VisitNorwich has won a major travel marketing award, beating the likes of Brand USA! PR and Marketing Manager Mel March explains what it means for the ‘small but mighty’ team, especially this year, the 20th anniversary of the tourism arm of the Business Improvement District
Who are you and what do you do?
VisitNorwich is the official Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) working within Norwich Business Improvement District. Our remit is to attract and grow tourism in Norwich and the surrounding area by showcasing the amazing and diverse things there are to see and do here. We are never short of things to say! The city is so culturally active with new activities all the time – add its history and incredible food and drink and being part of the Broads National Park – you can then see why we are so busy.
What do you love about Norwich so much?
I love that Norwich is compact enough to get around without needing further transportation and that it’s packed full of amazing architecture, green spaces, wonderful cultural attractions and inspiring places to eat and drink. I also love its strong independent offer. I think travellers are always looking for something different from home and on many levels that’s what Norwich gives you.
How does VisitNorwich and Norwich BID work together?
Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) is an organisation working on behalf of over 700 businesses located in the city. As with other BIDs located throughout the UK, Norwich BID works on initiatives to help grow the local economy and support our businesses in a
variety of different ways – this includes tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, delivering sustainability projects, attracting business relocation to the area, and running events such as Norwich Summer Sessions and Norwich Wine Week which attract people into the city centre to have a great time and enjoy all that Norwich has to offer.
VisitNorwich is the tourism arm of BID – our work is directly to consumers through our PR and marketing activity promoting the destination as a whole but also individual businesses. VisitNorwich is funded by Norwich BID, Norwich City Council and its own membership scheme. Our campaigns are run for domestic audiences but our website, social channels and PR crosses both domestic and international tourism.
We have a huge local following who enjoy hearing about the latest events and news and getting insights into places to visit they might not have heard about.
We have a great team – it’s small though – working closely with attractions, cultural organisations, accommodation, retailers and hospitality where, over many years, close relationships have formed. We are trusted with a lot of information, and we are invited onto
steering groups within Norwich who appreciate our perspectives. Examples of this include Norfolk Museums Service and the National Centre for Writing who are heading up the UNESCO City of Literature strategy.
What award did the team win recently and why is it a big deal for Norwich, do you think?
At the 2025 Travel Marketing Awards, VisitNorwich with Fabbrica Media won Integrated Marketing Campaign of the Year (under £500,00 media spend)!
This is a big deal for many reasons. I feel a list coming on:
- The campaign category media spend was £500,000 – we didn’t even spend 5% of this. We don’t have big budgets. In fact, in comparison, we have very modest budgets.
- We work with a small media agency – Fabbrica Media who specialises in travel. Richard Rizzo Hills is amazing and, because the agency is small, we get to have frank and honest conversations together. Richard understands our budget limitations but our big aspirations – he gets how hard our budgets have to work for us. We are not just a client – he cares about delivering very good results. We see Richard as an extension of our team.
- Did you see who we were up against? Brand USA and Travel Texas to name two and global marketing agencies with large teams such as MMGY Global, FINN Partners, and Designate and Accord Marketing.
- It was amazing to be awarded GOLD status and win in this category in front of 500-plus marketing and travel professionals (including Simon Calder) at a glittering ceremony. To see VisitNorwich up on the big screen, and some of our marketing assets too, was a very proud moment.
- Finally, for DMOs like us there isn’t a lot of money on the table despite the fact tourism (domestic and inbound) contributes approximately 10% of the country’s GDP, that’s £286 billion to the UK economy last year (World Travel & Tourism Council). Domestic travel is a hugely important market for us, but it is a competitive market with well over 200 DMOs wanting to gain market share. But we are getting there. In 2023 the total value of tourism in Norwich (Economic Impact of Tourism Norwich Report 2023) rose 3% (£769,350,590) compared to 2022, overnight trips were up 10%, and day trips up 4%.
And, as I’ve said before, we are a small but mighty team – dedicated to what we do because we want to deliver for Norwich and our VisitNorwich members. We really care, and we care about the small details, which often makes all the difference.
Between us we are a creative team full of ideas and ambition. And we are not afraid of hard work; we are a very good and supportive group of people to each other. We write, design, plan, and communicate with thought and intelligence, both internally and with our audience. We know our product and we have trusted and long-term partners and relationships within the organisation and outside of it which helps us get there, because we draw on the strengths and talents of others not just of ourselves. What is the saying? ‘It takes a village…’
Was it for a particular campaign?
The campaign was aimed at an audience targeted by VisitEngand: pre-nesters, who are a group aged 18 – 44 without children in the household. They have the highest segment spend per trip and they travel year-round. This is important because we want to spread visits across the year, not just in high season.
The campaign was based on four pillars: Old Meets Now; Take A Seat, Let’s Eat; Independent Spirit and Act Natural. Under these pillars we ran a campaign with assets (high quality film and photography) and great copy which appealed to the senses. We wanted our audience to feel something good in order to make a decision to visit.
What is important about this year – and how do you plan to mark it?
This year is important. To be able to celebrate 20 years of VisitNorwich is a huge achievement and this is all thanks to the team, past and present, the members we work with and the partnerships we have forged over the years – which includes Norwich City Council, Greater Anglia, Norfolk Museums Service, the National Centre for Writing, the Sainsbury Centre, Visit East of England, VisitEngland and VisitBritain, to name but a few.
We get very good support and exposure through VisitEngland and VisitBritain who work on behalf of DMOs across the country – they have a lot of organisations to cover.
This year in Norwich is especially important because of the re-opening of the Keep (which is international news). The Keep is close to the hearts of us locals, and I am so proud that VisitNorwich has worked with the team at the Museums Service to help spread the word of
this incredible achievement – taking the Keep back to its medieval status. The rest of the year is going to be mad but within it we are planning a 20-year anniversary celebration, though at the moment I don’t quite know what that looks like. The award is a very good start.
And what is the plan for the next 20 years?!
The next 20-years? To continue doing what we do best, grow the team to enable us to reach even further, and to attract more members to VisitNorwich. We don’t just stick to Norwich – businesses across Norfolk who benefit from tourism are welcome to join and be part of our
membership.
Our work has made big strides in awareness for Norwich but there is still a way to go. In October 2024, Lonely Planet named East Anglia as one of their Best in Travel destinations which included ‘Norwich – our cultured capital’. And over the past 18 months we have seen a lot of national press coverage about Norwich being understated. It would be incredible to grow from ‘understated’ to ‘rated’ as one of the most recognisable city destinations in the UK. That would make us all very, very happy.
Featured image of Melanie March (third from right) at The Travel Marketing Awards, 2025 (credit AGS)
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