Member Article

Cage Fright helps put Screamfest on track for record number of visitors

A Midlands visitor attraction has hailed the success of an interactive Facebook Live broadcast for helping put its annual Screamfest event on track for record ticket sales.

The 9th annual Halloween season Screamfest is under way at the National Forest Adventure Farm in Staffordshire.

The 2018 event attracted a record 22,000 visitors and the venue expects to beat that figure this year.

Screamfest is running over 15 nights to November 2 and features five scare mazes, including the new Hillbilly Joe’s Zombee Zoo, which is based on US road trip tourist attractions.

Alongside these, there is a variety of horror acts, a fairground and a zombie paintball range.

The run-up to Screamfest saw Derbyshire-based creative and digital agency Fluid Ideas organise Cage Fright, an interactive event screened on Facebook Live.

Eight members of the public took part in Cage Fright in pairs. They were strapped to chairs in a darkened cage at the farm while Facebook Live viewers voted to choose the scares they would receive.

The scare options included fearsome clowns, cannibals, zombies and a chainsaw-wielding Mexican wrestler, all played by actors, and blood.

More than 3,000 people watched the action and the event generated over 600 comments and nearly 1,500 likes and shares.

Nancy Lloyd from the National Forest Adventure Farm, which is in Tatenhill, Burton upon Trent, said: “We were thrilled with the success of Cage Fright this year, with even more fans tuning in to watch the innovative Facebook Live scare event.

“Fluid always looks to push the boundaries of our digital marketing and the real result is in the fact that we’re on track for another record-breaking year of ticket sales.”

Ben Meakin, digital team leader at Fluid Ideas, managed the project.

He said: “Scare events are growing in popularity in the UK, having originated in the US where many famous theme parks such as Six Flags and Universal Orlando run them throughout the Halloween season.

“Screamfest has become one of the UK’s standout attractions, winning awards for its innovative mazes.

“As well as greatly increasing awareness for Screamfest, our event promoted ticket sales as the nation’s appetite for scare attractions continues to rise.”

Fluid manages the digital marketing for Screamfest across social media, search, Spotify and other channels.

It is a full-service agency whose operations span branding and campaigns, graphic and website design, computer-generated imagery, 3D animation and video, photography, copywriting, digital marketing, content management and social media.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Fluid Ideas .