Tamsin Burwell, head of digital, English Heritage Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
BRINGING
HISTORY
TO LIFE
THROUGH
DIGITAL
Tamsin Burwell, Head of Digital

2. BECOMING A CHARITY
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
Origins
 On 1st April 2015 the former English Heritage became two organisations, a
public body called Historic England and a new charity called the English
Heritage Trust.
 The English Heritage Trust cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments
and sites from world-famous prehistoric sites to a Cold War bunker.
 Through these we bring the story of England to life for over 10 million people
each year.
 The support of our members, visitors and donors is crucial in enabling us to
care for these places and their collections for the benefit of this and future
generations.
 Since becoming a charity we have embarked on the largest conservation
programme in our history.

3. KEY ELEMENTS OF BRAND POSITIONING
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
LIVELY AND
ACCESSIBLE
‘We put you
into history’
ENGAGING
‘We’ll do more
than tell you, we’ll
show you’
We Bring
History
to Life
INTERACTIVE
‘You can touch
as well as look’

4. HOMEPAGE
- LEGACY SITE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
 “Not really my sort of thing”
 “Informative but not inspiring”
 “Difficult to navigate”
 “It’s all ruins, isn’t it”
 “Not really somewhere for
children”

5. PROPERTY PAGE
- LEGACY SITE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
 “Not really my sort of thing”
 “Informative but not inspiring”
 “Difficult to navigate”
 “It’s all ruins, isn’t it”
 “Not really somewhere for
children”

6. OBJECTIVES
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
• Communicate the brand positioning through
digital channels not just in what we say but in
how we say it
• Clearly differentiates English Heritage in a
competitive online marketplace
• Deliver a fully responsive brand concept
that is both creative and functional
• Provide a seamless experience across
platforms
• Deliver the visitor and join journeys in as
few clicks as possible
• Project confidence, value and relevance
• Promote not just the value of a transactions
but the cultural value of the new charity
• Be innovative and exciting in our digital
delivery
• Create page designs that encourage
engagement
• Drive traffic and conversions to meet
financial targets
• Surface deeper content
BRAND AWARENESS CHANGING PERCEPTION
IMPROVE ENGAGEMENTIMPROVED EXPERIENCE

7. PROCESS
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
 Situation Analysis
 Internal Data
 External Trends
 Digital Ecosystem
 Competitor Analysis
 Literal
 Lateral
 Mood Boards & Workshops
 Design Concepts
 Qualitative Testing

8. BUILDING POSITIVE PERCEPTIONS
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
Ideal brand perceptions the designs should evoke are:
Inspiring; Contemporary; Surprising / Unconventional; Child
Welcoming; Fun & Engaging.
Negative brand perceptions to evaluate are: Ordinary; Old-fashioned; Stuffy;
Child Averse; Boring and Uninteresting.
The core values it should be underpinned by are: Authenticity; Quality
The tone of voice is: Real, Confident, Approachable, Inspiring,Vivid
The role of the website is to entertain and create a sense of wonder

9. HOMEPAGE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

10. HOMEPAGE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

11. HOMEPAGE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

12. PROPERTY PAGE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

13. PROPERTY PAGE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

14. PROPERTY PAGE
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

15. THE RESULTS: WEBSITE*
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
IMPROVED EXPERIENCE
Unique
ecommerce
transactions
on tablet
& mobile
Increase in
event tickets
in peak
season
on mobile
Organic
search
traffic from
mobile
60% 500% 201%
Clicks to
conversion
for Join
journey
Click to
conversion
for Property
Visit journey
18% 22%
IMPROVE ENGAGMENT
Longer spent on
Stonehenge
content pages
Longer spent
on Family
Days Out
content pages
24% 21%
Longer spent
on Property
History pages
Reduction in
bounce rate
on History
content pages
11% 12%
* First 6 Months

16. WEB CONTENT
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

17. BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

18. Videos published
YTD
86
Subscribers gained
YTD
4,196
Total viewsYTD
430,007
(850k + mins)
VIDEO CONTENT: YOUTUBE & BEYOND
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

19. SOCIAL
CONTENT
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

20. 38%
Growth in our
Social audiences
>520,000
visits to our
website and blog
1s Jan - 31st August 2016
Our content
has been seen
83.6 million times
Top 10 Facebook videos viewed equivalent of >2½ years
THE RESULTS: SOCIAL AMPLIFICATION
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

21. BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

22. Tamsin Burwell
Head of Digital | Marketing
Tamsin.Burwell@english-heritage.org.uk
@EnglishHeritage
BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE

23. Visit the CharityComms
website to view slides from
past events, see what events
we have coming up and to
check out what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk

24. #brandfast
Brand Breakfast
12.10.16
Keeping your
brand alive
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