1. The Challenge
Swansea Council delivers a wide programme of cultural, community and public events. The challenge was relevance: understanding who attends, why they attend and how different audiences behave across the region.
With diverse audiences and finite budgets, the Council needed an evidence-based framework to guide event strategy. The requirement was planning clarity before execution.
2. Sense
Using R4’s Sense · Segment · Signal planning model, we began by analysing Mosaic behavioural and lifestyle data, historic attendance patterns and realistic travel-time catchments.
We explored motivations, barriers and media habits to understand how people live, move and make decisions. This established a grounded picture of audiences across Swansea and surrounding areas, moving beyond demographic assumptions.
3. Segment
The insight identified six priority audience groups, representing approximately 800,000 people within a realistic travel catchment.
Each segment was defined by lifestyle, motivation and likelihood to engage, including preferences for different event types and sensitivity to timing, cost and accessibility. This gave the Council a practical framework for prioritising audiences and tailoring events, creative and messaging to their needs.
4. Signal
We mapped where and when each audience was most receptive, identifying high-attention environments, trusted information channels and opportunities aligned with everyday routines.
Together, these findings created a repeatable framework for event strategy. Six validated segments now guide planning, helping align events with behavioural demand and informing future media decisions.
Swansea Council can now plan with greater audience clarity, supporting more inclusive, effective and accountable decisions before spend is committed.