 67,000 people, with 25,000 full 30-second views. Not only were our ads effective in reaching the right audience, but also encouraged real engagement.
The festival itself saw record attendance with thousands of visitors lining the small downtown streets. It sure was a sight to see for everyone involved, and the City of Hinton had never looked so alive. Now, we’re looking forward to this Railroad Days 2023!
