Member Article

Alnwick Garden launch ad campaign to challenge perceptions of English country garden

Alnwick Garden and Newcastle-based creative agency Guerilla have launched a new advertising campaign designed to shake up the perception of traditional country gardens.

The campaign, which includes TV and cinema spots, aims to showcase the contemporary side of the Garden and its breadth of activities.

It features two opposing characters: ‘Blossom’, the traditional English rose that embodies the relaxed, lighter elements of the Garden with its ornamental and rose gardens; and ‘Vyne’, who embodies the more mischievous, darker side of the Garden, including the Poison Garden, the Bamboo Labyrinth and the Serpent Garden water features.

A 30 second film, which sees Blossom enjoying the delights of The Garden in full bloom as Vyne pursues her in a bid to deliver a watery surprise, forms the centre piece to the campaign and reveals Blossom as no pushover.

Dan Appleby, client services director, said: “We felt the idea of creating two characters to personify the different aspects of the Garden was a really interesting one, but we knew it would take a lot of hard work to get it right.

“We worked hard to find the right people to play the characters, and to establish the style of each before we were ready to introduce them to the world.

“Every element of the campaign was created to emphasise the contrast between the two sides of the Garden. The printed and online executions use stark differences in colour and imagery to create that contrast and the 30” commercial uses an acute change of pace and music to build up to a surprising climax. We hope that people who see the ads will be intrigued to find out more and to visit The Garden themselves.”

Marketing and communications manager, Lindsay Gill, said: “We wanted to challenge people’s perceptions of garden attractions and distinguish The Alnwick Garden from more stoic heritage or castle gardens.

“Guerilla were instrumental in creating a fantastic campaign and I am more than excited to see the impact it has over this summer. It has truly captured The Garden’s spirited nature.”

Both Blossom and Vyne also have their own social media profiles, and will be incorporated into The Garden’s own dialogue with visitors to creatively illustrate The Garden’s personality.

The campaign began in the first week of July and will run throughout the summer across all media until the end of August.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .