20 August 2008
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world will soon be inspired to visit Britain on the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll weekend
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world will soon be inspired to visit Britain on the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll weekend thanks to a new partnership with one of the country’s most iconic fashion brands.With more than half 1 of potential visitors to Britain very likely to shop for fashion, souvenirs and British products during their trip, tourism bosses expect the Great British Getaway campaign to draw even more attention to Britain’s appeals.
National tourism agency VisitBritain andBritish brand Ben Sherman have joined forces to promote Ben Sherman’s global marketing initiative ‘The Great British Getaway’.Thesix-week campaign from 6 October 2008 centres around a prize draw to win the ultimate British Getaway, a weekend that encapsulates the life of a British Rock icon, think Kate Moss and Jamie Hince and the kind of lifestyle one can only dream of. The prize will include a glamorous night in London staying at Browns Hotel with dinner at Claridges and then on for a rock’n’roll VIP night out at Proud in Camden. A shopping spree at Ben Sherman Carnaby Street is also included and then onto countryside at luxury resort Bovey Castle for some quintessential British sports.
Entry will be online at a dedicated websitewww.thegreatbritishgetaway.net where Ben Sherman store customers will be able to download a free music track as part of the ‘Soundtrack to the Getaway’. There will be links to The VisitBritain and Enjoy England sites as well as branding throughout.The campaign will be promoted in-store, via window displays which will feature a DVD highlighting the prize weekend. Running concurrently is an in-store gift with purchase of quirky luggage labels, one featuring the union jack in the Ben Sherman brand colours of black and orange.
A network of25 Ben Sherman stores in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Koreaand the USA will promote the campaign using visitbritain.com and UK stores in London, Birmingham, Reading, Manchester and Lakeside will use enjoyengland.com.
Alison McKay, VisitBritain’s brand partnerships manager, says: “Ben Sherman is an iconic brand that people around the world aspire to own. High recognition of the brand, their desired reputation among British musicians and singers, and their use of the Union Jack make them a perfect marketing partner. With many people discovering Britain through its fashion, music or film, this promotion will help us reach new audiences and encourage even more people to consider a trip to Britain in 2008 and beyond.”
Carlos Singh, head of global marketing at Ben Sherman, says: “Ben Sherman is a global brand and chose VisitBritain as partner because of its fantastic global reach. The campaign prize draw is inspired by a quintessential rock’n’roll British lifestyle and therefore it makes perfect sense for us to join forces and together promote Britain, the home of Ben Sherman, as the hip and cutting edge island it is.”
In return, the Ben Sherman brand and its network of stores will be promoted to up to nine million consumers interested in British destinations, culture, fashion, music and more through newsletters to VisitBritain’s global database.
VisitBritain offers a wide range of opportunities for British brands to promote themselves to consumers in the UK and41 countries worldwide through it family of 52 websites in 23 languages. Together they are visited by around 20 million unique users every year and 7.5 million people have requested information about Britain, its destinations, experiences, culture, brands and products through regular e-newsletters. VisitBritain’s activity generates 8110 articles about Britain and Britishness around the world worth £1.4 billion and hosts over 1,000 journalists each year.
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For media in the UK:Elliott Frisby, Corporate PR Manager, VisitBritain on 020 8563 3035, 07951 996241
Contacts (blackberry and mobile phones) for the media in Beijing during the Olympic Games:
8 – 21 August: Sandie Dawe, Director of Strategy and Communications, 0086 1355 2401 044, sandie.dawe@visitbritain.org
18 – 27 August: Patricia Yates, Head of Press and PR, 0086 1355 2401 341,
patricia.yates@visitbritain.org
In the UK:
Elliott Frisby, VisitBritain Corporate PR Manager on +44 (0)20 8563 3035, + 44 (0)7951 996241
Notes to Editors
· 157% of potential visitors would be very likely to shop for fashion and 55% for souvenirs and British-made products on a trip to Britain, according toVisitBritain-commissioned research through the Anholt-GMI Nations Brand Index, a syndicated survey of on-line consumers. The May 2007 wave of the survey covered some 35 countries with a sample of over 26,000
· Focused destination content will be available on www.visitbritain.com/2012media and b-roll from VisitBritain’s press offices worldwide or a shorter version on www.thenewsmarket.com/visitbritain
· VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England’s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.
· Provisional figures for 2007 indicate there were 32.6 million visits to Britain, -0.5% down on 2006. They spent £16.0 billion in the UK: a -0.3% decrease on 2006.
· VisitBritain’s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World’s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the fourth year in a row at the 2007 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites