Size matters in city ads launch

Mar 14 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

A CAMPAIGN marketing the handiness of Newcastle city centre will be launched later this month.

The campaign is led by the City Centre Partnership, a collection of business leaders intent on proving that Newcastle has the same opportunities as a larger city – but all much easier to get to.

To push the point, they have prepared an advertising campaign that will run from today on the Metro and at bus stops which will reveal the wealth of opportunities for tourists and shoppers visiting the city.

And when they unveil this month’s NE1 campaign, the Partnership will be emphasising the unique “on your doorstep” nature of Newcastle – a selling point denied to London, and to a lesser extent cities like Leeds and Manchester.

Partnership director Sean Bullick said: “I know friends who go to the West End in London and it can then take two hours to get home. Here you can see the same quality of show and be home within 15 minutes of it ending.

“We believe that Newcastle’s city centre offers an unrivalled range of things to see and do.”

Mr Bullick is responsible for promoting Newcastle within the region, leaving the NewcastleGateshead Initiative to push the city to the wider audience.

He has been backed in his new campaign by Jim Beirne, chief executive at the Live Theatre, who said: “Compare us with any other Northern city and I simply don’t know what else can offer the variety we do.

“Yes, in terms of geography we are quite small, but we definitely punch above our weight.

“The NewcastleGateshead area is about as far away from London as you can get and still be in England, and that brings with it its own problems and opportunities.

“Partly it means we get overlooked a little by the national media, but when I talk to people in the cultural and creative fields they are jealous of what is happening here.”

The NE1 campaign will highlight some of Tyneside’s lesser-known attractions to show that there is more to the area than many visitors think.

Tom Caulker, manager of the Trent House pub and World Headquarters nightclub in Newcastle, said: “In small pockets we are becoming more cosmopolitan and people are starting to see that.

“There are only so many times we can go on about the Sage and the Baltic, now we have to tell the region how far the rest of Newcastle has come.”