LONDON, 2014-11-13 — /Travel PR News/ — VisitBritain has partnered with STUDIOCANAL to promote Britain as a GREAT destination to visit with the UK release of the new Paddington film (28th November), following the adventures of the famous bear who arrives at Paddington Station from Peru.
- VisitBritain partners with STUDIOCANAL for international family marketing campaign
- Largest ever film tourism campaign to attract first-time family visitors
- GREAT posters will feature in the movie on a red Routemaster bus and on the Tube
- The mischievous Bear takes VisitBritain ‘selfie’ to be used in digital marketing
The lovable bear will cause havoc once again in this new campaign with the tagline “See Britain through Paddington’s eyes”. VisitBritain will launch global PR, digital and social media activity on Facebook and Yahoo with extra investment in key markets France, Germany and the USA. VisitBritain has also captured a cheeky selfie with Paddington Bear to inspire visitors to take their own selfies at locations around the country using the hashtag #PaddingtonsBritain.
The movie is set to be STUDIOCANAL’S biggest release for 2014 and will feature Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington. The cast also includes Nicole Kidman, Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Peter Capaldi (the new Doctor Who).
VisitBritain GREAT branding will feature in the film, appearing in tube station scenes and on a red Routemaster bus. This is the first time the national tourism agency has placed advertising (at no extra cost) within an internationally released film.
The national tourist board will host a dedicated takeover on www.visitbritain.com/paddington, including a competition, film location images and user-generated consumer images from Instagram. The national tourism agency will identify and supply destination itineraries for towns across Britain reachable via Paddington station, highlighting how easy it is to travel across the country by train and, of course, where to find the best marmalade! Members of the tourism industry across Britain have been sent Paddington Bear soft toys to feature in their own photos of local landmarks, and the best will be shared on social media. Paddington Bear products can also be purchased via VisitBritain’s online shop platform.
This film tourism GREAT campaign is predicted to provide a return on investment of 7:1 and increase the incremental spend of overseas visitors by £1.75 million across Britain over a three-month period.
Joss Croft, Marketing Director at VisitBritain said: “This film is a huge opportunity that we really could not let slip through our paws! The power of set-jetting is an important element in driving incremental tourism with the right film acting as free advertising, so we do all we can to capitalise on that. The film demonstrates the warm welcome that Britain delivers to all our visitors – albeit in this case an ursine Peruvian!
“We have worked closely with STUDIOCANAL from the outset and have even agreed an element of product placement for the GREAT campaign. Paddington Bear is popular all over the world with people of all ages, giving us the opportunity to inspire a wider pool of visitors to come in greater numbers and to spend more money across the whole of Britain.”
The Paddington CGI was created by Framestore, a BAFTA and Academy Award® winning-winning British visual effects company, which won both awards for the visual effects in ‘Gravity’ and the Harry Potter films.
Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid added: “Paddington Bear is one of Britain’s most loved characters in children’s literature and his travel adventures are renowned across the world. This partnership between VisitBritain and STUDIOCANAL will capitalise on the global appeal of this endearing bear by featuring Paddington visiting famous British landmarks and shows the UK has much more than marmalade under its hat.”
Kate Lambert, Promotions and Partnerships Manager at STUDIOCANAL: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the GREAT Campaign, and for PADDINGTON to be front and centre in promoting tourism to the country, as well as highlighting the wonderful work those in the UK film industry are involved in. Paddington bear, as a newcomer himself to these shores, is the perfect icon for encouraging global visitors to discover Britain in the same way our favourite bear himself did.”
Notes to Editors:
The value of Paddington Bear
- Paddington was first created in 1958 in the books written by Michael Bond
- Paddington was voted Britain’s Favourite Animated Character (British Animated Awards 2012)
- Sold over 35 million books to date – 70 titles across 40 languages
- Featured on 23 million jars of Robertson’s Marmalade in the UK
- BBC & HBO TV series ran for nearly 20 years across multiple markets
- 25 million Paddington Bear plush toys sold
- 130 licensees – making over 1,000 products around the world, including a Paddington theme park in Japan
- Given you have this a section on the value of film tourism?
The value of film tourism
- Available evidence suggests around a tenth of the value of foreign tourism to the UK may be attributable to UK films. In 2011, this additional spending was estimated to be worth £1 billion to UK GDP and £230 million to the Exchequer. (BFI Economic Impact of the UK film industry 2012) While it’s difficult to put a specific number on the amount of visitors who visit destinations ONLY because of the influence of a film or TV programme, VisitBritain research indicates that 40% of potential visitors would be “very likely” to visit places from films or TV
Success stories
Alice in Wonderland
18th Century Cornish Mansion Antony House, Torpoint saw visitors quadruple from 25,000 to 100,000
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Visitors to the Old Royal College at Greenwich increased by 13% last year to more than 1.27 million
Harry Potter:
Alnwick castle saw visitors increase by 230% with a benefit of up to £9million extra spend due to the ‘Potter effect’
Da Vinci Code:
At Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, visitor numbers soared from 40,000 to peak at 175,000 a year after it featured in The Da Vinci Code. It now attracts about 130,000, but is aiming for a “sustainable” 80,000 a year.
Together with Film London, VisitBritain is hosting a one day film and TV tourism conference on Thursday 13 November, Seen on Screen: Capitalising on Screen Tourism. 200 delegates representing the UK tourism industry, film and TV studios, and European film offices are attending the event taking place at the London Film Museum with VisitBritain Marketing Director Joss Croft, chairing a Paddington is GREAT panel. He will be joined by STUDIOCANAL, London & Partners and Brit Movie Tours to discuss film tourism opportunities around the new Paddington movie.
Background info on Framestore and David Heyman
- Framestore are creating the Paddington CGI and are a Bafta and Oscar-awarding winning British visual effects company based in London
- They won a BAFTA and Oscar for the visual FX in Gravity and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (both also produced by David Heyman)
- David Heyman is the British producer behind the phenomenal Harry Potter movie series
VisitBritain has worked on film tourism for over 15 years now with films such as ‘Braveheart’, ‘Notting Hill’, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to more recent ones such as Sherlock Holmes and the James Bond film ‘Skyfall’. Throughout the years we have produced movie- maps, dedicated micro-sites, costume displays, money can’t buy movie experiences and smart phone apps dedicated to helping tourists explore destinations they have seen on film. Our history working on film tourism started when we launched Britain’s first movie map in 1996. The map featured 60 years of British film and TV. Now all content is hosted on www.lovewall.visitbritain.com/film
For more information contact:
Mark Di-Toro
Press Officer, VisitBritain
t:+44 (0)20 7578 1098
m:+44 (0)7919 392137
e: mark.di-toro@visitbritain.org
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