Eastbourne Pier Business Case
Project Application Please complete each section below referring where necessary to the explanatory notes at
Appendix 1. Please limit your response to 4 pages plus any additional spreadsheets etc for
financial details and timetables etc.
1. Project Title. Lead organisation and contact details including partner organisations.
EBNow
Lead organisation is Eastbourne Town Team. Suppliers are Adam McNaught-Davis
(design and relationship management), Will Callaghan (product management), Robert
Price (web and mobile development), Theo Pilbeam (Android app development).
Eastbourne Borough Council previously provided £10,000 to fund software development
and, as part of the funding agreement, was offered and accepted a 5% share in any
commercial concern that further develops and markets the software.
Also see spreadsheet at:
2. Objectives. Describe the project in terms of the aims/objectives, outcomes and
outputs. Explain why the project is needed and who will benefit from it.
See note 1.
EBNow is currently a pilot project that broadcasts information about events, offers and
quality local businesses via TV screens in nine Eastbourne hotels, two pubs and a coffee
shop, and a website optimised for mobile phones. The New Wilmington hotel carries
EBNow content on every TV screen - 50 bedrooms in total. If successful, this grant will
pay for EBNow to run in many more locations across the town and add many significant
new features.
Aim EBNow aims to broadcast information about Eastbourne’s tourism and leisure offerings to
as many people in the town as possible, whether they be visitors or residents.
Feedback from multiple sources over the last few years suggests that information on
events, offers and quality local businesses is harder to find than it should be, meaning
that potential customers are being haemorrhaged - an opportunity our fragile High Street
and local economy can ill afford to miss.
Eastbourne has no ‘Time Out’ style listings publication. The local paper includes an
events supplement with listings, but it requires a purchase and is only published weekly.
Events information is carried by a handful of websites, but they either lack content or do
not have an ‘in town’ presence.
Outputs
- Installations are currently limited to single TVs in lobby areas powered by Android
dongles. With this funding we will be able to tie into existing networked TV
systems reaching every bedroom in every 3, 4 and 5 star establishment in town
(up to 160,000 people per year, see spreadsheet)
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- The companion mobile website at ebnow.co.uk will gain many new features
including geolocated content, itineraries (grouping together of events, offers and
places to create tours) and a prototype loyalty card scheme.
- Marketing will be stepped up to reach all local smartphone and web users (approx
120k, see spreadsheet)
- A part time editor will ensure that EBNow’s coverage remains comprehensive,
accurate, impartial and up to date. We will have the technical know how and time
to share this information with partners both in town and across the UK.
- The development team working on the project will be available to offer digital
product development and marketing knowledge to the wider town. Analytics and
user research gained from building the EBNow software and network will be
invaluable if applied to future projects, related and unrelated.
A fully funded project will benefit:
- Visitors and residents wanting to access up-to-date events and offers information.
- Retailers who will enjoy greater footfall and promotional opportunities.
- Event organisers (including Eastbourne Borough Council) and local businesses will
be able to reach larger markets with less effort and in real time.
- The wider town as Eastbourne becomes known as an area that develops and
deploys thoughtful IT solutions to challenges faced by High Streets and seaside
towns across the UK.
It will complement:
- Proposed upgrades to Visit Eastbourne. Some of EBNow’s underlying technology
could form the foundations of a new platform (if they are sufficiently aligned),
potentially saving money on its development and making it easier to share data
across the entire visitor network. The expertise built up over the project, and by
three of the four team members working in relevant (publishing and tech)
industries over several decades, could also help in making strategic and
development decisions.
- Redevelopment of Devonshire Park theatres and public realm improvements.
Similar schemes include display screens carrying custom content - a feature
included on the EBNow roadmap.
- Proposals for itinerary based apps (eg ‘East of Eastbourne’ and ‘Sussex Wine Trail’
tour guides). EBNow’s roadmap includes the ability to create custom itineraries
comprising events, offers and places.
3. Strategic Fit. Explain how the project will contribute to local, regional and DCLG
objectives.
See note 2.
EBNow contributes to the following coalition priorities:
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- On ‘local economies and regeneration’ by using innovative and inexpensive
technologies to market events and local businesses that are vital to the growth of
our town
- On ‘communities and neighbourhoods’ by giving community based events access
to far wider audiences
EBNow development to date is also a direct result of the DCLG sponsored ‘Town Team’
initiative.
Eastbourne Borough Council themes:
- As part of ‘prosperous economy’ EBNow provides a high profile way to market the
‘inspiring cultural provision’
- In ‘thriving communities’ EBNow increases (by raising awareness) opportunities to
take part in recreational and sporting activities and promotes the wider range of
activities for the town’s growing younger demographic. It also supports High Street
retail regeneration by encouraging footfall and the exploration of other shopping
areas off the High Street.
East Sussex County Council:
- The council’s economic development strategy (April 2012) advocates higher value
niche sectors such as digital technologies to challenge deprivation faced by low
wage seaside economies.
4. Interdependencies. Who has been consulted and involved in the development of the
project. Will the project link with and add to other local projects and initiatives? Explain
the linkages and how they will be maximised.
