The GREAT Tourism Campaign Turning Britain Into A Film Set

How do you advertise a nation? VisitBritain this year has decided to showcase the country as one incredible real-life film set - with Paddington Bear, Bridget Jones and Spiderman taking a starring role in its latest campaign created by Pablo.

Directed by Tom Hooper, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind The King’s Speech and Les Misérables, the campaign dips into the archive of entertainment shot in Britain to bring the idea to life.

The 'Starring Great Britain' campaign couldn’t have come at a better time for the UK government as it strives for economic growth. It is estimated to be worth £74 billion for 'direct' tourism to the country with inbound tourism driving an estimated £32.5 billion in visitor spend last year. In November, tourism minister, Sir Chris Bryant set out the target to welcome 50 million international visitors per year by 2030, meaning some serious star power was needed to spread the word.

Already in development was tourism body VisitBritain/Great’s next campaign which has taken a year to produce, working alongside agency partners Pablo, OMD, OmniGOV and global creative production agency Tag Worldwide. It aims to tap into the screen tourism trend, with its research having discovered that more than nine-out-of-ten potential visitors to the UK would be keen to visit film and TV locations during a trip.

It's about selling the UK to the world as a visitor destination going beyond the boundaries of London, explains VisitBritain marketing deputy director, Emma Wilkinson.

“Britain is this incredible real-life film set, the creative industries are booming in Britain right now,” she adds.

Wilkinson outlines the initial brief for the campaign as: “How can we take Britain's amazing creative industries, the talent on screen and behind the camera, amazing destinations, and encourage those visitors to see London, but see beyond it as well?”

The ambitious outcome, ‘Starring Great Britain’ marries clips from some of the biggest films and TV programmes filmed in the UK over the last 20 years including Mary Poppins Returns, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Notting Hill, The House of the Dragon, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Harry Potter and several more with new shot footage of tourists enjoying the same diverse landscapes as the action takes place around them.

“There's not many other places that could lay claim to have such strong heritage and capability across Film and TV,” according to Wilkinson.

Bringing Hollywood Glamour to British Tourism

The team at Pablo describe the creative brief as the chance to showcase the nation’s landscape as a film set to the world as “a dream” considering the major movie franchises filmed in Britain from James Bond to Star Wars and Sherlock Holmes.

“Our first thought was - what's so beautiful about cinema is this incredible, evocative way of seeing into the soul of your country. And that's what Britain is - cinema is a window to Britain's soul,” says Pablo’s planning director, Chris Turner. This thought led the team to consider how to encourage visitors to explore these various locations through famous films.

“Behind every great British movie is an even greater British location for you to explore… Our job was about trying to shift that spotlight and make sure that there's a tourism story that sits behind it,” he says.

The idea was then to source iconic moments and insert newly filmed scenes of tourists as they experience different locations while the action takes place around them. To find suitably memorable moments, research was necessary to discover which scenes were available and would fit into a narrative for the film.

And while stars such as Tom Cruise, Zendaya and Julia Roberts feature alongside surprised or curious everyday tourists on holiday, adding a British sense of humour to cut through the drama, the film was also made to be respectful to the original source material, underlines Pablo’s John Allison who worked on the campaign alongside creative partner Chris Bovill.

“Everyone's aware of the joke, and we're all celebrating each other. We're just doing it in a bit of a fun way, tongue in cheek,” he continues.

The resulting film has involved the input and sign off from the world’s biggest film studios, including; Launch film created in collaboration with: Disney, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, STUDIOCANAL, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Discovery. . as well as various tourism stakeholders; VisitEngland, VisitScotland, Visit Wales and London & Partners. 

‘We've really built those relationships with them and work together,” says Wilkinson who also cites the support and relationships of the director to both unlock access and build confidence with the studios to develop the film.

Each of the studios is credited at the beginning with their logos - signposting a unique collaboration between Hollywood’s biggest players.

Aims Of A Wider Strategy

The benefit of featuring so many recognisable scenes from popular cinema will be to tap into memories and affinities built with the country through movies to drive additional visits and spending into Britain’s regions. A key to the success of the project, with a target to generate £12 for every £1 spent. To do this, activity will appear across key markets such as US, France, Gulf Cooperation Council, Germany, and Australia through paid-for media, while the tourism bodies will use their own platforms to drive organic reach to audiences at home.

The advertising will lead potential visitors to VisitBritain’s digital platform where they will find itineraries themed around various film genres to encourage and guide them to discover more regional destinations and stay longer. It will also include a digital map that links to film-inspired locations, attractions and experiences.

And more widely, the work has been produced to shore up the Great campaign’s mission to enhance the reputation of Britain around the world, targeting international audiences to visit, study, invest and trade with the UK. "Over the last few years, we've really tried to showcase the more modern, future-facing and exciting side of the country," says Harriet Knight, managing director of Pablo. She cites previous work such as 'Fake Brit 'Til You Make It' and 'Unicorn Kingdom' as examples of the tourism body embracing a more creative approach in recent years.

"What we've tried to do every single opportunity is surprise and delight people," she adds.

For Wilkinson, The ‘Great’ brand platform means "seeing things differently and encouraging international audiences to see a side of Britain that maybe they haven't seen before.

“That means we’re showcasing our icons with a twist, so it's not about painting a completely different picture of Britain, it's putting that sort of twist or spin on something that you haven't seen before.”