Member Article

Coronation Street launch for Manchester’s ‘make more of Christmas’ campaign

Marketing Manchester’s annual Christmas campaign gathers momentum with the launch of this year’s festive TV advertising campaign.

The advert will be shown in two ITV regions and encourages viewers to visit the famous Manchester Christmas Markets, enjoy late night shopping and consider staying over night in the city during party season.

It’s first appearance will be at peak time - in one of the breaks during ‘Coronantion Street’.

The campaign creative is centred around the Christmas characters which were developed for 2012 who have this year been joined by a family of penguins.

Funded by the Regional Growth Fund through a partnership with VisitEngland, the Heart of Manchester BID and over 25 commercial partners, including retailers, transport providers, hotels, restaurants and museums and attractions; the campaign officially launched in mid-October with the creation of a dedicated website at visitmanchester.com/christmas.

In addition to TV and online, the multi-channel campaign includes outdoor poster sites, print adverting in national and regional press as well as radio advertising. Over 500,000 printed leaflets featuring events happening in Manchester over the Christmas period have also been distributed.

Key target areas for the activity include Yorkshire, The Midlands and the South East of England along with residents closer to home in Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and Liverpool.

Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, said: “Manchester’s Christmas offering is very special indeed, attracting thousands of visitors who come to experience, amongst other things, our spectacular Christmas Markets and fantastic late night shopping.

“In fact, there’s so much to see and do in Manchester over the festive period that we’re encouraging people to turn their visit into a short break by incorporating an overnight stay at one of our hotels.

“We’re delighted to be working with our colleagues at VisitEngland, putting the invaluable Regional Growth Fund money to good use on a highly targeted and fully integrated campaign aimed at delivering a strong boost to the local economy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .