Member Article

Yorkshire Marketing Agency Launches Xmas for Otley

The marketing team behind a West Yorkshire town is showing the big brands that they can get in on the action too as Otley celebrates the town’s Christmas offering in a John Lewis-style advert.

The short film is live on Visit Otley website and via the town’s social media channels. Devised by Otley-based tourism marketing experts All About The Story, it tells the heart-wrenching tale of a lonely young man working in London who could miss out on Christmas Day at home in Otley. Lifelong Otley resident and Yeadon Operatics Society member Pam Beck, who is an active member of Otley society through her involvement with Otley Parish Church choir, Otley Chevin Inner Wheel and Otley Tangent Club, stars as the young man’s mum.

Ilkley-born Robson Stroud, a semi-professional actor who has appeared at Ilkley Playhouse in more than a dozen productions, as well as treading the boards at the prestigious Minack Theatre in Cornwall, stars as the son. While alone in his big-city flat, the son pines for his Yorkshire home; meanwhile, his mother prepares for a bumper Christmas in Otley. She is seen visiting the town’s fabulous selection of independent shops, meeting local residents and joining an impromptu Christmas sing-along in one of Otley’s many traditional pubs.

The film was released at 00:01 on Friday November 3, 2017 – ahead of the Asda, M&S and John Lewis annual Christmas adverts.

The film features cameos from a number of well-known faces around Otley, including Town Mayor Nigel Francis, Chair of Otley Town Council Cllr Ray Georgeson, Otley Bellman Terry Ford and Greg Silverwood, who is currently appearing as an extra in BBC1’s Gunpowder.

Many of the town’s independent shops feature in the film: a Christmas pudding is picked up from award-winning chocolatier Patisserie Viennoise, wine specialist Chez Vin provides a full-bodied red for Christmas dinner, and two of the town’s award- winning butchers, Weegmanns and Geo. Middlemiss & Sons, show off their famous pork pies and a turkey raised on Middlemiss’s own farm in nearby Askwith.

The soundtrack to the advert, shot and edited by Miles Charlesworth of Menston- based MCharMedia, features a seasonal take on the traditional folk song The Oak & The Ash, also known as North Country Maid and once a hit for Marianne Faithfull. Arrangement was provided by Otley resident Sally Egan of Opera North, with haunting vocals by her daughter Sylvia Cullen.

Recording took place at Otley’s Limbo Studios, owned by folk musician Phil Snell. On November 27 2017, The Oak & The Ash will be available to buy on digital download from services including iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Music, with pre-orders available from November 20. Profits will go to the Town Mayor’s 2017-18 charities.

The video has been sponsored by local shopping champion Shopappy.com and is part of a robust social media marketing campaign to promote Otley’s traditional Christmas offering around the premise ‘Make Yours an Otley Christmas’.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .