BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency, have today announced a new partnership to launch a dedicated content portal, known as BBC Britain, that tells a compelling story of modern Britain.
British Airways, one of the world’s leading global premium airlines, has been confirmed as the first company to join the partnership.
Sitting within BBC.com, the international version of BBC.co.uk, BBC Britain (www.bbc.com/britain) will combine specially commissioned articles, videos and images with relevant content drawn from across BBC.com’s specialist feature sites, including BBC Culture, BBC Future, BBC Travel, BBC Autos, BBC Capital and BBC Earth.
The site’s innovative approach brings to life the UK’s global appeal, taking a balanced and objective look at the story of modern Britain, from London Fashion Week to journeys through the Yorkshire Dales, from Shakespeare to iconic contemporary British businesses, brands and people.
Joining forces for the first time, the three partners already have similar missions to bring the best of British to an international audience, via BBC Worldwide showcasing the best UK creative content, VisitBritain’s promotion of the UK’s attractions or British Airways bringing to life British design and customer service.
BBC Worldwide will have full editorial control over the site. VisitBritain and British Airways will have all the advertising inventory around the BBC Britain content, which will be populated with joint collateral. There will be future opportunities for other great British brands to come on board as the partnership evolves.
Sally Balcombe, CEO VisitBritain, said: “BBC Britain will host a body of content that tells a compelling story of Britain to visitors from across the world, striking a balance between highlighting traditional treasures as well as covering more modern parts of British culture across our nations and regions. We’re pleased to be involved in creating a long term content platform for Britain alongside British Airways, but this is just the start. We’re calling for more British brands to join this partnership as it grows over time.”
Tim Davie, CEO BBC Worldwide and Director, Global said: “BBC Worldwide plays a key role in showcasing the UK’s creative industries around the globe and as an ambassador for ‘Brand Britain’ overseas, so I’m delighted to be launching a dedicated place on BBC.com to tell the world about modern Britain.”
Sara Dunham, British Airways’ head of marketing, retail and direct, said: “As a proudly British brand with global reach, we’re delighted to be part of an initiative to bring the UK to life for overseas visitors or those wanting to know a little more about the island we call home. We know from experience how interesting people find the UK. It’s a creative, diverse country with great heritage juxtaposed with fantastic modernity. We fly millions of people every year to the UK, and what better way to tempt people to visit than a site that showcases the best of Britain?”
BBC.com reaches a monthly average of 85.5 million unique browsers across mobile and desktop, including an average of 8.3 million unique browsers to the non-news feature sections. The innovative aggregator approach will tag new and existing non-news content from across BBC.com so that it can all be seen on one BBC Britain landing page by the user. The specialist section will have a dedicated Managing Editor, Daniel Fisher, and Editor, Amanda Ruggeri, to deliver on the editorial strategy to tell highly engaging stories about a multi-faceted Britain that will appeal to global audiences. BBC Britain will be highly interactive and have a dedicated social presence, encouraging social sharing across multiple platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Connect with BBC Britain on Twitter at @BBC_Britain, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BBCBritain and on Instagram at bbcbritain
