– 80 percent of £million giveaway tickets gone in 5 hours
– Customers snapped up tickets at a rate of 3 per second
Over 80 percent of ScotRail’s free off-peak tickets were snapped up within 5 hours of launching the Million Pound Giveaway.
At its peak, three tickets a second were being given away – amounting to over 10,000 per hour.
The free tickets were available on routes across the country, including journeys linking Scotland’s ‘seven cities’, as well as the scenic routes to Fort William and the Kyle of Lochalsh.
Rob Shorthouse, ScotRail Alliance Communications Director, said: “Our million pound ticket giveaway is proving to be hugely popular. Our website suppliers told us that the first hour of the giveaway was more like the first hour of Glastonbury tickets going on sale. It was just incredible.
“We are building the best railway that Scotland has ever had. We are just delighted that so many people have taken up our offer to have a day out in our beautiful country on us.”
Image: ScotRail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes promotes the Million Pound Giveaway with team members from Edinburgh Waverley. (Credit: ScotRail Alliance).
The ScotRail Alliance is giving away £1 million worth of free off-peak tickets to some of Scotland’s top destinations.
The giveaway is both a thanks to customers and an opportunity to showcase the huge variety of places that the rail network covers.
These FREE OFF-PEAK DAY RETURN rail tickets are available to claim online, on a first-come-first-served basis, from 10am on 6 September until the offer closes on 15 September. Those who get free tickets must use them between 18 September and 30 November.
This leisure ticket giveaway follows a season ticket ‘thank you’ offer earlier this year, when the ScotRail Alliance and Transport Scotland jointly funded a week’s free travel for monthly and annual season ticket holders.
The ScotRail Alliance’s Managing Director Alex Hynes said: “We’re in the middle of building the best railway Scotland has ever had and this leisure travel offer is part of getting customers involved. Scotland’s rail network offers some spectacular scenery and we’d love as many customers as possible to get out there and enjoy it.
“These tickets are a way of giving some of our customers a free means to do so. We expect high demand, so my advice is claim your tickets early and enjoy the journey!”
Humza Yousaf, Minister for Transport and the Islands said: “I am delighted to see the ScotRail Alliance deliver this leisure ticket giveaway as part of our ongoing efforts to recognise and reward passengers for their custom and patience while we invest £5 billion to help transform Scotland’s railways. This builds on the free week for regular travellers earlier this year following the essential works at Queen Street Tunnel and Winchburgh, which was a testing experience.
“Our ambitious programme will bring enhanced station facilities and services with new, longer, faster, greener electric trains, alongside intercity trains connecting our cities. This should encourage more people out of their cars, bringing with that environmental and health benefits.”
For further information please email communications@scotrail.co.uk
Photo caption: The ScotRail Alliance’s Fiona Nicol, Alex Hynes and Ivelin Bilchev celebrate the £1m ticket giveaway
Edinburgh Leisure has unveiled their September offer, designed to help thousands of new customers to try new activities and get more active this autumn.
With recent research highlighting the dangers of inactivity, the not-for-profit company, which manages City of Edinburgh’s Council leisure services is offering new members joining in September, a free month in October.
With 30+ venues including 10 swimming pools, 15 gyms and 700+ fitness classes per week, Edinburgh Leisure is the ‘biggest club in town’ providing the widest range of fitness classes, state of the art facilities and community based programmes across the capital, creating opportunities for everyone to get active, stay active and achieve more.
Graeme Renwick, Marketing Officer at Edinburgh Leisure said: “We’re passionate about providing opportunities and support for people to participate in physical activities and sport, whatever their age and stage.
“And for those joining in September, they’re going to be so busy with all the wonderful facilities that Edinburgh Leisure has on offer across the city centre that we’re urging them to keep October free, as well as giving them that month for free.”
From 25 August, new joiners will get one month free (October) when they join before the end of September. Existing members who refer a friend, who then joins, will receive £30 cash back.
With adult memberships starting from as little as £29.90, there is a range of packages, including swim, fitness, gym and climbing.
Many of Edinburgh Leisure’s gyms have had a recent refurbishment including Drumbrae, Leith Victoria and Dalry and Warrender have had new gym equipment addes.
