Essex council eyes £300k TV campaign to undo Towie comparisons
The county of Essex is attempting to shed its low-brow reputation, as cultivated by the popularity of TV shows such as The Only Way is Essex (Towie), by mounting a rebranding exercise to surface its culinary and scientific contributions to society.
An Essex tourism campaign has sparked a war of words in the press
Visit Essex is helming a £300k TV campaign to throw the spotlight on local history and culture in a bid to draw in visitors turned away by the sight of spray tan, vajazzles and scripted dramatics.
Sidelining the likes of Joey Essex, McMansions and Gemma Collins, the campaign will instead focus on more learned residents as well as historic attractions such as Audley End, a 17th-century country house.
Explaining the need for action, Visit Essex tourism manager Lisa Bone said: “There’s lots of talk about the way that the media talks about Essex, but in my opinion, if we don’t tell them what we want them to say about us then they’re always going to talk about this in a certain way. So we need to give them that new narrative.
“It’s very much about trying to challenge the stereotypes to get people to think about Essex in a slightly different way – and much more than in the context of just visiting, but also about positioning Essex because it’s a great place, not just to visit but also to live, work and invest.”
Far from generating positive vibes, the move has sparked a class war in the press with Collins lashing out in the pages of The Sun against the perceived snobbery of the tourism drive, stating: “Forget the council – I am the Queen of Essex and the only rebrand our great county needs is one to shake up that stuffy lot.
“To say we need to change our ‘reputation’ is an affront to every hard-working person from Essex who has grafted to make something of themselves.”
The advertising campaign is set to receive its first airing on Sky later this year.