Life’s a Beach!

Summer’s here time for sun, surf and... whatever you fancy.

But spare a thought for our friends in Harlow, Essex. Their home town is 40 miles from the sea which makes a quick trip to the beach a bit of a trek.

Never fear - we’ve got an idea! How about taking the beach to Harlow?

So that’s what we did. We took a little slice of Southend and plonked it right in the middle of the Harvey Centre in Harlow.

Now, building a beach, complete with 15 tonnes of sand, 500 gallons of water (chlorinated and filtered), beach huts, buckets and spades, deck chairs, parasols, Punch a Judy, a magician and two real live donkeys (I kid you not) in the middle of an undercover shopping centre is not without its difficulties; especially when it’s got to be there for 6 days. But, as they say, faint heart ne’er won fair lady.

And, with the help of the fantastic management team at the Harvey Centre and the support of the proactive retailers, we did it.

Pre-promoted with press advertising in the Harlow Star, Herts & Essex Observer and the Herts Mercury; radio advertising on Ten17 & Hertbeat FM; a 50,000 strong direct mail campaign; and of course, effective use of the 75,000 monthly hits that the Harvey Centre website attracts; we were assured of a good response.
Of course, the publicity was forthcoming. Breakfast show broadcasts on radio and front page stories in press were full of smiling, laughing children and satisfied parents. Oh, centre footfall was also up on average by 2000 people each day too.

Phew! What a scorcher.