What the papers say
Marketing Birmingham has delivered over £5.5m worth of media coverage for the city in the first 6 months of 2011, across international, national and UK regional outlets. The team work with the media to showcase the city’s strengths as a visitor, events and business location.
Over 1,000 hits have been secured in the first half of 2011.
That’s...
- Over 165 articles per month
- Over 40 articles per week
- Over 6 articles per day
- 1 article every 4 hours
A few highlights...
NO OSCARS AND NO KATE, BUT THIS VISIT IS A REMINDER OF THE TIES THAT BIND
“Birmingham, understandably wants some more of the action. It got plenty last year with the £12bn takeover of Cadbury... But it wasn’t on the mind of Wouter Schuitemaker, Business Birmingham’s director of investment, as he prepared for the two-day trip. Rather, it was how he would succeed in getting the message across to his New York audiences that Britain is not just about cuts, it’s about investing.” RICHARD BLACKDEN
OPPORTUNITIES KNOCK
“The traditional view of the West
Midlands as a centre of manufacturing and engineering is changing. The
digital industry, creative media, clinical research and jobs focused on
developing alternative forms of energy are part of the new face of the
region. It is also bucking the trend in graduate recruitment, which has
experienced a tough couple of years across the country.” CARLY CHYNOWETH
CENTRE FOR SCIENCE
“Birmingham is a city of historic
industrial enterprise and innovation, and now it is ideally placed to
become a leader in the emerging low-carbon, digital economy...
Birmingham and the area around Warwick and adjacent Leamington have
become the twin regional hubs of digital-based enterprises, in which
university research and private-sector innovation have actively forged
close ties for the benefit of all. In doing so, they have provided a
beacon of hope for the region’s economy, which can no longer rely upon
its traditional manufacturing base.” TERRY KIRBY
WIBBLY WOBBLY, MODERN, FUTURISTIC AND AIRY
“Birmingham is a
city unafraid of flirting with architectural notoriety, and its latest
big project – the redevelopment of New Street Station – was unveiled at
MIPIM on Wednesday.” CLAER BARRETT
STEP BACK IN TIME WITH MR TOM THE JEWELLER
“Anyone who
thinks Birmingham is all Bullring needs to wander into the stunning
Georgian square that surrounds the church of St Paul’s and enter the
Jewellery Quarter. In Vyse Street lies the now defunct Smith &
Pepper jewellery company, once run by the siblings Eric, Tom and Olive
Smith. In 1981, they decided to retire and, perhaps being in a hurry,
simply stopped trading and locked the door. Today, it is a remarkable
museum.” SANDI TOKSVIG
PRAISE THE SABBATH: NOW BIRMINGHAM SHOWS ITS METAL
“Every
day tens of thousands of commuters hurry past a telling statue in
Birmingham’s main square. Antony Gormley’s Iron Man perfectly expresses
the culture of Brum. The city, like its underappreciated icon, is
off-kilter. It was this intangible sense of the other, of being
different despite being the bullseye of Britain, that meant Birmingham
could give birth to strange new sounds and trends. The most famous of
them was heavy metal.” CHRIS BEANLAND
YUMMY BRUMMIE
“As a middle-aged Londoner on my first visit to Brum, I was expecting it to look ramshackled and industrial. But I was so wrong. The well-designed streets were stunningly clean and adorned with sophisticated chic restaurants, bars, shops and galleries..." COLIN PACKHAM
OK MAGAZINE USA – ROYAL WEDDING COUNTDOWN
“If you’re planning to hit London on April 29, but still haven’t booked a place to stay, fear not... The city of Birmingham is offering lots of royal wedding celebrations at the weekend. Enjoy food fit for a princess at Simpsons to get a taste of England with dishes such as rhubarb & custard crumble soufflé, in a beautiful Georgian Grade II listed building, close to Birmingham’s city centre.” ELOISE PARKER
AEGON CLASSIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT BOOSTS BIRMINGHAM
“Tennis players are heading to Birmingham for a tournament that organisers say is worth "as much as £9.3m a year" to the local economy... Director of Marketing Services for Visit Birmingham, Emma Gray, welcomed the tournament, describing it as an important event for the city that had a "significant economic impact.”
SQUARE MEAL - quarterly lifestyle magazine
“Birmingham has thrown off the shackles of its industrial past and reinvented itself as Britain’s conference capital. It has the venues, the bedrooms and the infrastructure to accommodate thousands of delegates, and the restaurants and nightlife to keep them happy post-PowerPoint. In the next few years, a host of fresh developments are scheduled to open up, from the long-awaited rebuild of New Street station to an avant-garde library and a cluster of hip hotels, enhancing the city’s appeal to event planners even further.” EDWARD REEVES