VisitBritain is led by a centralized workforce of round 20 individuals primarily based throughout the Cupboard Workplace. In the meantime, round 100 others are working inside accomplice organizations or in different components of the federal government such because the Division for Worldwide Commerce. There are additionally in-market groups to supply native insights, primarily based in British embassies the place their function might solely embody one-half of their time on advertising and marketing initiatives.
The evolution of tourism advertising and marketing
Lately, some international locations have upped their recreation in relation to garnering the eye of potential vacationers. There have been much-lauded campaigns from Go to Iceland and Go to Norway for instance, which add a inventive thought, or a central narrative, alongside scenic imagery of what guests can anticipate.
“Having a fame-driving inventive marketing campaign that crystallizes your nation’s distinctive DNA and is charming sufficient to generate earned media is exponentially more practical than paid spend alone. It might probably fairly actually put your nation on the map,” defined Stevie Archer, govt inventive director at SS+Okay, which works with Go to Iceland.
She added that the humor-led campaigns produced lately modified the perceptions of Iceland, and a single marketing campaign, “Appears to be like Like You Want Iceland,” generated $40 million in earned media whereas serving to restore the nation’s journey to pre-pandemic ranges.
Final 12 months, VisitBritain started its “See Issues In another way” marketing campaign, the primary section of which got here with a funds of $12.3 million (£9.8 million) whereas aiming to advertise British experiences.
Inside that overarching marketing campaign, one aspect particularly focused youthful vacationers, as VisitBritain hopes to vary perceptions of the U.Okay. away from the London-focused thought of pink phone packing containers, Huge Ben and quaint traditions from the previous, akin to afternoon tea. An instance of that transfer got here by way of the U.S. marketing campaign launched final March, “Spilling the Tea on GB.”
It provided recommendation on the assorted strategies that guests might use to “unleash” their sense of journey by way of social media posts, whereas trying to deal with different cities away from London, which nearly all of vacationers nonetheless base their journeys round.
In accordance with Brandwatch analysis, the hashtag #seethingsdifferently gained 33.8 million impressions on X alone from Jan. 1, 2023, by way of Feb. 13, 2024.
Taylor Tett explains that the age of American vacationers to the U.Okay. tends to skew to an older demographic, which she now hopes to influence. She cites analysis that discovered that nearly one-half (47%) of tourism nights spent within the U.Okay. have been in London, however amongst those that had interacted with the marketing campaign, 65% have been outdoors of the capital metropolis.
A lot of the technique to have interaction youth is channel-based, taking the marketing campaign to new locations the place it had not beforehand activated, akin to gaming, both by constructing its personal experiences or piggybacking on others. Messaging can also be central because it goals to color a extra dynamic image of the U.Okay. by way of its tradition of music, sport and movie.