Bournemouth BID has second best digital high-street scheme

The Bournemouth coastal Business Improvement District (BID) has been presented with the runner-up award for the ‘Best Digital Highstreet Scheme’ at the association of town and city management awards. With hundreds of entries from across the country considered, second place represents a huge achievement for the Coastal BID and its Go Bournemouth Coast augmented reality app. The ATCM awards showcase best practice in town and city management across the UK and Ireland.

Introduced in 2017, the Coastal BID ‘Go Bournemouth Coast’ app has brought colourful augmented reality characters to each of Bournemouth’s coastal trading districts. This has included virtual elves for Christmas, dogs for the Chinese New Year and bunnies for Easter. Aiming to increase footfall, it has challenged families to explore, enter local businesses, take selfies with the characters and upload them to social media to enter exciting prize competitions. To date, Go Bournemouth Coast has involved over 200 participating businesses and actively engaged thousands of residents and visitors.

Paul Clarke, Coastal BID Chairman said, “To come second at the prestigious ATCM Awards is a huge achievement. It’s also an excellent celebration of all the hard work we’ve put in to deliver a uniquely fun experience to Bournemouth’s coastal districts. I am delighted to say that Go Bournemouth is still available. I encourage you to download the app and keep an eye out for new augmented reality experiences and prize competitions.’’

The Coastal BID will soon be unveiling plans for the next Go Bournemouth Coast augmented reality campaign. They encourage people to download the app and follow them on their Bournemouth Seasons social media pages for the latest updates.