Winners of ‘Free Heritage PR’ promotion announced

Lancashire-based PR agency Catapult Public Relations has announced the winner of the free PR and content support that it offered for a heritage tourism business.  In fact, applications were so compelling that two businesses have benefited.

The heritage PR team within 69-award-winning Catapult PR received fantastic support from Marketing Lancashire, who promoted the valuable offer to its membership.  

As a result, some brilliant applications were received by the Catapult PR team, who are themselves a  Marketing Lancashire supplier partner member.

Following review, the multi-award winning PR consultancy decided to offer the four months of free heritage PR and content marketing to the incredible Spitfire Visitor Centre - Hangar 42.  

Its application really struck a chord and Catapult PR recognised that it could use its specialist tourism PR and heritage PR expertise to the attraction’s advantage.

The Spitfire Visitor Centre is a truly hidden gem in Blackpool.  It is located on Squires Gate, in south Blackpool, and has stood there since 1939, when the floor of the hangar was laid.  

If the walls of the hangar could speak, they would undoubtedly reveal many secrets and a truly rich wartime story.  Luckily, the attraction has a wealth of committed volunteers who can do just that and speak for the hangar.  

These volunteers bring the whole dramatic story of RAF Squires Gate – and RAF Blackpool – to life, as lucky visitors view iconic Spitfires and many more engaging and nostalgic exhibits and features.

This made it a most worthy winner, but another attraction that also caught the eye amongst applicants was the Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rossendale.  

On this basis, Catapult PR has decided to offer some of its valuable one-to-one marketing mentoring sessions, to try to inspire the team there to follow some new approaches and ideas.

The criteria for this particular round of free PR and content support was that applicants needed to have a heritage element to their tourism offering.

Catapult PR wished to celebrate 25 years of winning PR and content awards for heritage attractions and offer its specialist heritage marketing expertise to businesses that need extra help.

Despite celebrating 10 years of success, the Spitfire Visitor Centre – Hangar 42 is a wholly volunteer-run attraction in every regard and not just the storytelling.

The volunteer committee believed they could really benefit from having a fresh pair of external eyes on their marketing.  They also wanted to try new approaches.  

The aim will be to help them build on their success in becoming the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year in Lancashire and to drive visitor numbers.

Catapult PR’s aim will be to tell their story in compelling ways – online, through PR and editorials and through podcasts.  Its Poodling Around travel and leisure podcast will come into play for this. 

Jane Hunt, managing director of Catapult PR said: “Most of the centre’s promotion, to date, has been through affinity relationships, social media and spin-off publicity from filming that has taken place at the hangar, for a variety of top programmes and shows.

"The visitor attraction’s enthusiasm for trying new ways of marketing their heritage experience was truly refreshing.  They really do wish to increase their footfall and we saw that there could be a real opportunity to help them do that.

“The outcome from all of this, 25 years after scooping two Gold PR awards for a campaign for a heritage visitor attraction in Cumbria, is one that has been truly uplifting for Catapult PR.  

"Our support is greatly appreciated by both visitor attractions.  We believe that working with both of them will enrich our own day-to-day PR lives, as well as helping them.”

Catapult PR also seeks to assist a variety of businesses in its specialist niches, such as tourism PR, insurance PR, pet product and pet insurance PR and heritage PR by creating downloadable resources that encompass customer insight, gained through independently commissioned research.  A variety of such downloads can be found at the Catapult PR website.

For more information visit https://www.catapultpr.co.uk or call 0333 2424062.