- EBNow’s product lead has instigated a series of tourism digital strategy workshops
with attendees from Eastbourne Borough Council, Visit Eastbourne, Eastbourne
Hospitality Association and the Chamber of Commerce. This initial discovery will be
concluded in January and then re-visited at intervals. The purpose is to re-examine
the needs of tourists and residents with the aim of creating world class products to
satisfy them.
- Development of EBNow to date has involved day to day working with the council,
Chamber of Commerce and Town Team.
- The project originated from ideas raised at Eastbourne Can and Town Team
meetings several years ago. Attendees at these meetings included event
organisers, High Street retailers and local businesses wanting improved marketing
channels, and event goers struggling to find the information they needed.
- EBNow builds on Town Team projects including the independent retail map
(printed), and Capture Team project, aimed at raising awareness for Eastbourne’s
High Street to traders and customers.
EBNow will derive maximum value from these relationships by working in an open and
collaborative way with stakeholders from the organisations above - as it has done to
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date. Needs will be understood, clear metrics established and users will be actively
involved in development. Development will be agile, where the team will be able to
quickly develop, test and iterate features in response to user needs.
5. Achievability and Options Appraisal. Are there any other options for meeting the
project’s objectives that have been considered and ruled out?
The overall multi-channel approach of EBNow (ie including web, mobile and TV) is fixed
as it is tried and tested. Within that, the development team is structured to be flexible
and consider product, technical and creative options for reaching the largest audience
within finite resources. An agile approach to understanding users, measuring features
and acting on feedback has stood the team in good stead to date.
6.Affordability, Cost Benefit, Cost risks, Added Value. Provide details of costings including
development costs, breakdown of capital costs, on-going revenue costs, match funding
and income/profit estimates. Explain how the project will deliver good value for money;
identify cost risks and any potential for added-value
. See note 3.
See detailed workings at:
Costs for the first two years:
- £140k software development
- £113k to build and maintain the hotel TV network
- £30k editorial
Ongoing costs per year:
- Optional funding of further software development
- £20k to maintain and upgrade hotel TV network
- £15k editorial
The project has a number of options for longer term funding (in order of viability):
- Software licences to other organisations/ towns
- Display advertising on mobile, web and TV
- Sale of content feeds to third party sites
- Subscriptions for hotels and other venues carrying the service
Initial conversations with potential customers both inside and outside Eastbourne suggest
that there is high demand for a competitively priced local information and loyalty service.
Past experience suggests that advertising revenues exceeding £10k/ month are well
within reach - enough to cover maintenance, editorial and some software development
costs.
We believe that content sales are less likely as the information has lower value outside
Eastbourne. Subscriptions to carry the service are potentially counterproductive as they
could hamper the growth of the network, so harming other revenue streams.
It is unlikely that a project of this scope and size will be achieved in Eastbourne within
grant support. While some funding has been received from Town Team for software and
kit, much of the development work to date has been done by the suppliers for free. This
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situation is not sustainable.
EBNow represents good value for money. We estimate customer acquisition costs of 59p
per user in year 1, falling to 26p by year 3 (see spreadsheet).
This assumes that each
users views a TV or visits ebnow.co.uk only once per year, which will believe to
be an underestimate of actual use. As the project develops there will be opportunities to bid for other funds (eg smart cities,
tech on High Streets, Coastal Communities Fund) and draw in private investment (eg
local investors, business angels, accelerator funds).
On inflation and contingencies, the cost of editorial and software development will be
fixed and agreed with the suppliers at the beginning of the project.
We have not
allowed for contingency on hotel kit at this stage, but can adjust our figures to
include this. 7. Delivery timetable. Provide a project delivery timetable with key milestones. Can the
project be delivered in the projected timescales (Marketing projects 18 months; Heritage
Projects 3 years)?
Jan 2015
- Digital tourism strategy workshops complete
- User needs established
Feb 2015
- Funding approved
- Development work starts
- Hotel network discovery starts
- Business development (advertising and other models begins)
- Governance agreed?
May 2015
- Lead developer joins the project full time
June 2015
- EBNow available in 20 hotels
August 2015
- Loyalty trial begins in time for Airbourne 2015
March 2016
- EBNow in all available 3, 4 and 5 star hotels
Jan 2017
- End of funded period. EBNow editorial and maintenance should be self sustaining
- Software development continues as a separate concern, exact nature to be agreed
8. Risks. What are the main risks associated with the project?
See note 4.
In order of impact:
- Buy in from hotels
- Political instability of the borough
- Insufficient collaboration between stakeholders
- Insufficient understanding of agile development or importance of user needs
- Stability of hotel wi-fi
- Stability and reliability of hardware (mitigated by ongoing investigation and
refinement)
- Impact of advertising needs on editorial impartiality and damage to product
credibility
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- Untested funding models
9. Exit strategy. Explain how the project will be financially sustainable in the medium to
long term.
After the initial development period EBNow could be run on a content/ maintenance only
model and the annual costs are as follows:
- £20k to maintain and upgrade hotel TV network
- £15k editorial
Past experience suggests that advertising revenues exceeding £10k/ month are well
within reach.
There needs to be a discussion between the council, suppliers and stakeholders about the
software itself and its development. The suppliers believe there is a viable software
licence business that could be spun out of the project and this will cover ongoing
development. In this scenario EBC would receive ongoing free updates to the software
and could also own a stake in the concern.
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