Case Study – The Investec Ashes Series 2013

Bringing The Ashes to Nottingham

We were thrilled when Nottingham’s historic cricket ground, Trent Bridge, was named as a host venue for the Investec Ashes Series 2013 and 2015 in September of 2011. The ground won the bid with the support of a number of local partners and stakeholders across the city, including Experience Nottinghamshire.

It was obvious the event would bring thousands of international and domestic visitors to the city and this presented a huge opportunity to encourage these visitors to stay longer and enjoy everything Nottingham has to offer.  Experience Nottinghamshire worked in partnership with Trent Bridge to ensure the event surpassed its potential for the city and cemented Nottingham as a major destination in international cricket.

The Visitor Experience

Trent Bridge secured the sought after position of hosting the first Test in the series and tickets sold out in a matter of hours. However, the team at the ground were committed to delivering more than just attendees and were open to working with Experience Nottinghamshire and other partners to improve the impact of the event for the city and wider community.

The aim was to make sure the thousands of ticket-holders travelling from around the UK and the world had the best possible experience whilst in our wonderful city.  We recognised that giving visitors a positive experience would encourage them to come back – particularly for the Ashes in 2015, for which Trent Bridge will again be a host venue.

A marketing group made up of representatives from Trent Bridge, Experience Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and the Nottingham BID was tasked with creating a joined up marketing approach for the event, ensuring visitors had a seamless experience both before and during the event.

A community engagement group was also created to create a city welcoming team of volunteers, to ensure the experience of visitors when they got here was as pleasant and easy as possible.

What a Success!

The event was hailed a great success by both local Nottinghamshire and national stakeholders and Trent Bridge has already confirmed it is keen to continue the partnership with Experience Nottinghamshire for major international cricket events including the India V England Test in 2014 and the Ashes Test in 2015.

This year’s success has seen Trent Bridge enjoy record visitor statistics, with a combined total of 125,320 people attending the Trent Bridge Investec Ashes Test and Friends Life t20 group games.

All five days of England’s Ashes Test against Australia attracted capacity crowds of 17,007 with attendances at Friends Life t20 group matches up by 49.4% year-on-year to a combined total of 40,285 across five matches.

The total economic impact of the Ashes 2013 for Nottingham is estimated at £1.8m, if we look at the 8,500 tickets sold to Australians for the game.  This conservative figure does not include the impact of day visitors coming to the Test.

Experience Nottinghamshire, Trent Bridge and other local stakeholders are already working on plans for the international Test between India and England in 2014, in order to build on this year’s successes.

For full details of marketing activities and examples of support promotional materials click here to access the complete case study.

Posted on 09 October 2013

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