For centuries the British travelled the world, conquering, colonising… and giving English names to just about everything – places, people, landmarks and more. As part of VisitBritain’s biggest campaign, it was now be the Chinese’s turn to return the favour!

When it comes to luring Chinese tourists (the world’s biggest spending travellers), Britain has been on the back foot, compared to the likes of the U.S. and Continental Europe, both of which outspend Britain in marketing and offer more attractions. VisitBritain, the national tourism agency of the U.K, hoped to attract more Chinese visitors. A new approach was needed to engage young affluent Chinese and get them to consider Britain. But what?

We needed to understand what has been keeping them away. Research uncovered that Britain was viewed by Chinese as cold and unwelcoming, losing out in tourist appeal against competing nations like France, USA, Australia and even Germany. Besides, potential visitors were unfamiliar with attractions outside the clichés of London. Based on these findings, it became apparent that Britain should be changing the way its communications “welcome” Chinese tourists. The question was “How far would she be prepared to go?”

VisitBritain would extend a never-seen-before invitation to the people of China - an opportunity to name its places, people, and events in Mandarin Chinese. We called for “Great Chinese Names for Great Britain”. Many British landmarks either didn’t have Chinese names or were saddled with meaningless phonetic translations. The campaign was designed not only to boost the perceived relevance of what Britain had to offer, but was also a gesture representing the utmost hospitality to guests. The U.K government would recognize the names; Google Maps would include them; travel guides would be changed forever.

This was the first time in history that one country had openly invited the citizens of another to name its landmarks. And this ‘news’ in itself made headlines across both China and the UK.

More than 13,000 names were submitted including:

Highland Games: Strong men’s skirt party

Saville Row: Street of the tall, rich and handsome

Haggis: Tripe that wafts aroma

Stilton: Porcelain cheese

The idea motivated the Chinese to discover more about British destinations, especially places beyond London, so that they could coin better names for them and be attracted to those places. It also forged stronger emotional bonds with the UK.

Immediate tourism benefits were felt with Chinese visits to Britain in Q1 up 20% year-on-year (UK Office for National Statistics). Significant contributions were also made to the British economy with Chinese tourist spend leaping 30% to £75 million [confidential]. No other campaigns from VisitBritain were in market during this period and there were no significant non-communication changes to the offering, such to the visa system or currency. Since previous iterations of this entry, third-party survey research confirmed the campaign’s role in this success, finding it to be more compelling than anything ever done before.