Case study: Evaluation of Giraffe About Town
Background
Giraffe About Town, delivered by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) in partnership with Wild in Art, was a trail of more than 40 eight foot tall giraffe structures and 29 four foot giraffes, positioned across Edinburgh in July and August 2022. The aims of the trail were: to encourage tourists and visitors to explore Edinburgh; to raise awareness of RZSS and its conservation work; and to encourage participants to support RZSS by making a donation, visiting Edinburgh Zoo or taking out membership.
Purpose
The purpose of the research was to evaluate Giraffe About Town in terms of meeting its objectives, and to measure its economic impact on the city of Edinburgh.
Methodology
Scotinform worked with Reference Economic Consultants to design an online survey, distributed to trail followers via the Giraffe About Town app and shared on social media.
The survey was designed to capture, through a series of attitudinal and behavioural questions, data that would demonstrate the impact of Giraffe About Town in terms of its three objectives. It also captured expenditure and behavioural information to inform an Economic Impact Assessment for the project.
The project had a tight turnaround time, with a requirement to have the data ready for sharing with project stakeholders one month after the trail closed.
Impacts
Scotinform identified and demonstrated a range of impacts in relation to the original project themes.
In terms of Health and Wellbeing for example, 80% of respondents said that the trail encouraged them to walk more than usual, 38% said that they had spent more time with family as a result of the trail and 63% of Edinburgh residents said that the trail created a sense of community.
Relating to Edinburgh tourism and placemaking, we found that 80% of respondents had been encouraged to spend more time than usual out and about in Edinburgh, and 76% had explored new parts of the city.
There was also evidence that the trail had had a positive impact on Edinburgh Zoo. Over half of respondents had learned more about the work of Edinburgh Zoo and the RZSS and 84% said that they were likely to visit the Zoo in the next year (including 74% of those who had not previously visited for the past two years).
The economic impact assessment found that the total gross impact of Giraffe About Town on Edinburgh was £4.5m and the total net gross impact was £1.5m.
RZSS has used our research to inform its own evaluation and future planning, and to share with funders, sponsors and other stakeholders.
“RZSS has worked with Scotinform for many years and they have provided great support and insight to many research projects ranging from visitor exit research to brand tracking. When it came to needing to evaluate our Giraffe About Town project, we wouldn’t have gone anywhere else – the team were as passionate about the project as we were and provided fantastic insights!”
Lisa Robshaw, Head of Marketing and Sales, RZSS
Why Scotinform?
We understand that you will have deadlines and priorities and work with you to accommodate these.
Economic impact questions are necessary but there is an art to writing them! We combine expertise in economic theory (through our associates) with friendly questions about expenditure and behaviour.
We want you to use the findings for a variety of purposes (reflection, planning, advocacy) and our reporting style makes this easy to do.