June 2009

Marketing Annual Review2008-09

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The role of the Marketing Directorate

The NWDA Marketing & Communications team’s primary role is to develop a marketing andcommunications strategy for the Agency and execute a plan of action to deliver it. The team’sprogramme of work includes corporate communication activities designed to raise awareness ofthe Agency’s role as well as tactical marketing work to support specific work carried out by otherareas of the Agency.

The team is also accountable for leading the delivery of part of the “Culture and Image” priority in thecurrent Regional Economic Strategy, which includes business marketing, tourism marketing, major regionalevents and opportunities around London 2012. This is delivered through a partnership of organisations –represented on the Regional Marketing Forum – whose aim is to improve the image of England’sNorthwest in the UK and overseas.

The team provides strategic advice on all marketing and communications issues to the Agency’s Boardand Executive Management Board as well as providing marketing and communications services to otherdepartments within the NWDA.

Strategic Marketing Objectives• Champion the role, purpose and effectiveness of the NWDA and its

programmes and activities

• Promote the Regional Economic Strategy

• Uphold good marketing and communications standards within the Agency, Board and partner organisations

• Foster a positive image of the region as a location for business and potential investors

• Foster a positive image of the region as a location for visitors

• Maximise the benefits of hosting major cultural, sporting and business events

Marketing and CommunicationsAchievements 2008/09

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Annual Target Year End

1 NWDA Organised Events• People attending 8,200 9,000• Satisfaction levels 82% 83%^

2 Media Coverage• Articles/Broadcasts 3,500 4,082• Equivalent advertising value £10.5 million £13.8 million• Percentage of Northwest adults reached 40% 56%

3 Website Page Impressions• nwda.co.uk 5.5 million 5.69 million • englandsnorthwest.com 2 million 2.18 million• visitenglandsnorthwest.com 3 million 3.07 million

4. Website Unique Visitors• nwda.co.uk 550,000 631,000 • englandsnorthwest.com 100,000 348,659• visitenglandsnorthwest.com 400,000 615,500

5 Tourism and Image Marketing• Partnership marketing initiatives/campaigns 20 23• Financial leverage from partners for joint marketing £3.5 million £3.5 million

6 Major Events• Support for major events and major events bids 12 28• Economic impact for the regional economy £15 million £40 million1

7 Internal Communications• Intranet page impressions 1.6 million 1.63 million• 360° staff magazine published 12 issues 12 issues

^ overall event satisfaction rated as excellent or good

Media analysis is done the month after each quarter ends. 1 Includes economic impact of NWDA supported Liverpool 08 events.

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Media Coverage

2008/09 was a year dominated by the economic downturn, withmuch Agency coverage centring upon additional businessfunding in the shape of new business finance products. Duringthe year, the Agency generated 4,082 articles/broadcasts,against a target of 3,500, with an Equivalent Advertising Value(EAV) of nearly £13.8 million. The total number of Northwestadults reached by NWDA coverage was 56%, against a targetof 40%. Importantly, 54% of Agency coverage was stronglyfavourable and 40% was favourable.

Prominent national media coverage included key articles in theTelegraph, Guardian, Financial Times and Regeneration & Renewal.Regional coverage included Northwest Business Insider, Daily Post andManchester Evening News. The Agency also worked with BBC1 NorthWest Tonight on a series of features on key industries in the region,including the Nuclear, biomedical and tourism sectors.

To build upon relationships with national newspapers, a number ofvisits to the region were arranged involving high-profile traveljournalists from publications including the Telegraph, Times,Independent, Observer, Sunday Mirror and the Express. Visits wereconnected to key regional events, such as the Grand National, MTVEurope Music Awards and La Machine.

Key subjects contributing higher volumes of generatedcoverage included:

• £35m Business Start-up Programme, announced during the Cabinet visit to Liverpool

• Plans for the Venture Capital Loan Fund and the launch of the Transition Loan Fund, High Growth Programme and Innovation Vouchers Scheme

• Launch of RDPE and LEADER programme

• Climate Change Conference

• The Liverpool Summit

• NWDA support for the University of Cumbria and Blackburn College

• Launch of the Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry

• Capital of Culture including key events like the opening ceremony, La Machine, Go Superlambananas and MTV Europe

• Tourism including pieces across all national broadsheet titles

• London 2012 and the impact on the region

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4,082 articles andbroadcasts

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Throughout the year 9,000 people attendedAgency-organised or Agency-sponsored events,against a target of 8,200, with a satisfaction rateof 83%. These events included the AnnualConference and AGM, which was attended by 750people, and an Equality and Diversity conference.