Edinburgh Leisure gyms have the latest state of the art equipment including some of the newest cardiovascular machines; offer over 750 fitness classes per week including Les Mills Programmes; and have five modernised Victorian pools and the Royal Commonwealth Pool in their portfolio. They also launched Clip ‘n Climb at Edinburgh’s International Climbing Centre at Ratho, the first of its kind in Scotland in March 2016.
To get inspired with hundreds of ways to get active, visit www.edinburghleisure.co.uk, like Edinburgh Leisure on Facebook or follow on Twitter.
Edinburgh Leisure is offering non-members the opportunity to try out their facilities with a free 7 Day Pass.
The offer runs from Friday, 18 August and runs until 10 September 2017.
During this time customers can pick up a pass online via the Edinburgh Leisure website or in participating venues, giving them seven days unlimited consecutive free access to gyms, swimming pools (including their saunas and Turkish baths) and classes, subject to class space*.
With 30+ venues including 10 swimming pools, 15 gyms and 700+ fitness classes per week, Edinburgh Leisure is the ‘biggest club in town’ providing the widest range of fitness classes, state of the art facilities and community based programmes across the capital, creating opportunities for everyone to get active, stay active and achieve more.
If there is one thing everyone loves, it’s a freebie.
That unexpected free piece of cake with coffee, the fiver lost and then found again in the pair of jeans at the back of the cupboard – we all love them. And if you’re the cost conscious owner or manager of a business chances are you love them even more!
At Who Dares Marketing we’re exactly the same and so to help you out and satisfy your inner thriftiness we’ve compiled the top 5 free marketing tools you can use for your business.
1 – Canva
Do any research into the most searched for things on Google and its a guarantee that tucked away in there will be “Free online photoshop” – it’s as predictable as day turning to night but for good reason. Photoshop is brilliant! An excellent piece of software that makes editing imagery easy and straightforward. Of course that fluid experience comes at a price and for most businesses the ends don’t justify the means hence the frequency of the above search.
Well fear not because there is an alternative and as it turns out a pretty great one. You may not have heard of Canva before now but from here on in we guarantee it will be a permanent fixture in your favourites list. Perfectly proportioned social media posts? Check. Flexible design options? Check. Download completed designs? Check. Of course it doesn’t have the depth of something like photoshop but for most small businesses it will be more than adequate.
Data is a major trend in marketing and indeed the business world right now and for good reason – it helps businesses make better decisions. A company website is a potential treasure trove of useful data but of course you have to collate that first and of course how do you do that? Well the Google URL builder is one step on that ladder and one that will help you evaluate accurately the effectiveness of your marketing efforts through Google Analytics.
Let’s say for example you have a new blog post (much like this one) and you promote that post through various channels online. If you have the one link that goes everywhere it becomes difficult to tell which area your clicks are coming from or if any meaningful actions took place as a result of the post. The Google URL builder solves this problem, putting unique parameters into each link allowing you to be able to judge exactly how effective each part of your marketing is.
3 – Hootsuite
Social media. Depending on who you speak to its the greatest thing to happen in the last 30 years or its the cause of all the worlds problems. Either way there’s one thing that can’t be denied, it’s value to businesses. After all where else can you speak to potentially thousands of customers all at once. That said it doesn’t come without its challenges with some people doing Facebook but not Twitter or keeping one channel up to date more because after all who has time to update multiple profiles? Well with Hootsuite all those pains vanish and through one simple dashboard you have control over all your profiles in one place. What’s better still is that you can post to all of them at the same time! Assuming you run 3 social media platforms you’ve instantly cut your workload by three, not bad!
4 – Codecademy
Have you ever wondered what exactly is happening when you open a web page? What the difference is between HTML, CSS and Javascript? Or how that button changes colour when I hover over it? Well wonder know more with the web’s foremost web development teaching site, Codecademy. A wealth of resources, Codecademy will have you grasping the basics of web development in no time at all.
If you’ve made it this far (and why wouldn’t you have!) you’ll notice that this is the second mention of our friends at Google this time for its keyword planner. A major tool as part of its AdWords platform the keyword planner allows you to research in great detail exactly what and where people are searching related to your business.
