Battling for Britain

Battling for Britain – Time was when international advertisers inflicted home-grown campaigns on international markets mainly to protect their brands. I had misgivings about such paranoia. As account director responsible for encouraging Europeans to visit Britain, I knew from research that regional differences in motivation precluded any single approach.

Against current agency thinking, I allowed the 13 European ad agencies to come up with their own advertising campaigns. I wrote the brief explaining that they had to work to a common format using only specially commissioned photographs of Britain.

Though diverse in approach, the visual continuity unified the image of Britain. The tourism figures soared and my work won the agency the Best Co-ordinated International Advertising Campaign award.