THE SOUTH WEST ENGLAND CAMPAIGN

The South West England campaign is a major, multi-million pound marketing campaign to promote the regions strengths in business and tourism. The campaign was conceived to counter misconceptions about the region revealed in research carried out in 2001.

The campaign has separate, but closely interlinked, strands for tourism and business investment.
On the tourism side, the objectives are to promote a year-round tourism economy and target higher spending visitors to increase tourism revenue. Advertising for tourism follows an experiential ethos, i.e. their aim is to frame South West England within one of its unbeatable holiday experiences, as opposed to a dry approach featuring the destination only. Research has shown that this approach is more compelling and meaningful for potential visitors.

Business objectives are long term, based around evolving awareness of South West England’s excellent business environment, and its enviable record across a number of key business metrics. Our business advertising utilises endorsements from some of the hugely successful companies in the region to underline our business strengths.
Campaign progress is tracked via a number of separate research studies, from these we know that during the first three years of the campaign, ending in 2005, approximately £28 was generated for the visitor economy from every £1 spent, people were more likely to visit the region and were left with an improved opinion of South West England after coming into contact with the campaign, and there was a marked increase in awareness of the region’s key industries.

The campaign has now entered a new, three-year phase which will run through until Spring 2009. Core activity periods are Autumn (generally Sep – Oct) and Spring (Feb – Mar), and includes advertising in national press, outdoor advertising, radio, direct mail, online advertising, website development, integrated PR and targeted sponsorship activity.

Click here for samples of the new campaign creative.