Blackburn BID – Vote YES.

Case Study:

Result.

of those who voted overall, voted YES.

Result.

of the individual businesses voted YES.

Result.

of the total rateable value of the properties owned and managed by those who vote, voted YES.

Blackburn BID has secured a third five-year term, thanks to the support of Viva throughout their vote YES campaign.

336 businesses were asked to vote in a secret ballot on whether they wanted Blackburn BID – which originally launched in 2014 – to continue, along with its plans to raise a further £1.5 million to invest in projects and initiatives to boost the town centre and support businesses over the next five years. Every business which pays the BID levy has the opportunity to vote.

Blackburn BID is a business-led, business-funded partnership set up to deliver improvements in, and add value to, Blackburn town centre and its retail parks. Within the designated BID area, a levy is charged to business rate payers which is based on a small percentage of the rateable value for business rates.

Viva was tasked with:

Highlighting the ballot and opportunity to vote for levy-paying members
Helping Blackburn BID demonstrate the value it has delivered over the past decade to the town centre, and the return on investment for BID levy payers
Securing a majority yes vote from both individual businesses and rateable value

Underpinned by storytelling, here’s what Viva did to help secure the YES vote

Social media campaign:

This ran from September until the vote in November, highlighting the value that Blackburn BID has delivered – from attracting footfall into the town centre through regular events and initiatives, to green space improvements, additional policing support and business support.

The content was targeted at the specific stakeholder groups identified through our work with the BID – from engaged and disengaged businesses, partners and influencers. Messaging was tailored to what each group wanted to know more about, explaining why a YES vote is in their interest.

Content created was tailored to meet the target demographics and shared across the most appropriate channels including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, website, e-shot, X (Twitter) and email. The content featured facts about each of the BID objectives to highlight the positive work carried out so far, its impact, and the work still to do.

Video content:

Viva also created videos featuring Catherine Price, the Blackburn BID Manager, talking about the above that was played throughout the campaign, filmed in the town centre where the changes refer to.

Website:

A website landing page was also created informing levy payers of the proposals for the next BID term, along with the priorities determined by the businesses themselves via consultation.

Business plan:

Viva also worked with Catherine Price to create a business plan prospectus for the 2024-2028 term that was available as both a hard copy and digital version.

The ballot results were:

Overall, 92% of those who voted, voted YES
91% of the individual businesses voted YES
93% of the total rateable value of the properties owned and managed by those who vote, voted YES

Results:

During the ballot period, Facebook reach was up 189% on the Blackburn BID channel, X (Twitter) reach was up 221% from previous month and content earned an extra 5000 views on TikTok.

During the campaign, the vote YES campaign saw:

3% increase in social media reach (from Sept to Oct)
8% increase in content interactions
552 link clicks

The ‘yes’ vote means that Blackburn BID started to deliver its new five-year business plan prospectus from 1 January 2024, which responds to the needs that businesses have identified as priorities.