When I started at the National Trust, the focus of marketing was on country houses - it overshadowed the vast conservation work of the countryside and coastline. It also completely missed that when people spoke about their connection to places, it often wasn't because 'Churchill was born there' - it was much more about how a place made them feel or the memories they had made there.
This transformed our sense of what made places special, and helped properties that didn't necessarily have a hugely significant historical story, find other ways to be evocative and connect with a new, younger audience.
Artwork by FivebyFive
The 'amazing places' ads were produced after we briefed fivebyfive, to take a long running national campaign 'Time Well Spent' as a concept, but give it an edge. It was supported by digital, radio, social and PR. The execution was pretty brave for the Trust at the time - but the trick was not to alienate existing loyalists. It led to record breaking visitor numbers.
Artwork by Mad River
As time went on and we continued to smash visitor number records, we got more confident in this more emotive approach. The 'Bring Your Own Sea Monsters' campaign was designed to get people sharing stories about their happy places. Initially this just ran in the south east but it became a deeper and highly successful national campaign about 'special places'.
Artwork by 18 feet and rising
One of the most successful campaigns the Trust ever ran, was '50 things to do before you're 11¾' and it ran happily alongside the 'special places' campaign. It was launched in response to a report commissioned by the the Trust which highlighted evidence of a long-term and dramatic decline in children’s relationship with the outdoors.
The initiative aimed to enable children to develop a personal connection with nature before the age of 12. The campaign provided a checklist of outdoor adventures including everything from playing conkers and bug hunting, to setting up a snail race, flying a kite and making a (delicious) mud pie. You could tick-off the checklist via a scrapbook or a microsite.
Artwork by AV Browne Advertising
The campaign secured extensive coverage, over 1,000,000 scrapbooks were given-away, and more than 50,000 children registered to the 50 things microsite in the first year. Ninety percent of visitors engaging in the campaign at Trust places stated they would spend more time outdoors as a result of the campaign.
