VisitBritain Goes Fashion Forward
New website and blog for VisitBritain's consumer marketing campaign; Spotlights the country's young designers, vintage scene and stylish hotels
NEW YORK, November 5, 2009 – VisitBritain, the national tourist office for England, Scotland and Wales launches phase three of Transatlanticism with a focus on fashionable Britain. Transatlanticism is all about attitude – independent, creative and energetic – that’s shared on both sides of the Atlantic.
VisitBritain has created a user-friendly website to provide fashionistas with the goods to find style inspiration at www.transatlanticism.org. From fashion and music to nightlife and food, the Transatlanticism website gives the scoop on Britain’s latest trends. Discover what’s all the rage across the pond like London’s up–and-coming designers, Edinburgh’s edgy art galleries and Cardiff’s cool music venues. As a featured partner in the campaign, Metrotwin.com, powered by British Airways, is a site that publishes recommendations of the best places to go in London and New York, providing inside details on UK pop culture by those in the know. Transatlanticism also includes a Feature of the Week, which profiles the best in British trend spotting and kicks off with young British fashion designer, Henry Holland.
Not to forget the favorable exchange rate, now is the time to go shopping for the next ‘must have’ looks in the UK. The website features a dedicated Travel Deals section which highlights discounts and packages at Britain’s hippest hotels and tips on how to get the most bang out of your buck while traveling the country. Also spotlighted under the site’s Travel Deals are great flight offers from British Airways that will get you packing for a fashionable trip to the UK.
Visitors to the website can enter Transatlanticism’s ‘Escape in Style’ for a chance to win a trip for two to London courtesy of British Airways. The prize includes up to 5 nights stay in London at the May Fair Hotel, the official sponsor of London Fashion Week. Up to a 4 nights stay in Wales at any Welsh Rarebits collection of luxury boutique or country house hotels. Also included in the sweepstakes is an exclusive day with an in-the-know fashion expert from Urban Gentry. The winners will visit little-known boutiques and sample the best of London’s food and nightlife scene. A $250 gift card will get you started shopping at Selfridges and two welcome goodie bags with complimentary Selfridges label food products. The prize is topped off with a day tour by a professional blue badge guide of boutique shopping hotspots in Wales.
In an effort to ride the new media wave, VisitBritain is also launching its own fashion blog called Unlabelled Britain – www.unlabelledbritain.org. Updated daily, Unlabelled Britain will post reports on the hottest trends in the UK covering fashion, music, the arts, food and much more. The blog’s editorial team is made up of VisitBritain employees who will be working with insiders based in the UK. If it’s going to happen in Britain, in many cases, Unlabelled Britain will hear about it first. Follow Transatlanticism on Twitter @BritainInUSA.
The Transatlanticism campaign is supported by tourism partners which include Visit Wales, Visit London, VisitScotland and British Airways.
For more information on Transatlanticism, check out www.transatlanticism.org.
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Note to editors:
VisitBritain:
VisitBritain markets Britain to the rest of the world, building the value of tourism by creating world-class destination brands and marketing campaigns. It also builds partnerships with – and provides insights to – other organizations which have a stake in British tourism.
Visit London:
Visit London is the official visitor organisation for London. A leader in best practice destination marketing, Visit London promotes the UK capital internationally, across Britain and to Londoners targeting leisure and business visitors. Visit London works in partnership with the Mayor of London, the London Development Agency, London Councils and the tourism industry. For broadcast-standard video of London, please visit www.thenewsmarket.com/visitlondon. If you are a first-time user, please take a moment to register. Visit London footage is free for all editorial purposes.
VisitScotland:
Homecoming Scotland 2009 is a celebratory programme that began on the weekend around Burns Night and ends on St Andrew’s Day 2009 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, with the programme's design guided by Scotland's unique position as the home of Burns himself, Golf, Whisky, Great Minds and Innovations, and Scotland’s culture and heritage which lives on at home and through Scotland’s global family. Homecoming Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government and is managed by EventScotland the national events agency in partnership with VisitScotland, the country’s national tourism agency. Homecoming is part financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund.
Visit Wales:
1. Wales is a country, mostly undiscovered by tourists, about the size of Massachusetts: 200 miles long and 70 miles across at its widest point.
2. Wales and England and Scotland are the 3 distinct countries that make up the island of Britain.
3. Wales is "a peninsula on the western flank of England, facing Ireland," as writer Jan Morris aptly describes its location.
4. The people of Wales are called Welsh and many still speak the ancient Welsh language (as well as English).
5. Wales will host golf's Ryder Cup competition in 2010, the sporting world's third-most watched event. The Ryder Cup will be played at the Celtic Manor Resort near Newport, Wales.
British Airways:
British Airways is one the world's largest international airlines, carrying approximately 33 million passengers to over 157 destinations around the world. Also, one of the world's longest established airlines, it has always been regarded as an industry-leader.
The airline's two main operating bases are London's two main airports, Heathrow (the world's biggest international airport) and Gatwick. The airline operates the majority of its domestic UK, international and intercontinental flights from its home at Terminal 5, Heathrow.
Whether customers are in the air or on the ground, British Airways takes pride in providing a full service experience.
Metrotwin:
Powered by British Airways, Metrotwin is a site that takes the idea of twinning and uses it in an ingenious way: use what you know about New York and explore London. All the recommendations come from local bloggers, the community adds ratings and comments and the site tracks user behavior to provide a real time chart of the hottest places to go and things to do. For more information visit www.metrotwin.com.