FOR Cardiff sought a flagship event to support the City of Arcades' campaign celebrating Cardiff’s 70th anniversary as a capital city
FOR Cardiff sought a flagship event to support the City of Arcades’ campaign celebrating Cardiff’s 70th anniversary as a capital city. The core objective for WCS Agency was to plan, organise, and deliver a high-footfall event, ‘The Time Travellers Arcade Trail’, across seven historic arcades and St Davids Dewi Sant, effectively making the arcades the vibrant heart of the city’s celebration.
ForCardiff had created the brief which included the concept of a Time Travellers Trail. The trail would include a different decade in each space, starting with the 1950s and working up to the present day and future. The Time traveller had no ‘look’ and the activation would need to include a stampable ‘ticket’ and a certificate at the end of the trail.
We took inspiration from the Arcade’s Victorian Heritage as the ‘base’ look of the Time Traveller, adding extra layers in varying fabrics like silk, velvet and leather to give him a look of whimsy and magic. He was neither traditional, nor modern but a sort of amalgamation of all decades.
We worked with FOR Cardiff to utilise their existing brand assets and their external designer to create a range of assets they had requested, like the ticket and the certificate, adding an information leaflet, location maps, the ‘Declaration of Indie-pendants’ and the ‘Future of Cardiff’ board.
We designed all hanging ‘exhibition’ style foam boards and window vinyls to match their corresponding decade while keeping elements of the campaign presents, like the ‘Time Traveller Motifs’ we had created, i.e the googles, hot air balloon and stopwatch.
WCS Agency focused on creating unique, high-profile activations to ensure maximum public engagement and organic reach. Our key involvement centered on securing and executing two viral moments that defined the campaign’s success:
We also implemented additional high-impact elements, including actors delivering history lessons in costume, interactive dress-up stands, and themed vinyl designs and props throughout the trail.
The campaign day was a major success, achieving its objectives by driving increased footfall across many of the arcades and generating overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public and tenants.
The viral activations proved incredibly effective, driving a high level of excitement and engagement:
Word-of-Mouth: On a scale of 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely), the highest response for talking about the event was a 9, indicating a high propensity for positive word-of-mouth marketing.
The Time Travellers Arcade Trail was a masterclass in event management and impactful activation. By securing beloved cultural assets like the TARDIS and coordinating with key local partners like the Cardiff Arms Park Choir, WCS Agency delivered a spectacular, high-energy day that successfully increased footfall and generated significant organic buzz, leaving both the client and the public eager for future events. Taking FOR Cardiff’s idea to host a Time Travellers Trail, with a stampable element and decade themed arcades, and bringing it to life.