Notice an increase in searches for a particular product and service and you can run a campaign targeting these potential customers. It’s also a good tool for looking at trends and can be used to make informed decisions about what customers are interested in allowing you to plan activity in advance.
So there you have it, the top 5 free marketing tools for your business. At Who Dares Marketing we specialise in creating compelling, content oriented, data driven inbound marketing campaigns.
If you you have any questions or would like more information please get in touch today on 07837008301 or by visiting our website at www.whodaresmarketing.com
Edinburgh Leisure is hosting a series of FREE under 5’s open days on Saturday 5th August at:
- Craiglockhart Leisure and Tennis Centre Tennis (afternoon)
- The Meadows Tennis (morning)
- Royal Commonwealth Pool Gym nippers, swimming, dance, Jump & Dive (morning), magician, balloon modelling, tattoos, hook a duck
- Tumbles at Portobello Gym nippers (morning)
Experts agree the best way to help kids enjoy healthy, active lives is to start as you mean to go on. And at Edinburgh Leisure there’s lots of activities that wee ones, and their parents, can enjoy starting from birth through to 5 years old.
There’ll be 25-minute taster sessions to try out in swimming, gym nippers, jump and dive, tots tennis and dance for the toddlers. It’s possible to try just one or a variety but booking in advance is recommended.
Click here to see the full programme list and time slots available.
To book your space, contact the relevant centres;
- Craiglockhart Tennis and Leisure Centre, 0131 443 0101, info.cltc@edinburghleisure.co.uk
- The Meadows, 07766 774529, 0131 443 0101, info.cltc@edinburghleisure.co.uk
- Royal Commonwealth Pool, 0131 667 7211, info.rcp@edinburghleisure.co.uk
- Tumbles at Portobello, 0131 669 0878, info.tumbles@edinburghleisure.co.uk
In response to a recent report that highlighted that 40 per cent of children in the most deprived areas were overweight or obese in the last year, compared to 27 per cent living in more affluent areas, Edinburgh Leisure is launching a range of free and low-cost summer activities to encourage children from all backgrounds to get active.
The activities on offer are being delivered by qualified coaches from Edinburgh Leisure and a range of partners, including Edina Hibs, Craigmillar Community Sport Hub and Street Games. All ages and abilities are encouraged to come along and join in the fun.
What: Free Saturday Night Soccer – Simply Turn up as a team, or as an individual and get involved.
Dates: Every Saturday night from 24 June – 12 August 2017
Time: 6:30 – 8:00
Where: Meggatland, 3G Pitch
To Book: email communitysporthubs@edinburghleisure.co.uk
Cost: Free
What: Sport in the Park – Open to boys and girls aged 7-12 years – fun filled sports sessions. And it’s not just for the kids – free fitness bootcamp for parents too!
Dates: Every Wednesday, 5 July – 9 August 2017
Time: 13:00 – 15:30
Where: Cairntows Park, Duddingston Road West, EH16 4AW
To Book: email communitysporthubs@edinburghleisure.co.uk
Cost: Free
What: Multi-sports camp – Join us at Meggetland Sports Complex for a fun filled week of sport
Dates: Monday, 17 – Friday, 21 July 2017
Time: 10:00 – 13:00
Where: Meggetland Sports Complex, Edinburgh EH14 1AS
To Book: email communitysporthubs@edinburghleisure.co.uk
Cost: £30 per week
What: Summer Soccer Camp, in association with Edina Hibs – open to all players, boys and girls, aged between 4 & 11 years. All abilities welcome
Dates: Monday, 24 July – Thursday, 27 July
Time: 13:00-15:00
Where: Jack Kane Sport Centre, 208 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4ND
To Book: visit Edina Hibs Facebook page / www.edinahibs.co.uk and complete the online page
Cost: Free
What: Fit and Fuelled Multi-sports Camps – a week of free sport and physical activity sessions for 6-12 year olds. Fun filled with different activities each day. Healthy meal provided daily
Dates; Monday, 24 July – Friday, 28 July
Time: 10:30 – 12:30
Where: Jack Kane Sport Centre, 208 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4ND
To Book: communitysporthubs@edinburghleisure.co.uk
Cost: Free
