How did we help?
Marketing planning
Marketing Implementation
Logo development
Concept
Goal
To recover the brand and reputation of the English Riviera following the devastating impact to the visitor economy caused by the cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham [May 2024].
Client: ER Bid – English Riviera
The English Riviera BID Company represents the interests of more than 1,000 hospitality businesses across Torquay, Brixham and Paignton..
After the widespread negative press caused by the cryposporidium outbreak, we were appointed to run a national destination marketing campaign to attract people back to the region and promote the English Riviera as a vibrant, year-round holiday destination for families and couples alike.
The need for a national campaign.
They say all publicity is good publicity… but what happens when it’s not? The cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham in May 2024 generated over 3,000 pieces of negative national media coverage and the immediate aftermath was £10m lost visitor revenue to the region.
This was the catalyst behind a national destination marketing campaign to boost visitor numbers to the English Riviera – 22 miles of beautiful coastline in South Devon, incorporating the towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham.
The English Riviera Business Improvement District Company (ERBID) is a not-for-profit company representing over 1,300 levy payers across the tourism and hospitality sector.
They appointed us in December ’24 to plan and manage a strategic campaign targeting families in the Midlands and couples 50+ in Bristol, Cardiff, Herts, Bucks and the wider South West. Our objectives were to recover the reputation of the English Riviera and build back revenue from staying visitors.
A conceptual idea.
The good news was that a TV ad for the family market had already been shot so we had lots of great footage but we needed a strong concept to grab attention, stand out from the competition and overcome the entrenched negative perceptions.
The concept was inspired by the hero image from the family TV ad – an aerial shot of Splashdown, the UK’s biggest waterpark, showcasing its maze of twisting water flumes. We knew our family audience was in the Midlands, so we likened the flumes to Spaghetti Junction, the notoriously complex 5-level motorway interchange in Birmingham. From there, the concept of ‘Escape your Everyday’ was born.
It plays on the juxtaposition between the monotony of everyday life and the fun and excitement that can be had on an English Rivera holiday. It put humour at the centre, always a key emotion for engaging an audience, and was flexible enough to work across both target audiences and across multiple channels.
Media planning and comms strategy.
The integrated comms strategy needed to be efficient while ensuring we were reaching people at different stages of their holiday decision-making journey.
TV was at the heart of our campaign, but it had to be targeted and measurable. ITVX is the no. 1 commercial BVOD platform with a monthly reach of 21.5m and most importantly for our family audience, free to use. ITVX users are also split 65% female and 35% male and as females are more likely to be the people booking and planning holidays, this all added up to ensure that ITVX was a key platform for our family audience.
We also used Sky AdSmart as another premium platform and Connected TV via programmatic advertising to broaden our TV reach even further and access inventory across the open internet.
TV was supported by digital activity across Google, Meta, Microsoft, TripAdvisor and Programmatic video/display. To reach people at every funnel stage, we tailored channels and messaging to raise awareness of the region, overcome potential objections or capture users already researching.
The final elements of the campaign were DOOH activity in Birmingham, which was launched in shopping centres and transit hubs during school holidays to maximise awareness and Influencer visits to create authentic content that reached thousands of engaged followers.
The results speak for Themselves.
The 2025 campaign generated 42+ million impressions and 10+ million video views.
Whilst this is an impressive digital performance, it wouldn’t mean anything if it didn’t result in footfall and staying visitors as these were our objectives . We needed a busy summer period for the campaign to be deemed a success by the client and the levy payers.
In Q3 2025, serviced accommodation (hotels, guest houses, etc) in the English Riviera increased by 13% on Q3 2024. This bucks the trend of the wider Devon picture that shows a decrease in occupancy of 0.4%.
So in a time of a tough travel market due to the cost-of-living crisis, we not only turned the tide on declining visitor numbers but the English Riviera actually outperformed all other regions in Devon.
The whole county was enjoying very hot sunny weather during this time so why did the English Riviera see such great results? The only difference was the destination marketing campaign.
Moving forward.
We continue to work with ERBID and have launched the campaign again for 2026. Utilising our learnings from 2025 we are able to repeat successful activities whilst also launching new approaches.
We have introduced linear ITV for the Couples 50+ audience which will see us achieve over 7.4m impacts, we are targeting a new geographic location of Outer London/Reading and surrounding areas and we have launched Tiktok as a new channel to reach the family audience.
Results are positive, despite a continued difficult climate, and we are seeing a 97% increase in time on site and 47% increase in key conversions.
Testimonial
“Chalk & Ward were appointed in January ’25 and were the preferred agency for several reasons including the quality of their strategic planning, their overall experience and their fresh and inspiring creative. The strategy planned by the team included an effective range of media channels and a targeted approach to reach new audiences in our geographic areas. We work closely with Chalk & Ward and have built an excellent relationship but most importantly we continue to be impressed with their ability to challenge and adapt plans for maximum results, resulting in a positive impact to the visitor economy.”
Carolyn Custerson / CEO / English Riviera BID Company