The Climate Change Conference, which examinedkey issues surrounding the region’s ambition tobecome a low carbon economy, was attended byover 200 people. The NWDA also hosted the Annual2012 Conference on behalf of the Northwest SteeringGroup for the 2012 Games. Both events were held inLiverpool.

The England’s Northwest Tourism Awards, whichrecognise the best of the region’s tourismbusinesses, was attended by 500 people. TheAgency also held five consultation events for theRS2010 Principles and Issues Paper, which tookplace in Cumbria, Manchester, Lancashire,Merseyside and Cheshire.

NWDA organised Events

The Agency undertook a variety of public affairsactivity throughout the year to promote the NWDAand the region to key political stakeholders. Theseincluded:

• A number of ministerial visits to the region on key issues, topics and projects were organised by the Public Affairs team. These included visits by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Malcolm Wicks MP, Minister for Energy.

• Regular parliamentary briefings have been held at theHouse of Commons to keep MPs and MEPs informedof the work and priorities of the NWDA. The Agency also sponsored the Parliamentary Exhibition on Skills, with NWDA branding present for the duration of the event.

• The Agency supported a number of events at all three party political conferences, including a series ofdebates on the future of Manchester and on nuclear power, a skills event in conjunction with the Smith Institute and policy events with Yorkshire Forward andOne Northeast.

• The Agency was heavily involved in organising the Cabinet visit to Liverpool in January 09, co-ordinating events including two business breakfasts with Rt HonAlistair Darling MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Peter Mandelson MP, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform. The breakfasts were hosted by NWDA Chairman Bryan Gray and Chief Executive Steven Broomhead.

• The Agency also co-ordinated two official visits to theregion by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The visits included the official launch of our support for businesses in the economic downturn and a regionallending roadshow in Carlisle to talk with businesses about the situation with bank lending.

• The NWDA sponsored the official launch of the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Chief Executive Steven Broomhead spoke at the launch, representing the Agency as lead RDA for the new department.

Public Affairs

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Liverpool Summit – The Liverpool Summit saw over800 national and regional business leaderscongregate in the city to hear from a number of high-profile speakers, including Nobel Peace Prize winnerand former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

BT Paralympic World Cup 2008 – The ParalympicWorld Cup, which is supported by the NWDA, washeld in Manchester for the fourth year running. Theevent was even bigger this year as many of the 400athletes from 45 countries who competed saw theevent as preparation for the Paralympic Games inBeijing – with 18 world records broken over five days.Live coverage of the event was shown on BBC2.

English Masters Beach Volleyball – The EnglishMasters Beach Volleyball event took place inBlackpool. Supported by the Agency, it was the firsttime a Nestea European Championship Tourcompetition has been held in the UK. Coverage wasshown on Sky TV.

Great North Swim – – The inaugural Great NorthSwim took place in Lake Windermere, where Olympicmedallists took to the water with amateur competitorsto swim the one-mile course. Over 2,200 swimmerstook part in the event, which was supported by theNWDA. The swim was televised on Channel 4.

The Agency’s continuing work to ensure the Northwestbenefits from the estimated £6 billion of work availablefrom London 2012 Olympic Games and ParalympicGames is paying off, with almost 1,800 regionalbusinesses registering on CompeteFor to win Olympic-based contracts.

The NWDA hosted the Annual 2012 Conference, whichwas an opportunity for businesses to find out how theNorthwest is maximising the benefits of London 2012and how organisations from all sectors can get involved.

The region signed two agreements with teamscommitting themselves to train in the Northwest prior tothe 2012 Games: Thailand and the 15 Island Countries ofOceania. The Legacy Trust UK signed off £3 million offunding for “We Play”, the regional programme for theCultural Olympiad.

