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By Jessica Goodfellow, Media Reporter

June 28, 2017 | 3 min read

The UK’s Department for International Trade has partnered with Bloomberg Media to create an international media campaign, Believe in the UK, that looks to showcase the strength of the trade and investment opportunities afforded in the country as it cuts ties with the European Union.

The campaign, devised by Bloomberg Media’s in-house content agency, Bloomberg Media Studios, launches internationally today (28 June).

A series of editorial features and videos targeting the global business community will feature leaders from tech start-ups, insurance, food and drink, healthcare, IT services, advertising and design, in a move to demonstrate that the UK is “open for business”.

It’s a timely campaign that lands just weeks after the UK’s snap election, which saw the surprise result of a hung parliament after none of the political parties reached a majority.

The Conservative party has since reached an agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland to form a government, but this union has been met with large-scale criticism due to the controversial policies the DUP stands for.

This, coupled with the divorce negotiations taking place between the UK and the European Union, has led some businesses including banks Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Citigroup to begin to look at moving their operations outside the country to secure market access to the European Union's single market.

As such, the government is using the Believe in the UK campaign as an attempt to reaffirm its position as a leading business capital.

The campaign will be rolled out across 20 key markets in a phased approached over the next three months across Bloomberg’s multimedia network.

Believe in the UK is the latest iteration of the GREAT Britain campaign, launched in 2012 by the government to promote the UK as a destination for tourists, trade and investment and students.

Conrad Bird, GREAT campaign director at the UK’s Department for International Trade, said: “The UK is open and ready for business, and our international trade activity with Bloomberg Media will provide a great opportunity to showcase the very best of what our country has to offer.”

From the advertising industry, Johnny Hornby, chairman and chief executive, The&Partnership, kicks off the series discussing the UK ad landscape.

“We have always been home to some of the world’s greatest creative advertising,” he said. “From the pioneering days of CPD in the 60s, and Saatchi & Saatchi in the 70s, through to the complex landscape today. We have an undisputed heritage when it comes to storytelling.”

Arif Durrani, Bloomberg’s commercial editor, said: “Believe in the UK is the sweet spot for Bloomberg Media Studios — highly topical, global in outlook, laser focused in approach and shamelessly banging the drum for international trade and business partnerships around the world."

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