Great Britain’s £500,000 Tourism Poster Campaign
Great Britain’s £500,000 Tourism Poster Campaign was just launched (and publicly-funded) here in the UK. The posters supposedly put the “Great” back into Britain. I like the concept, however I reckon the left-aligned typography looks slightly odd with the word BRITAIN aligned centrally underneath. Maybe its just me?
Oh course, we have Mr. Branson striking a pose for the camera, but we also have Wallace & Gromit and an array of scenic views and historical venues. However, I’m not impressed of the photo used for the ‘Music is Great’ design, as it sports a man signalling the ‘devil horns’ gesture. Surely another image would have been more appropriate for the tourism poster campaign.
Overall though, I think the poster designs will do their job well—especially in the run up to the 2012 Olympics in London.
The Daily Mail have written a detailed article on the set of designs:
The Prime Minister wants to dispel negativity linked to the country’s ongoing economic problems and move away from the anarchic images that were beamed around the globe during last month’s English riots.
More than £500,000 has been spent on the new GREAT campaign and a series of posters will be used across the world centred around the 2012 London Olympics to promote Britain the brand.
Its aim is to attract an extra billion pounds of inward investment and trade over the next year, giving a lift to an economy that has barely grown during the last 12 months. [read more]
As can be seen, the posters include titles such as “Countryside is Great”, “Heritage is Great”, “Entrepreneurs are Great” and “Shopping is Great”. I think they missed one off intentionally, though “The Weather is Great” …maybe not.
Credits: Base Image via DCMS/PA Wire © PA Via Metro / Top images The Daily Mail.
For more posters, check out How 10 Fantastic Poster Designs Conform to A.I.D.A.
What do You think of the designs? Please leave your comments below…
I definitely have to agree with you on the centered BRITIAN. I think it would look better left justified like the rest of the text, but overall, I like them.
I agree on the typography issues. I don’t like the layouts – the use and crop of the photography is dodgy. The Knowledge, Shopping and Entrepreneurs ones have distracting backgrounds against the text imo. And, I think the campaign will probably have little or no effect on Britain’s brand and may well have a negative one.
(in the Shopping one the shoe is to close to the text – but it’s not a distracting background. Sorry, coffee not working yet!)
I like them but think some of the images they have chosen don’t have that iconic look, Richard Branson, Wallace and Gromit and Henry VII do but the others don’t really say anything great.
I don’t really know that much about typography but I think they could have left off Britain entirely.
I would’ve tried splitting the longer words over two lines (countryside, entrepreneurs) so they were the same type size as “GREAT.” From small-to-large-to-very small doesn’t work for me.
Ditching the cropped flag at the bottom of each in favour of a union jack background to “GREAT” might’ve also been a better move.
And yep, not keen on the alignment of Britain.
Well, the Left Alignement in Tory’s time shall be read as a ‘modernism’ move (LOL).
Now, apart of my sincere love for anything come from GB, I do find the ‘Shopping’ and the ‘Heritage’ something like a spin off.
Personally, and by the numbers (alas brand Awareness), both Stonehenge and or London Bridge have a less sinister image and much more recognizable image than ‘Good Henry’, though.
The Shopping one has something of sexy-insanity in it, maybe the colors or this aura more close to ‘fetichista’ than ‘fashionista’.
In the average no one it’s up to properly represent and comunicate the Great Britain Greatness -given that was the goal-
PS: love the B/W Sir Branson even if at second sight it look humorous.
🙂
I don’t like them at all. They seem amateurish and they’re not consistant in many areas (type size for example). They almost look rushed (which they probably were).
Frankly I think it’s going to take more than a few posters to but the ‘great’ back in Great Britain.
don’t mind the concept, however the execution is awful… also i personally wouldn’t have chosen wallace and gromit to represent the word ‘creativity’…
Jason → Yeah, I see see where you’re going there.
Rob → I see what you mean regarding distracting backgrounds; the Heritage one especially is in severe conflict with the red of “great”.
Rachel → After taking a good look at the posters again, I agree. Many of the images could do with replacing with things more relevant I suppose.
David → I wonder, though, how long the designers had to come up with these? The cropped flag at the base is actually the part of the concept I really like, but I you say, it could be better if done differently.
Lorenzox → Hehe, Iike the Tory ‘Left’ joke. Yeah, I reckon Stonehenge and London Bridge would have been more recognisable, although there would be people complaining the the same old images’ are always used and are stereotypical. For instance, I find it quite annoying when American TV or films decide to show a 2 second clip of Big Ben as a symbol of Great Britain, as they are plenty of other landmarks here. Same goes for the Australian Sydney Opera House, too.
Paul → Its always good to have an objective opinion. I wonder how rushed they were, though…
Toby → It is a strange one, but I suppose they wanted to show an example of very successful British creative work, which was entrepreneur, Nick Park.
Thanks everyone for commenting.