Case study · Travel & Leisure
Stockeld Park was opening the Playhive, a £3.5m indoor play centre billed as one of Europe’s largest. We gave the job of testing it to four Yorkshire children. The Play Panel turned a launch into a story families wanted to follow, with 78 pieces of coverage and a combined reach of 4.5 million before and after the doors opened.
- 78 pieces of coverage
- 4.5M combined reach
- 100+ pieces of influencer content
- 4 children on the Play Panel
- Client Stockeld Park
- Sector Travel & Leisure, visitor attractions
- Services Creative campaign, press office, influencer marketing, social media
- When June to July 2022
- Audience Families with young children across Yorkshire
- Channels Regional press, broadcast, social media, paid social, influencers
What did Stockeld Park need?
Stockeld Park, near Wetherby, is one of Yorkshire’s favourite family days out. In summer 2022 it opened the Playhive: 20,000 square feet of indoor play across four themed zones, Space, Jungle, Sea and Air, joined by giant slides.
A new attraction is only news once. Stockeld Park needed families across Yorkshire to know about the Playhive, and want to visit, before it opened.
- Business objective: build demand for visits from the day the Playhive opened in July 2022.
- Communication objective: build awareness and excitement among Yorkshire parents and children in the weeks before opening, through press, social and influencers.
What was the insight?
Parents choose the day out, but children decide whether it was any good. A playground launch told by adults is an advert. Told by children, it is a story.
So we put children in charge. The idea was the Play Panel: a dream summer job for four Yorkshire kids, testing the Playhive before anyone else.
What did we do?
- A job advert for kids. We advertised four roles, Head of Space, Chief Jungle Officer, Sea Expert and Air Captain, one for each zone. Children applied by posting a short video of their dream play area with #PlayPanel.
- Rewards worth sharing. Winners got to test the Playhive, cut the ribbon at the opening, and win a free visit for their whole class.
- Social and paid social. Our in-house creative team made the campaign assets. Targeted paid social spread the competition across Yorkshire.
- A test day. The Play Panel tested the Playhive on 16 July 2022. We photographed them in action and used the pictures for press and social.
- A launch event. The Play Panel, their families, local family influencers and media came to the official opening on 21 July, two days before it opened to the public.
- Several news angles. The job advert, the winners, the test day and the opening each gave journalists a fresh story, including BBC broadcast coverage.
What did it achieve?
Results by stage of the AMEC evaluation framework, with the source for each figure.
| Stage | Measure | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outputs | Pieces of media coverage | 78 | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Online coverage | 69 pieces | Prohibition coverage log |
| Outputs | Combined reach | 4.5M | Prohibition campaign reporting |
| Outputs | Influencer content | 100+ pieces | Prohibition campaign reporting |
What did Stockeld Park get from it?
A new attraction that Yorkshire families knew about before the doors opened, told through four children who loved it. The Yorkshire Evening Post covered the Play Panel’s test day, and the Playhive opened to the public on 23 July 2022.
Two years later it was named Best Indoor Play Venue by the Association of Indoor Play (Yorkshire Post, June 2024).
What did we learn?
- Let children tell it. The Play Panel gave every story a human face and a quote no adult could write.
- Build a run of stories. The job advert, the winners, the test day and the opening each earned coverage.
- Make it easy to join in. A short video entry kept the barrier low for families.
- What we would do differently: agree ticket and visitor tracking with Stockeld Park before launch, so the effect on opening-month visits can be shown alongside the coverage.
