Celebrating Social Success: Harlow Town Centre Awards 24/25 Goes Fully Digital

Harlow Town Centre

Digital & Social Media

Objective

For the first time ever, the Harlow Town Centre Awards were delivered entirely through social media – and the results speak for themselves.


The AL Marketing team led the end-to-end delivery of this bold new format, transforming a traditionally in-person awards ceremony into a high-impact digital campaign that aimed to celebrate community, build awareness, and drive engagement in a fully online space.

Method

The campaign was delivered across Facebook and Instagram through a total of 24 posts.


To maximise reach and engagement, the campaign’s performance was strategically bolstered by paid social advertising, with the AL Marketing team managing audience targeting, optimisation, and ad placements. This helped amplify organic activity, increase visibility for key posts like nomination and voting prompts, and drive engagement across the board.

To bring a personal, community-led feel to the campaign, the team also organised and captured all winner content. Each winning business was visited in person to deliver awards and gather photos and videos of the winners receiving their trophies – turning what could have been a simple online announcement into a moment of real celebration.

The content covered every stage: from nominations and public voting to individual winner announcements. The most engaging post? The call for nominations — proving just how invested the local community is in celebrating its standout people and businesses.

AL Marketing worked closely with the Harlow Town Centre management to develop the campaign creative, produce and capture original winner content, manage content scheduling, run targeted paid ads, oversee community engagement, and provide performance reporting throughout.

Outcome

The campaign drove over half a million views and reached more than 260,000 users across Facebook and Instagram, with the following results:

306,545 views on Facebook

232,005 views on Instagram

2,839 total interactions

1,940 link clicks to the Harlow Town Centre website for nominations and voting

414 follower increase across Facebook & Instagram during the campaign period

What made this campaign unique wasn’t just the shift in format, but the incredible engagement and visibility it achieved — all without a physical event. By embracing a fully digital approach, more people than ever were able to take part — from voting and commenting to sharing their favourite moments.

The takeaway? Digital awards can be just as powerful as in-person ones — and we’re proud to have helped Harlow Town Centre lead the way.


Congratulations to all the winners, nominees, and local champions who took part — and a huge well done to our team who delivered a truly standout campaign.

Back to our work

Testimonials

"AL are a pleasure to work with. They are happy to come up with a broad range of ideas to fit each scheme, are always very responsive and brilliant when it comes to meeting tight deadlines."

Khatija Verjee, Marketing Manager at Moorgarth

"AL Marketing demonstrate an excellent knowledge of the changing dynamic of the retail market place whilst effectively differentiating their strategy for each asset."

John Prestwich, Partner, Montagu Evans LLP

"I have always found AL Marketing forward thinking, proactive, always going that extra mile to exceed expectations on client service delivery."

Rachel Lydon, Marketing Manager, Savills

"I have worked with the AL team for nearly three years and have no hesitation in recommending them. Based on strategic research, their planning of campaigns that suit the demographics of the scheme is very good and the delivery has always been to a high standard. AL are a hard working team and always available to discuss any ideas that can enhance the offer. Give them a challenge and they will come up with the creative ideas to deliver! They are very good at listening to help their understanding of the challenges that are faced with everyday life in a Shopping Centre and then interpreting this to fit in with the overall strategy."

Colin Lang, Centre Manager, The Galleries

"I have worked with many agencies over the years in the shopping centre industry but what is clear to me is that AL Marketing really “get it”. They understand clearly who we should be marketing to and understand fully the current difficulties that shopping centres are dealing with. Their efficient, innovative, flexible approach is a breath of fresh air, and the company’s wealth of marketing expertise has introduced targeted experiential promotions to The Gracechurch Centre as a unique selling point for our customers – which encourages repeat visits."

Angela Henderson, Centre Manager, The Gracechurch Centre

"The Harvey Centre has been working with AL Marketing for many years. They stand out from other agencies as they take time to understand the asset and how best to improve performance -dovetailing their recommendations into existing and future projects planned for the centre. They take on board our thoughts and always recommend well thought out strategies, that have both objectives and KPI’S. All at AL deliver a high standard of work, nothing is too much trouble, they go the extra mile and are value for money. "

Bryan Young, Centre Manager, The Harvey Centre

"Beyond the Town Centre Awards, AL Marketing continues to be an invaluable partner as our ongoing marketing, and social media managers. Their consistent creativity, proactive planning, and comprehensive understanding of our audience have significantly elevated our online presence. They don’t just post - they engage, connect, and build meaningful relationships with our Town Centre community. Their attentive approach and responsiveness make them a trusted extension of our team."

Oliver Gillard, Deputy Programme Manager, Harlow Council

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