Major Regional Events

Tour of Britain – The NWDA again supported theNorthwest leg of the Tour of Britain Cycle Race – whichthis year was the final stretch of the race, so the finishline could be in European Capital of Culture cityLiverpool. Footage of the event was shown on ITV4.

FINA World Swimming Championships – Manchester’sbiggest sporting event since the 2002 CommonwealthGames, the FINA World Swimming Championships wereheld at the MEN Arena where two temporary pools wereconstructed especially for the event. The competition,which was supported by the Agency, saw the world’sbest swimmers swampthe city, using theevent to hone theirskills ready for theOlympic Games inBeijing.Comprehensivecoverage of the eventwas broadcast on theBBC.

British Masters Invitational – The NWDA supported theinaugural British Masters Invitational at ChesterRacecourse which featured elite showjumpers, includingJohn and Michael Whitaker, Robert Smith, Ellen, Williamand Robert Whitaker, William Funnell, Geoff Luckett,Geoff Billington, Daniel Neilson and Tim Stockdale. It ishoped the event – which offers a £60,000 prize – willbecome a regular feature on the equestrian calendar.

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London 2012

2008/09 saw the Agency implementing the region’sMajor Events Strategy for the fifth year running. Aswell as the success of European Capital of Culture2008 in Liverpool, the year also saw the Northweststrengthening its role as a centre for sport.

European Capital of Culture 2008 – As an officialsponsor of Capital of Culture, the NWDA invested £2 million to support the Liverpool Culture Company indelivering the cultural programme between 2005-2008.The role of the Agency included:

- Supporting key events including La Machine, Go Superlambananas, MTV Europe awards, the Liverpool Biennial and BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

- Supporting national marketing campaigns to promote 08 to an audience outside the region.

- Supporting regional awareness through a series of building wraps in the city.

Highlights of the year included over 3,000 firemen andwomen competing in the World Firefighters Games, ahuge mechanical spider taking over the city centre andthe final event, Transition: The People’s Celebration, wherean audience of 60,000 enjoyed a show incorporating film,sound, light and fireworks on the newly regenerated PierHead on the edge of the River Mersey.

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Promoting our beautiful environment:

Gardens Campaign 2008 – The regional gardens guidewas produced for the first time by Visit Chester andCheshire with support from the NWDA, and focused onCheshire and its year of Gardens. As well as beingdistributed to the 2007 gardens guide database, it was alsohanded out at key garden events, including 25,000 copiesat the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park.

Open Golf Championship – The Open Golf Championshiptook place at Royal Birkdale, in Southport. The NWDAhosted 80 corporate guests, including key overseas andnational travel trade, journalists and potential inwardinvestors on the second day of the tournament. A total of78,000 copies of the fourth edition of the England’s GolfCoast guide – containing a stitched-in guide to Southport –were distributed in the build-up to and during the event.

Promoting tourism:

Awards

Enjoy England Awards – For the first time in the eventshistory, the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence wereheld outside London. The 2008 event, at St George’s Hallin Liverpool, saw three awards going to the Northwest.Seven of this year’s Northwest winners were short-listedas finalists for the 2009 national awards.

England’s Northwest Tourism Awards 2008 – Theregional tourism awards were also held at St George’s Hallin Liverpool. Over 400 guests celebrated the 19 awardsgiven on the night.

Special Offers campaign – The NWDA and the sub-regional tourist boards supported the national tourismSpecial Offers campaign, co-ordinated by Visit England,by providing offers and discounts for key attractions inthe region such as Manchester United and Tatton Park.The offers were promoted online and via publishedvoucher books.

Attending trade events

Best of Britain – The region had a large presence atthe new consumer and trade tourism exhibition Best ofBritain, where the Northwest’s destinations were pulledtogether under the England’s Northwest banner. The keymessage was destination-led with each sub regionshowcasing their key themes, strongest hotel and bestattraction. The Best of Britain event, held at Excel inLondon, was a combined national travel trade andconsumer exhibition.

World Travel Market – England’s Northwest had a largepresence at the World Travel Market event, held at Excelin London. The key message was destination-led witheach sub region showcasing their attack brands and keythemes in on-stand events and promotions throughoutthe four-day worldwide travel trade exhibition.

