Sunniside is a historic area within Sunderland City Centre that is home to many professional services and creative businesses and in the process of significant investment in terms of building a residential community. It is also made up of fashionable independent stores, bistros, restaurants, and bars.
Over the past two years it has benefited from UKSPF funding that has supported the delivery of various vibrant events including Sunniside Food Market, a Lunar New Year Festival, an Urban Festival and Thrift Market with entertainment to name a few.
Research and evaluation conducted over the past year indicated an appetite from residents and visitors to continue this events programme and therefore extended funding has been allocated to run more events and initiatives in 2025/26 including a Lunar Festival, Urban Festival, Sunniside Food Markets and Sunniside Nights.
We are therefore looking for an experienced market research agency that has experience of city centre perceptions and event research to conduct four event research projects throughout the next 11 months.
Each event would need its own survey and report output. We also require an overarching evaluation summary document (no more than 10 pages) to provide a summary of all events, and any lessons learned and recommendations.
Examples of topics we are looking to explore:
- Overall perception of Sunniside and how people typically use the area – particularly barriers and facilitators to visiting the area
- Perceptions of safety in the city, particularly when attending these events
- What would attract different ages and demographics i.e. from young people to parents of young children through to older people who enjoy eating out / entertainment
- How residents learn about events taking place and marketing preferences
- An understanding of spending patterns i.e. how much they typically spend and also where they typically visit when visiting the city centre
- Residents’ views on how the city is developing and what would make them choose Sunderland – particularly Sunniside - as an entertainment destination
- Also capturing a net promoter score so that we can benchmark against future events
The types of groups that we’d be looking to research would be:
- General residents – a good representation of areas within the city, a spread of age, gender, and socioeconomic status – we're particularly keen to also gain more participation from younger people i.e. age 18-25 taking part in research
Specifics
We are looking for a research agency that can demonstrate local knowledge of the Sunderland area, particularly research projects that they have previously managed within the City Centre. It would therefore be advantageous if the winning provider were able to provide case studies and demonstrate local knowledge and understanding of being able to engage with the above groups within and around Sunderland.
Methodology
It is expected that research methods will include a level of both online methods as well as more traditional methods such as face-to-face research during the events.
There should also be innovative suggestions on how to encourage and incentivise participation using both digital and face to face data capture methods as we’d expect the survey to be hosted online.
We would typically expect around 300-400 survey completes per event.
Budget
We are working to a tight budget of £2800 + VAT for each event (4 in total). This includes all expenses including travel and management of face-to-face researchers and any email marketing to encourage participation as well as any suggested incentives.
Please submit your expression of interest and proposal by 26 May by sending an email to [email protected]