Marketing Manchester appoints Rapp as lead agency
Marketing Manchester, in collaboration with VisitBritain and Virgin Atlantic Airways, has appointed digital marketing agency Rapp to deliver its latest creative campaign, following a competitive pitch. The project marks the first time that the travel and leisure companies will work together with the single objective of driving US citizens to visit Manchester and the north of England.
Rapp UK and Rapp US will collaborate to raise awareness of Manchester and the north as a holiday destination, talking to ‘aspirational and adventurous travellers with a millennial mind-set’, representing around 11.9 million Americans.
Sheona Southern, managing director at Marketing Manchester said: "Rapp has shown lots of energy, confidence and passion for the project from the initial pitch and we are confident that they have the experience to produce a strong campaign. We’re excited to work in partnership with Virgin Atlantic and VisitBritain to launch the campaign."
VisitBritain marketing director Robin Johnson said: “By highlighting the diversity of experiences on offer in Manchester and the north of England, this campaign will inspire more visitors from the US, our most valuable inbound market, to book a trip to come and explore this vibrant area, spreading the economic benefits of tourism across the region.”
Ben Golik, executive creative director at Rapp UK, said: "Manchester is a city with swagger. We created a campaign with equal confidence - showing the city as the gateway to the north of England and how starting there begins an adventure that ends in the most unexpected ways.”
Launching this month, the first campaign will also highlight Virgin Atlantic’s new direct routes to Manchester from San Francisco and Boston with the intention to increase interest to visit, escalate visitor numbers and bolster spend in the region. Running on digital and outdoor media across the US, the campaign will also involve a series of PR initiatives.
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RAPP
RAPP is a global, data-driven creative community that builds direct, meaningful and high-value relationships between brands and people. At RAPP, with our unrivalled depth of expertise in first-party data, we’ve been observing and cataloguing real people’s lives for 50 years. In today’s world the balance of power has shifted, and customers are in control, which is why we put people and their preferences at the heart of the brand experience. With a talent base of more than 1,600 professionals in 18 offices, we help brands grow the value of real people by understanding what really matters and creating experiences that are right for real people, with real needs, in real time, creating marketing that matters. Our expertise in data and marketing sciences allows us to deliver our clients actionable human insight - an incredible understanding of genuine motivations, observed transactions and actual interactions. Our process reflects how real people think; we balance the left brain and the right, and we do our best work when we bring Precision and Empathy into balance. Building on our data foundation, RAPP delivers a range of capability across social, digital, customer experience and technology.
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