Tourism and Image Marketing

Marketing material

Tourism websites revamp – Four consumer tourismwebsites were re-developed. The siteswww.visitenglandsnorthwest.com, www.nwculture.co.uk,www.naturalnorthwest.co.uk and www.gardensnw.co.ukwere launched at various intervals during the year.

Photography – A series of photoshoots took place duringthe year, including a “regional viewpoints in Cheshire andCumbria” shoot in partnership with Britain On View andVisitBritain. The images have been added to the NWDAimagebank to be used in various publications andpromotions.

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Promoting our Culture Offer:

Autumn Culture campaign – The Agency launchedAutumn Culture, which was fronted by BBC Radio 2 DJ,writer and Northern advocate Stuart Maconie. Thecampaign – which focused on seven stories about visitsto the parts of the region – included 27 double-pageadverts, which ran in leading national magazines,targeting “Nest Builders” and “Empty Nester” segments.The stories are also available in written format and asdownloadable podcasts on dedicated websitewww.stuartsstories.co.uk.

As part of the ongoing culture campaign, the NWDAplaced 13 full-page advertisements in the Sunday Times’Culture. The adverts focused on key forthcoming culturalevents – including Le Corbusier exhibition and TheLiverpool Biennial – with an underlying regional culturalmessage. Research commissioned to assess the impactof the campaign, showed that among regular readers ofthe magazine, recall levels of the adverts were high andperceptions of the Northwest were found to be muchmore positive. The Agency also produced 3 issues ofPRIME magazine during the year. The magazine whichpromoted the cultural offer of the Northwest won aprestigious Design in Business Award.

Spring Outdoors campaign – A continuation of AutumnCulture, Spring Outdoors focused on eight stories aboutvisits to parts of the region. Fronted again by StuartMaconie, the campaign included 12 double-page adverts

run in leading national magazines. There have beenover 28,000 unique visitors to thewww.stuartsstories.co.uk website and over 5,500 sign-ups for the free book, which features all 15 of the SpringOutdoors and Autumn Culture stories.

Enjoy England campaign – The Agency was leadpartner in the Enjoy England cultural supplementdistributed with the Independent newspaper, which hasa circulation of approximately 250,000. The front half ofsupplement was given over entirely to the Northwest.There were a total of 2,000 entries to the LiverpoolBiennial prize draw, which was featured within thesupplement and online at www.enjoyengland.com.

Simon Calder Northwest films – The NWDAsupported and assisted in the filming and production offive short films about the region which were presentedby travel journalist and broadcaster Simon Calder. Thefilms – which cover Chester, Liverpool, Manchester,Blackpool and The Lake District – were shown on anumber of websites and online film outlets, includingwww.enjoyengland.com,www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com and the Agency’scorporate website.

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Business Marketing Internal Communications

A range of activities have been undertakenthroughout the year to both enhance internalcommunications across the NWDA and to helpAgency teams communicate their project work tostaff. These included:

• Working with Human Resource Development (HRD) tosupport the Learning at Work Day. A range of events were organised at Renaissance House in addition to job-shadowing and job-swapping opportunities for staff. The event received good participation and feedback from staff.

• Working with HRD to provide communications supportin a number of areas, including Business Improvement Planning and Organisation Change, Action Learning Programme, Online Induction, Employee Performance Management and the Pay Review.

• In the first two Seeing is Believing visits, small groups of staff were taken on tours of Liverpool and Manchester/Salford to visit Agency-supported projectsand meet partners.

• Initial communication commenced on RS2010, Programme Management, the Business Support Simplification Process as well as the Agency’s support for businesses during the economic downturn.

• A new Senior Management Team (SMT) cascade process was introduced to ensure staff receive regularand consistent information arising from monthly SMT meetings.

• A number of staff communication events were held, including RS2010 Breakfast Briefings and State of the Region presentations.

• 12 issues of the monthly newsletter, 360°, were produced.

• The Agency’s intranet site received regular administration and updates to reflect organisational changes, current documents and team news. The site attracted over 1.6 million impressions.

• Other existing communications channels were successfully managed, including the NWDA Weekly Bulletin and Core Brief.

