The old adage goes that people who talk about the weather have nothing interesting to say. Others claim that we Brits talk of nothing else. I refute both of these heartily. Only last week a friend and I conducted a healthy debate about fashion preferences: brollies or wellies?
My old mate Josh touched on this in mid June, when it did indeed seem like we were heading for a heat wave akin to that in Predator 2 (although we hoped without the ensuing shenanigans). However, Wimbledon came and, as though reminded of a chore by a vaguely related incident, the rain soon followed, excusing itself for being late and brushing the crumbs from its trousers.
Just when you think it’s going well old Blighty blights us with the latest bout of rain/hail/storms/floods/cats/dogs. In such an environment it’s amazing that our tourist industry survives at all. With this in mind I thought it would be fun to do a little digging and see just how it is that our tourist boards manage to get people to set foot on our blessed isle at all.
Let’s start with England.
The official website for breaks and days out in England highlights its use of the English Rose symbol. Anywhere you see it means that you are “assured that all attractions showing this logo have, themselves, been quality assured in England’s only independent quality scheme for all attractions.” Therefore quality is something to be guaranteed, despite external forces. The site also advises that you grab your sunscreen and on the following link neatly sidesteps the issue by saying: “England is hard to beat when the sun shines.” This is a tidy tactic, like a wizened matador deftly sidestepping an onrushing bull. Pepper these pleasantries with a wash of pictures of bikini-clad cartwheelers on sandy beaches, sun-drenched stately homes and reflections of Victorian railway arches in pristine lakes and we are handed something better than the truth: the idea of perfection.
This is experiential marketing without the experience, a magic trick with no cards. Yet we are left with more than a beautiful assistant. Instead we succumb freely to a paradise of the mind precisely because we are so eager to believe it: the mythos of England’s green and pleasant land.
(If you’re reading this, Enjoy England, you can reach me on 0151 55378008).