Gallery: Manchester campaign tells visitors to escape to the country
A new campaign has launched to encourage city dwellers to get out and see Greater Manchester's countryside.
The Manchester's Playground campaign has been created by local agency Dinosaur on behalf of Visit Manchester.
Its aim is to encourage city residents and visitors to venture into the 500 square miles of countryside that the region has to offer and try rural attractions such as Bolton adventure site Go Ape and the rapids of Burrs County Park, Bury.
Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester, said: “Manchester’s countryside is one of the North West’s best kept secrets. The campaign aims at changing all this and providing an alternative visitor destination to the likes of the Lake and Peak Districts.
“We want local residents and outside visitors to step outside the cosmopolitan squares and urban style of Manchester city centre and discover the rich and diverse surrounding countryside.”
Dinosaur's creative will be seen on roadside posters, bus shelter and train station hostings and tram and and local newspaper advertising.
Agency boss Mark Beaumont said: "When you say Manchester you don’t immediately think of countryside. And that’s what we play on. Central to the campaign, is vista photography of dramatic locations; the hidden gems. No tricks, these are genuine destinations.
"Each treatment places an activity, such as cycling, trekking, or narrow-boating at the centre of it and then we have fun playing it off against the preconceptions of ‘urban’ Manchester. We wrap it up by highlighting ‘there’s another side to Manchester’ – its wonderful countryside.”
Along with the advertising two locally reared lambs, Margo and Jerry, have been toured around Oxford Road this week and a website has been set up to promote the region's rural attractions.