• Several staff social events were held including the Staff BBQ, Christmas Party and Children’s Christmas Party.

• Staff participated in a variety of fundraising events including the Burmese Cyclone Appeal, Children in Need and support for St Rocco's Hospice in Warrington. A total of £4,200 was raised by staff.

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Business supplements – The Agency published twonational supplements in the Financial Times promoting theregion as a place to do business. The first supplement –Doing Business in Liverpool and the Northwest – waslaunched at an NWDA/FT event in Liverpool on the morningof the Liverpool Leadership Summit. The second supplement– Doing Business in Manchester and the Northwest – waslaunched at MIPIM, the international property conference inCannes, France. A combined distribution of 870,000 keybusiness decision makers was reached.

Business advertising – Two campaigns aimed at improvingperceptions of the region as a business location ran duringSpring and Autumn in the national business press includingThe Times and The Telegraph.

Monthly inward investment newsletters – 12 editions ofthe Northwest Investment e-newsletter were distributedduring the year aimed at delivering news and features tobusinesses, intermediaries and overseas offices.

Support for key events – A number of events weresupported to raise awareness of the strength of the region’sbusiness credentials including its key sectors. Theseincluded:

• The Media Festival, a major national conference in Manchester attended by over 350 businesses from the UK’s creative and digital sector

• British Chambers of Commerce Annual Conference – A key annual business convention attracted to Liverpool and attended by 400 public and private sector delegates to discuss key business issues.

• How-Do Awards – The Agency was the headline sponsor of the region’s first awards event incorporating the digital and creative sector.

• Farnborough Airshow – The Agency supported the Northwest Aerospace Alliance to attend Europe’s largest aerospace show, enabling them to bring 50 Northwest companies to the show.

• Liverpool Leadership Summit – A major 2-day Leadership conference attended by over 800 delegates. The event was the key business event during Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year.

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E-Media Publications

www.nwda.co.uk - The NWDA’s corporate website continuedto be an effective tool promoting the Agency’s activities,generating 5.69 million page impressions (against a target of5.5 million), with over 630,000 unique visitors (against atarget of 550,000).

www.englandsnorthwest.com - The regional InwardInvestment website generated 2.18 million page impressions(against a target of 2 million).

www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com - The regional tourismportal generated 3.07 million page impressions (against atarget of 3 million).

Sixty e-newsletters have been produced and distributedcovering regional news, inward investment, the environment,tourism and London 2012. A new regional Agency e-newsletter was launched, which is now distributed to almost9,000 regional and national contacts. Content of the new e-newsletter is focused on outlining the Agency’s support forbusinesses during the economic downturn.

A number of other sites were also created during the yearincluding a new Finance for Business site enablingbusinesses to apply online for Agency funding 2012 BeInspired Northwest site.

Annual Review NWDA 315 MagazineThree issues of the Agency’shigh quality magazine wereproduced and distributed tobusinesses in the region

Prime: The region’s culturalmagazine received a bronze atthe coveted DBA DesignEffectiveness Awards

Business Plan

The Northwest Economy: A joint response to changingeconomic circumstanceswhich was launched by thePrime Minister Gordon Brown

Low Carbon Economy: Low Carbon projects acrossthe region

RS2010 Principles &Issues Paper: Regional Strategyconsultation document

Support for NorthwestBusinesses: A brochureoutlining the range of publicly-funded support available to theregion’s businesses

Ancoats Annual Review: Review of progress made withthe regeneration of Ancoats

NWDA Single EqualityScheme: Document outliningAgency is committed to Equalityand Diversity

Building on Potentialin our Rural Areas: Rural Policy Document

- GO: What’s on inEngland’s Northwest

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NWDA j5-29

June 2009

The Northwest Regional Development Agency Renaissance HouseCentre ParkWarrington WA1 1QNTel: +44 (0)1925 400 100Fax: +44 (0)1925 400 400

www.nwda.co.ukwww.englandsnorthwest.comwww.visitenglandsnorthwest.com

Printed on Zanders Mega Matt

This document is available in large print, braille, audio tape and the following languages;Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Somali, Urdu and Hindi. Please contact the Marketing Department on 01925 400100

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