Yorkshire Forward -
an alternative view of Yorkshire

The brief

Brahm PR was appointed by Yorkshire Forward to support the Regional Development Agency’s tourism drive, reinvigorating tourism following the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001.

Brahm’s brief was to complement the work being carried out by the Yorkshire Tourist Board by targeting short break holidays to Yorkshire. Brahm was tasked with developing a PR campaign to support above-the-line work developed by Senior King, using the following three themes:

• Pure Inspiration - the relaxation, pampering and luxury that the region has to offer
  
  
• Natural Inspiration – the exhilaration of the great outdoors, magnificent scenery and action packed breaks
  
  
• Divine Inspiration – the region’s culture, heritage and places of interest

The campaign objectives were:

• To increase visitor numbers to the region
  
  
• To increase average visitor spend by 15%
  
  
• To make the media think differently about Yorkshire and reflect how it has changed
  
  
• To attract a younger, more affluent visitor to the region

Our response

This campaign was designed to build on the success of the ‘Britain’s Biggest Break’ advertising campaign in 2002 and maintain the region’s recovery and support local businesses.

Media coverage was clearly key to increasing awareness of Yorkshire as a short break destination, and to change the traditional ‘James Herriot’ perceptions of the region amongst potential visitors.

Brahm reviewed existing marketing materials, particularly the Yorkshire visitor guides and brochures, and concluded they should not be used for this campaign, as they would perpetuate out-dated perceptions.

A new ‘alternative’ guide was developed to sell a wide range of short break ideas to travel journalists, and act as fulfilment material for the advertising. It would still promote everything that Yorkshire has to offer, but be packaged in a different way. Unlike the Tourist Board guide, the ‘Alternative Guide’ highlights boutique hotels, luxury spas, gourmet restaurants and chic shopping. There is no advertising or advertorials, to make it more attractive (and readable) to journalists and potential visitors alike.

In addition, consistency with the themes of the advertising would be achieved through creation of a three-part press pack, highlighting a range of destinations and holiday opportunities, and inspiring journalists to write about the region with a host of feature ideas and useful information.

Finally, Yorkshire needed to be put back on the map – we needed to reach an affluent audience with a high profile activity that would reinvigorate interest in the region and what it had to offer. The Chelsea Flower Show was the answer – working with the Yorkshire Forward garden designer Julian Dowles to create the Yorkshire Garden at Chelsea. This provided the perfect opportunity to showcase the beauty of the region, reach an affluent audience and had a high profile with dedicated coverage on BBC 2 and extensive media interest.

The outcomes

• Over 600,000 more trips were made to the region in the first 6 months of 2003 compared to the same period in 2002.
  
  
• Following the campaign spending by English visitors to Yorkshire and the Humber increased by 17.5%.
  
  
• The number of people taking weekend breaks to Yorkshire cities like Leeds or York has gone up by 25% and there has been a particular increase in visitors from the southeast and London.

Over 80 titles featured Yorkshire as a result of the campaign – via the themed press packs or the Alternative Guide.

The Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Express, The Guardian, Daily Star, Evening Standard and Home magazine are among those who have featured – or who are featuring – ‘alternative weekends’ in Yorkshire as a direct result of the campaign.

Used as fulfilment to advertising in Esquire and Elle magazine and via call to action in the media coverage all 60,000 copies of the Alternative Guide have been distributed.

Over 60 articles appeared on the Yorkshire garden including Country Life, The Independent magazine and the Observer magazine. The garden won gold and received over 90 minutes of dedicated TV coverage – Brahm secured a feature piece on the inspiration behind the garden which resulted in a 5 minute film shown 3 times of BBC 2 at prime time and featuring key areas in the Dales that inspired Julian Dowles.

‘A brilliant book. There’s nothing like it that looks at the modern aspects of Yorkshire. It will really open people’s eyes to how much the region has changed and what it has to offer.’
Andy Pietrasik, Travel Editor
The Guardian

‘It brings together everything that makes the region unique. The historical sights are not forgotten, either, and the images are great. They help bring a truly contemporary feel to the book.’
Andrew Davies, Features Editor
Night & Day, Mail on Sunday

For further information please contact:

Ruth Holgate our Business Development Manager on 0113 230 4000 or email greatoutcomes@brahm.com