VisitBritain has extended its 5 year partnership with the Barclays Premier League, to create the biggest football campaign in its history.
Liverpool and England captain, Steven Gerrard will star in the “Great” promotion, which aims to take advantage of the “world’s most watched football league.”
The organisation says that almost 1m football supporters visit the country every year, spending £700m (International Passenger Survey Figures, 2011) and this latest campaign has been created to take advantage of the international pre-season tours taken by clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City.
“It’s a perfect partnership to attract the millions who follow football around the world – particularly the younger audience in Asia. The Barclays Premier League was interested in the reach we have to overseas consumers and we were interested in building on the League’s huge global appeal,” explained Joss Croft, marketing director at VisitBritain.
“The Barclays Premier League plays an important role in promoting Britain around the world. The competition is broadcast in 212 territories and into 804 million homes around the globe, making it the most watched football league in the world. This season sees clubs from across England and Wales competing, so we’ve put everything behind it to make it the biggest campaign we’ve run.”
A fully integrated campaign, with the tagline, Take Me There, will include player interviews, options to book breaks, information on tourist attractions near stadia and a season-long digital game to win a trip to Britain.
It will be supported by a targeted media buy across China, AE, Norway, Sweden and Hong Kong.
The promotion build on last season’s campaigns, which VisitBritain said had an opportunity to see of 70m, this included a video advert featuring Manchester United’s Shinji Kagawa viewed by more than 1.5m in Japan.
