Campaign Background

Since the last cities campaign, easyJet has introduced new flights from Munich, Madrid, Paris and Milan to Edinburgh and from Paris to Glasgow, meaning that low cost, direct access has opened up to many more Europeans than before.

• City breaks are a key growth area of the market and are ideal for building revenue in the shoulder and off seasons.
• This is vital for a sustainable tourism economy since it helps to fill hotels, attractions and flights in what might otherwise be quiet periods of the year.
• This year it focuses particularly on Glasgow and Edinburgh’s positioning as vibrant festival cities.  
• The theme is events and festivals in Edinburgh and Glasgow over the key city break period (October to April).There is a strong element of working with partners

Campaign Objectives

• To generate awareness and understanding of Edinburgh and Glasgow as city break destinations (PR will also play a vital role in the achievement of this objective.)
• To generate increased sales of Edinburgh and Glasgow city break product via travel trade and direct sell/web, appropriate to market.

Activity Details
Timing This phase of the cities campaign will run from 10th September 07 until end December in Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden and Spain.
Overall theme “Six Festivals, six friends, thirty six reasons to celebrate” It focuses on six festivals in Edinburgh and Glasgow over the city break period of October to April.   The events are Halloween in EdinburghFiddle 2007, Edinburgh’s Christmas, Glasgow’s Hogmanay, Celtic Connections and Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Arts.   The format is a rolling schedule of competitions for a consumer plus five friends to win a weekend at one of the festivals.  It emphasises that there is a lot going on in the shoulder / off season and also gives a reason to visit now, rather than “some day”.
E-communications Regular e-communications (approx. 400k across Europe) Monthly themed e-blasts, intended to drive traffic to the Cities gateway sites where rich information is provided.
Above the line activity In Germany and Netherlands (the two countries with the highest city break potential), the e-comms and PR is boosted by a substantial above the line campaign funded by VisitScotland solus.   The six festivals theme runs through all creative, which is used primarily on line, with the addition of advertorials in glossy magazines in Germany.   A postal direct mail piece was sent out to over 50k of our database of hot prospects in early October.   New for 2007 is the introduction of banner ads which show a 30 second video about Edinburgh or Glasgow when viewed.

Campaign Partners:

Main partners are - Easyjet, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, VisitScotland Edinburgh network office, VisitScotland Glasgow network office. However, we do have several partners who are investing in the campaign at a lower level, or in kind.

Opportunities for Businesses:

• Buying banners on Cities websites
• E-communications programme
• Placement of deals in travel deals section of Cities websites
• Provision of competition prizes – accommodation, transport, attractions, event tickets
• Hosting of press trips.

Target businesses include:  Glasgow and Edinburgh hotels and attractions, tour operators, handling agent packages.  We are also very interested to hear from City Plus operators – companies operating day long excursions from the cities out to the countryside, or attractions within a day trip of the cities.

• E-communications programme – from £200 (+ £60 translation) per market.  Monthly programme all year.
• Placement of deals in travel deals section of cities websites – £60 / site / year.  Runs all year.
• Provision of competition prizes – accommodation, transport, attractions, event tickets etc.  These can be used in advertorial promotions or on the VS web site / newsletters.
• Hosting of press trips

To register interest in this campaign or to search our database for other marketing opportunities, contact your local Business Relationship Manager