Gradually, over time, the event’s profile has gone from being a Perthshire event, to a Scottish event, to being one of the UK’s leading cultural events. It is now comfortably and frequently referenced as a “place to visit” in coverage around the globe. Using PR has enabled the event to punch well above its weight in driving profile.

Coverage of the event spans the globe with television crews coming from all over the world to cover it. A mark of success is when Volpa’s client gets on a flight and happens to read about the event in the in-flight magazine. The event has been featured in Visit Scotland’s international advertising campaign. Coverage has appeared in publications around the world, including Canada’s Globe and Mail and online for publications in Germany and the Netherlands. An article appeared in the Trivago and Group Leisure publication and on their website, which has been instrumental in driving coach business to the event. The Enchanted Forest now gets around 6% of bookings from coach tour operators alone.

As a result of this activity, international visitors have grown from 0.97% of audience share in 2014 to 2.72% of audience share in 2017. Growth of audience outside Scotland has grown from 5.17% to 8.24% in the same period. International audiences are growing faster as a segment.

The shift in ticket sales has undoubtedly come as a result of a growth in “word of mouth”. In 2008, word of mouth drove 37% of ticket sales (in real terms 6300 tickets), in 2017 it has driven 49% (35,525 tickets). That’s a 463% increase in tickets sold due to word of mouth – against only a 33% increase in actual budget.

As predicted, this year’s event sold out four hours before opening night. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. More than 10,000 people have signed up to receive early notification of tickets on sale for 2018.