Thumbs up for Switch-On weekend

The 2014 Blackpool Illuminations Switch-On Festival Weekend has been given a resounding thumbs-up.

Featuring huge stars like Peter Kay, Little Mix and Pixie Lott, last weekend’s seafront spectacular earned rave reviews from the vast majority of those in attendance.

Businesses too have been reporting positive trends with many hotels being fully booked throughout the three day event.

And now an analysis of the coverage of the event and the build up to it shows the coverage – based on buying a similar amount of advertising – was worth an estimated three quarters of a million pounds.

This included daily coverage from media partner Rock FM, regional television coverage, numerous national newspaper reports and a wide range of reports on some of the most viewed websites in the world.

The Switch-On weekend began with Britain’s most popular comedian, Peter Kay, switching on the lights after a star studded night of entertainment featuring some of the most popular names in British music.

Superstar girl band, Little Mix, headlined the Friday night concert with support coming from Texas, Pixie Lott, Union J, Neon Jungle, George Ezra and Matt Cardle amongst others.

Rock FM’s Hywel and Jamie, oversaw the festivities while the first ever Switch-On Food Festival ran throughout the day on Blackpool Promenade.

In a rare public appearance, the Phoenix Nights star, whose name has been synonymous with Blackpool since his record selling “Live at the Top of Tower” DVD, charmed the 20,000-strong crowd at Blackpool’s seafront Festival Headlands on Friday.

Fireworks launched from the top of The Blackpool Tower as the lights turned on the Golden Mile and along the length of the town’s famous Promenade.

The Bolton-born comedian revealed his delight at turning on the famous display in an exclusive interview with Rock FM.

He told the station: “Blackpool is a huge part of my life. It always has been and I’ve so much affection for it so to be asked to turn the lights on is a massive big deal to me.

“I did my first live stand up show there. We filmed Phoenix Nights there. We filmed Max and Paddy there. And it looks brilliant now!

“There’s a lot of money been spent; the front looks gorgeous and it has really gone up a gear so I’m absolutely made up about the whole thing.”

And he even dished out some advice to people visiting Blackpool Illuminations

“I always go the week the clocks go back and the lights start coming on at 5 O’clock,” he said.

“So then you can get up and down quick, grab some fish and chips and have the kids back home and in bed by 8 O’clock. That’s my top tip!”

The Friday night celebrations were then followed up two top quality nights of family shows on the Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Saturday’s West End themed show included performances from the cast of Thriller Live, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Show on Stage, Chicago, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jon Lee of S Club 7 fame and friends performing songs from the Jersey Boys and Leanne Jones, star of Hairspray. Each of the acts wowed the crowd with their repertoire of familiar musical tunes.

Sunday’s show, meanwhile, featured a number of top nineties acts including Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, 911 and Damage before Rebecca Ferguson headlined the show and brought the three day festival to a close.

All in all, the Switch-On weekend was given a big thumbs up by Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for tourism and leisure.

Cllr Graham Cain, said: “We’re extremely pleased with Illuminations Switch-On Weekend.

“As always, the Friday night Switch-On night proved incredibly popular with massive demand and an incredible 77,000 applications for just 20,000 places – the second highest ever.

“The show itself was fantastic with Peter Kay, Little Mix, Texas and all the other stars putting on a brilliant night and credit must go to our partners, Rock FM, for their role in bringing the event together.

“Everyone appeared to be in very good spirits and having an excellent time and the big Switch-On moment was as spectacular as ever.

“By using the Friday night staging, we have been able to put on two amazing nights of live music on Saturday and Sunday which both sold over 3,000 tickets for each night.

“We also had the very popular food festival – the largest ever staged in Blackpool – which was very well received.

“As always the incredible PR value that switch-on generates alone – from the weeks and days of pre-event coverage to the newspaper, radio and TV coverage of the weekend – makes the investment more than worth it.

“Based on buying equivalent advertising, we estimate that value to be worth around three quarters of a million pounds.

“That’s an incredible boost for Blackpool’s tourism industry and just what we need.

“When you couple that with bringing a world class show like MAMMA MIA! to Blackpool, the new Blackpool’s Back advertising campaign which has been so successful, the arrival of Illuminasia and the quality of our existing attractions, it really has been a very good year for the town on the tourism front.

“Reverting back to being a non-commercial event has clearly been the right move for Switch-On and we’ve definitely achieved our aim of kicking off the start of illuminations season with a bang.

“The unique seafront setting is also incredible when the weather is kind to us and coupling that with some of the biggest names in British pop and entertainment made for a great weekend.

“We hope the three day event will become an integral part of Blackpool’s calendar for years to come and the work to plan for another fantastic show for next year will start soon.”