What evidence can the Minister provide that the 2018 Year of the Sea television advert, featuring Luke Evans, was positively received, state how many adverts the Welsh Government plans to produce for this Year of Discovery, and clarify what the budget for those are?
We undertake ongoing qualitative and quantitative market research and continually engage with industry, supplemented with continual face-to-face industry discussions throughout the year. The response to Visit Wales’s campaigns in general are very positive – but we also know that they deliver tangible economic benefits. We’re currently undertaking the final end of year evaluation for 2018, we know that the 2017 campaign generated over £350m of additional spend in the economy. This has doubled since 2013.
A major multi-channel and multi-market campaign totalling £4m for creative production and media buying across markets has been developed for the Year of Discovery, including extensive television advertising in Wales, key English regions and Ireland. Whilst linear television advertising is still a part of our campaign – in 2019 the approach is becoming increasingly digital in focus and we have therefore produced a wide range of new creative assets – films, graphics, adverts – for use in a targeted way across these platforms and to sit alongside the main television creative. This enables us to tailor our messages to meet specific market interests – so we will target a group that is likely to be interested in culture, with a film about culture in Wales on video-on-demand channels for example. The full campaign includes dozens of new creative materials for use across out of home, print, video-on-demand, digital and social media channels. All of this content will sit on VisitWales.com in the long-term and shared with third-parties, providing value for money on our investment.