PR Strategy, National & Trade Media Relations, Content Production, Campaign Planning

The Brief

Following Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire's national Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) accreditation from VisitEngland — a status that unlocks funding, business support and direct access to VisitEngland and VisitBritain resource — Visit Telford needed PR and communications activity that would translate that accreditation into visibility, visitor demand and trade engagement across the destination.

The destination's story had two strong pillars to work with: a year-round family staycation offer built around big outdoor adventure, and the 40th anniversary of Ironbridge Gorge's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. STC PR was brought in to build national press profile, produce ongoing content, and support trade and stakeholder communications across both.

The Approach

STC PR worked across three connected strands: a family staycation content campaign, national heritage and travel media relations, and destination-level trade communications — each designed to reinforce the others and keep the destination in the news agenda well beyond a single launch moment.

Telford's 40 Giant Family Adventures

STC PR delivered PR and content production for 'Telford's 40 Giant Family Adventures' a year-round family staycation campaign spanning guides, blogs and press activity. The campaign translated the borough's outdoor, heritage and creative assets into a themed programme of family days out, giving Visit Telford a consistent story to tell across every season rather than a single seasonal push.

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Working from the guide's themed sections, STC PR planned and produced a weekly summer blog series, *Great Ideas for Great Family Days and Stays*, scheduled to land across the school holidays when family audiences are actively planning trips. Content was developed further into multi-channel social posts, story-led blogs and themed 48-hour family itineraries — turning core destination assets into shareable, visitor-ready content rather than one-off promotional copy.

National Press and Heritage Profile

STC PR wrote and pitched national travel press features, including long-form destination articles for titles such as *The Guardian Travel*, positioning Telford & Ironbridge as a big-adventure, world-class-heritage staycation destination in a competitive UK travel media landscape.

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Alongside the family campaign, STC PR led PR and communications activity marking the 40th anniversary of Ironbridge Gorge's UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription, generating heritage and travel media coverage that reinforced the destination's credentials as a world-class heritage attraction — sitting the family-adventure story alongside a genuinely national-interest heritage anchor.

Managing the Machinery Behind the Campaign

None of this ran in isolation. STC PR managed press and media outreach for the campaign end-to-end, working to tight, staged sign-off deadlines across council and stakeholder teams — coordinating messaging, timing and approvals across multiple partners without losing pace on a year-round content and press schedule.

The Outcome

The combined programme gave Visit Telford a joined-up voice across national travel press, always-on family content and heritage storytelling — built to support a destination newly recognised for its strategic growth potential, and to turn that recognition into visible, ongoing coverage rather than a single accreditation announcement.

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