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Key results

By day 10 of the campaign
1,000 people had signed up

Completed the campaign
target of 10,000 registrations

ESCC have now signed a contract with BT
to bring faster broadband to thousands of homes
and businesses in East Sussex

The Challenge

You’d expect an affluent county like East Sussex to be at the forefront of internet connectivity wouldn’t you? Well, you’d be wrong. Only 3% of homes/businesses in East Sussex currently have access to high-speed broadband (24mbps+) compared to 58% nationally, making the county one of the UK’s poorest served areas.

Knowing that enhancing the digital provision would make East Sussex a far more accessible place to live and work, East Sussex County Council (ESCC) worked tirelessly and secured funding to install superfast broadband. All it needed was a telecoms supplier to come on-board, but a company wouldn’t invest unless there was a strong demand for superfast broadband. So the challenge began.

Our Solution

In October 2012, Cobb PR was appointed to devise a campaign with the following objectives:

  • Stimulate interest in superfast broadband.
    Evidence and sustain levels of demand particularly in the target areas (mostly rural).
  • Achieving these objectives would maximise benefits to users and ensure long-term financial longevity.
  • With the objectives in mind, Cobb PR and ESCC set the following strategy:
  • Communicate the benefits of superfast broadband.
  • Gather evidence of demand through a local marketing campaign.

The tactic was to get ES people to understand and communicate key messages and this was done through a dedicated website where people could register their interest in superfast broadband, social media (Facebook and Twitter), Peer-to-peer, e-Publications, printed materials and stakeholder engagement.

The Outcome

Since working with Go E Sussex we have:

By day 10 of the campaign 1,000 people had signed up and in February 2013 the campaign target of 10,000 registrations had been reached. ESCC have now signed a contract with BT to bring faster broadband to thousands of homes and businesses in East Sussex and are now in the first stage of their rollout plan.

“This campaign has achieved truly remarkable results despite a tight budget and these could not have been achieved without our collaborative partnership with Cobb PR, their dedication, and support.”

– Jenny Devane, Broadband Engagement Manager, ESCC