Destination Bristol launches ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ campaign
Tourism officials in Bristol have taken a new direction in the promotion of the city for 2011 with a creative new marketing campaign that aims to raise awareness of Bristol.
The marketing campaign, titled ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’, aims to encourage Bristolians to invite friends and relatives to come and stay with them, as well as assuring new visitors that they will receive a warm and friendly welcome in the city.
The campaign, which was designed by Bristol-based brand design specialists, Brond, tells the city’s story in a light-hearted way, yet the justification of the message has a strong business focus in mind.
“We were looking at new and slightly tongue in cheek ways to raise awareness about Bristol ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, and to capitalise upon the opportunities that being at the heart of this great city-region present during 2011,” said John Hallett, managing director of Destination Bristol.
“Our aim was to create a campaign that would be welcoming and attract attention, but one that would deliver very real economic benefits to the city. We have chosen a number of instantly recognisable and iconic characters from Bristol’s past and present to get the message across and promote our key visitor interests”.
The campaign will feature the likes of Wallace and Gromit, Blackbeard the Pirate, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Cabot, each of which will represent its own specific range of interests and provide recommendations to tourists through Facebook.
One of the key aims of the ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ campaign is to encourage the local community to invite their friends and relatives to visit the city, something that accounts for almost 40% of domestic and international visits to Bristol.
Destination Bristol will provide local residents with free postcards so they can invite their friends and family to Bristol by providing ‘buy 1, get 1 free’ offers to family members. The character campaign will serve as a welcome to Bristol visitors and the city will be adorned with ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ posters as well. Local businesses are encouraged to hang window posters provided by Destination Bristol, welcoming visitors to the city with the ‘You’ve got a friend in Bristol’ message.
“It’s been amazing to see how the community has come together to help us promote the campaign. The message will be very prominent throughout Bristol,” said Feisal Khalif, Destination Bristol’s marketing manager.
“It is always difficult to market a destination creatively so that it stands out from the crowd. We therefore came up with the idea to let the characters who have shaped Bristol over many generations tell our story in a unique way.”