Domestic Campaign for Fáilte Ireland’s Newest Brand to Launch Tomorrow
Fáilte Ireland will launch the first domestic consumer marketing campaign for the Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands brand tomorrow (Monday 2nd July).
The multi-media brand awareness campaign worth €1m will run on TV, outdoor, radio and digital channels, and will revolve around the creative idea ‘Yours to Uncover’. Over the coming weeks, audiences across Ireland will see the new campaign which focuses on themes of discovery and exploration, and encourages visitors to uncover their unique experience of the natural beauty and treasures of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.
The campaign features natural gems across the region, including the Beara Breifne Way; Roscommon’s Lough Key; the hills and woodlands of Drumshanbo in Leitrim; Lough Derg in Portumna, Co. Galway; as well as Lough Oughter in Cavan and the River Shannon flowing through Athlone Town in Westmeath. Every county in the region, including Offaly, Longford, East Clare and North Tipperary, will feature within the campaign.
A television advertisement will begin airing next week with new specially-commissioned footage promoting the region. The Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 will also broadcast live from some key locations in Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands every day next week (beginning on Monday 9th July).
Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Marketing, Niall Tracey, said:
“Our Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands brand has been incredibly well received by the industry and resonated strongly during research in our target markets. It is tapping into a growing tourism trend for soft activities by encouraging visitors to be ‘active in nature’ and to explore the region by going off the beaten tracks. The brand’s appeal also very much lies in its offer for visitors to get away from the stresses and pressures of modern life and to experience the tranquillity of rural Ireland.
“Over the coming weeks, through our domestic brand awareness campaign, we will be reinforcing Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands as a key brand in the Irish tourism offering, and presenting Irish consumers with compelling reasons to consider the region for their future travel plans.”
Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands is the newest regional experience brand for Ireland and was unveiled in April. The brand aims to bring to life the Midland’s rich natural assets including its many lakes, walkways and blueways. In another milestone for the brand, Fáilte Ireland has completed the recruitment process for the Head of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands role and expects to announce an appointment in the coming weeks. The new Head of the region will lead the ongoing development of the brand as well as the local team on the ground, once they are appointed.
The brand elements including the name, logo and what the brand stands for were developed following extensive research with consumers in Ireland, US, UK, Germany and France. Over 10,000 consumers were interviewed in the process giving Fáilte Ireland great insight and confidence that Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands has the potential to be both appealing and motivating to visitors.
Speaking about the development of the brand on the ground, Paul Keeley, Director of Commercial Development at Fáilte Ireland, added:
“Over the coming weeks we will appoint the Head of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, following a competitive recruitment process which attracted many high calibre candidates from tourism and marketing backgrounds. This role will be vital to the new regional experience brand as we work to embed and develop it over the coming years.
“While this brand will need to evolve over time to realise its full potential, the area has some strong assets and Fáilte Ireland is already working closely with key partners and communities across the region to begin developing the top-class visitor experiences that will be key to the success of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.”
The two central spines of the region are the River Shannon and the Beara Breifne Way, and Fáilte Ireland is focusing on how those two major assets can be developed to bring visitor experiences of scale to the region. This will involve identifying the range of products and experiences with strong potential along the routes as well as areas where there is a lack of product on the ground, and how this can be addressed (see notes to editors for further detail).
Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands will cover the ‘heart’ of the country, from Leitrim down to East Clare and extending through Longford, Roscommon, East Galway, as well as parts of Westmeath, Cavan, North Tipperary and Offaly. It will complement Fáilte Ireland’s other key brands - the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East and Dublin.
To find out more, visit
www.discoverireland.ie
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