The New York Subway, Paris Metro, and 100 taxis across Delhi will act as mobile advertising sites promoting tourism to the UK.
They are being use as part of VisitBritain’s multi-million pound ‘Great’ promotional campaign unveiled yesterday by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The campaign, to be introduced in New York on Monday, aims to attract an extra 4.6 million extra visitors to the UK over the next four years, securing an additional £2.3 billion in visitor spend.
It will target nine countries, with adverts appearing in 14 key cities: Beijing, Berlin, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto.
Around 70% of the population in each of the target cities will see the advertising on billboards, TV, or in the cinema, VisitBritain claims.
The international reach of the campaign will be strengthened by a global partnership between VisitBritain and Yahoo.
This aims to drive more than five million views of VisitBritain content on the Yahoo network and help drive 3.5 million visits to VisitBritain’s own online platforms.
Yahoo EMEA senior vice president and managing director Rich Riley said: “We are really excited to have been chosen as VisitBritain’s digital display partner.
“This will be their largest ever online campaign and Yahoo has a strong track record of delivering original global media campaigns with seamless digital content and advertising.
“Our campaign for VisitBritain will be as individual as those consumers who interact with it – helping demonstrate why we all think Britain is so great.
“VisitBritain has partnered with us so that they can potentially engage with our 400 million Yahoo users across Germany, France, India, China, Australia, Japan, Brazil, USA and Canada. 2012 is the year to visit Britain and we’re about to show people why.”
The New York launch will see the inside and outside of a New York subway train wrapped in the ‘Great’ branding, and adverts across key transit hubs including Grand Central and Stamford stations.
Hunt said: “We are taking the fight for the tourist pound right to our competitors’ doorsteps, with a sales assault on the 14 biggest and most lucrative tourism markets around the world. Right across the world, there will be no escape from the message that Britain is great.”
VisitBritain chief executive, Sandie Dawe said: “This campaign will allow us to promote Britain in 14 of the key global economic powerhouse cities where our adverts will be seen by over two-thirds of our target audience.
“That means nearly 90 million people will be focusing on all that is ‘Great’ about coming here for their next holiday.
“The eye-catching images reflect Britain’s tourism appeal, featuring our rich history and culture, our spectacular countryside and coastline, our thriving music scene and our wonderful shopping, which our research tells us are the main draws for overseas visitors.”