Remember Deltopia 2014? The party that turned riot, this incredibly dangerous situation resulted in more than 100 arrests, 44 hospitalizations and sustained injuries for five Sheriff’s deputies. It’s no wonder that many were concerned about the outcome of Deltopia 2015.
That’s why last year, Verdin was brought in to support the community and tamp down the discord. We created the “Keep Isla Vista Safe” campaign as an overall theme they could use throughout the year. We crafted strategic messaging to students with the objectives of discouraging attendance, reducing the number of out-of-town visitors, raising awareness of the consequences of partying, and urging local students to not invite others to attend Deltopia. We were incredibly encouraged by the results: even at its peak, the crowd at Deltopia 2015 was reduced by 60% from 2014.
It brought us a sigh of relief, and even tears to the eyes of our account manager and media specialist when we heard the results. But when students began talking about the possibilities of Deltopia 2016, we knew that the work was far from over.
As with last year, we started with research on our targeted age demographic of 16–22 to see how their media use differs from older age groups and determined again that the digital and social media channels we emphasized last year should again be utilized, with the addition of Instagram this year. We also isolated the communities from which most students previously came to Deltopia.
Using a technology called geo-fencing to reach zip codes of out-of-towners, we placed social media ads with strong emphasis on the negative consequences of attending Deltopia. Employing a peer-to-peer approach, the ads showed images of college students who experienced negative consequences from attending the party. The theme of “Deltopia Stayed With Me” showed people getting their car towed, getting caught at a DUI checkpoint, and needing medical attention from alcohol overconsumption. The hashtag #StillPayingForIt accompanied these images to demonstrate that students could be paying for consequences of Deltopia even months after the event.
A small portion of our budget was dedicated to Facebook advertising for Santa Barbara residents. The message of “keep it local, keep it safe” was emphasized to encourage those living in or near Isla Vista to take pride in their community and work together to protect it.
Digitally, the overall results of the Keep Isla Vista Safe campaign out-performed last year’s, with a 90% increase in clicks and a 13% increase in impressions across the state. Overall, our digital campaign reached more than six million people and had 57,702 clicks. That was a success in itself, but of course the real measure of success in this situation was Deltopia attendance.
In 2014, nearly 25,000 students showed up at this massive party. Last year, that was dramatically reduced to 10,000.
And this year, at its peak, only 3,500 students came to Deltopia.
When a community comes together to protect one another, big things happen –- or, in this case, not much happens at all — which is exactly what Isla Vista needed. It has been an honor for us to work alongside this community once again to #KeepIslaVistaSafe.
