Visit County Durham
Admiral was employed by Visit County Durham (formerly County Durham Tourism Partnership) and to handle its tourism brief, promoting the city and surrounds as a visitor destination to national audiences and those living within a three-hour drive time.
The consultancy embarked upon a two-tier campaign that encompassed stakeholder and media relations.
Before rolling out a high-profile consumer focused campaign it was critical that all tourism and hospitality business across Durham had the skills necessary to promote their business to outside audiences. The consultancy developed and implemented a number of road shows across the county to help up-skill business on behalf of the Area Tourism Partnership. Over and above this to ensure, regular communication was established and maintained between Vist County Durham and its stakeholders via the production and distribution of a corporate newsletter, The Grapevine, delivered by the Admiral team.
Place marketing and visitor promotion activity centred around a series of creative campaigns that package Durham’s unique offering in fun and quirky ways.
‘Hidden Gems’ focused on raising the awareness of Durham’s hidden gems, encouraging people to take day trips and short breaks to uncover the hidden delights of the county. ‘City short breaks’ focussed upon Durham’s cultural heritage and targeted young couples, ‘empty nesters’, and those predisposed to taking city breaks. ‘Peace and tranquillity’, run in partnership with Northumberland Tourism and One North East, celebrated the region’s spirituality and tranquillity. As part of this campaign Admiral staged seven days of themed activities and events launched with a yoga event on the North Pennines and a celebrity photo-call with Bill Bryson.
Further activity has included the launch of Brass, Durham’s international festival, celebrating brass musical from all over the world; development and launch of a visitor guide and VIP pass to attractions around the county.
One North East
Between 2006-2009, Admiral created and implemented a number of online and offline campaign themes to reflect the region’s core visitor assets, such as a ‘Music Tour;’ ‘Gardens, Weddings, Walking and Cycling,’ ‘Unexpected delights,’ ‘Peace and Tranquility,’ and, most recently, a ‘three pillars’ campaign supporting business and investment opportunities in line with the region’s most commercial offerings.
Extensive national and international media coverage was achieved, stimulated by over 40 press tours, and hundreds of feature pitches. From mainstream national print media titles and consumer lifestyle magazines, through specialist investment and trade media, Admiral achieved unprecedented exposure for the region, contributing towards record inward investment from domestic tourism.
“I would not hesitate to recommend Admiral to my colleagues and have done so many times. I always look forward to our meetings and have much respect for the team. They are all enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their specialisms. They are creative, hardworking, responsive and have achieved excellent results for us at One North East.”
Aoife Forbes, Regional Image Strategy PR manager, One North East.
Visit Tees Valley
Admiral was employed by VisitTeesValley to handle tourism (and stakeholder) PR to promote the sub-region to national and three-hour drive time visitor audiences.
The campaigns promoted short breaks and day visits by highlighting four specific themes. National and regional media coverage was secured via coordinated familiarisation trips. Extreme sports and shopping themes were the focus of national press trips to combat preconceptions of the sub-region stemming from its industrial heritage, and challenge visitors to realise its diverse offering, particularly in regards to world-class sporting attractions.
Media activity was also focused on the ‘outdoor and active’ theme, which centered on travel platforms within the national press, along with lifestyle and specialist outdoor-themed publications to target audiences of thrill-seekers, families and those with special interests such as cycling, walking or surfing.
Scottish Borders Council ‘Back to the Borders’
Admiral supported Scottish Borders Council on a major tourism campaign running 2008-10, dubbed ‘Back to the Borders’, which targeted audiences nationally and internationally to create a significant upturn in Borders tourism revenue in 2009/10, and boost the profits of every tourism-related business in the region.
Admiral implemented a multi-faceted PR and marketing campaign focused on driving traffic to the campaign website. Tactical activities included stakeholder relations, media relations, online PR – with an emphasis on social networking, supporting promotional collateral, and partnership exploitation.
Tees Valley Regeneration
Admiral was contracted by Tees Valley Regeneration in March 2009 to deliver national media relations and marketing support for the launch of the Infinity Bridge in Stockton-on-Tees. Working closely with Tees Valley Regeneration (TVR), Admiral aimed to raise the profile of the Infinity Bridge, positioning it as the North-East’s newest landmark and a catalyst for regeneration for the sub- region.
Admiral worked closely with a number of partners and stakeholders from across the Tees Valley region, including TVR, Stockton Borough Council, Culture 10, NGI, One North East and visitTeesvalley to implement a targeted communications campaign.
Durham City Vision
Durham City Vision (DCV) is a partnership tasked with the regeneration of Durham City Centre, with core focus placed upon wealth creation and the establishment of Durham as an economic, as well as cultural, hub. Durham City Vision focuses purely on the physical regeneration of the city, specifically with a remit to attract businesses and investors to re-locate there.
Admiral began working with the organisation in June 2009 providing strategic communications support at a pivotal period ahead of development activity taking place for key projects across the city centre.
