VisitBritain Judges Americans’ Best British Accents in Tourism Push Ahead of Coronation

Visitors who flock to the United Kingdom often head to London to see sites such as Buckingham Palace or Big Ben, but tourism body VisitBritain wants to demonstrate there is much more to see across the nation.

A recent marketing push from VisitBritain, created by agency Pablo London, uses both a new line of tea and an AI-powered mobile game to show off the diversity of the country’s regions and activities.

“Discovering new and surprising experiences is really high on the wishlist for our target audience,” VisitBritain deputy director of global marketing, Emma Wilkinson, told Adweek. “We’re looking to showcase our icons and what Britain is known for, but also show a lesser known side of Britain that’s full of those fresh and exciting experiences that hopefully encourage people to visit Britain this year rather than one day.”

Last month, VisitBritain worked with Cornish tea brand Tregothnan to create “The Great British Curosi-Teas,” a range of seven teas that each showcased a different British attraction. Monster Hunting Tea features calming manuka honey representing Scotland’s Loch Ness, while the Surf Tea uses Cornish sea salt to inspire visitors to hit the beach.

To develop the tea range, VisitBritain uncovered the top motivators for audiences where the campaign is running–France, Germany, Spain and the Gulf region–and then used data to inform the flavors and blends.

A multimillion pound campaign incorporates paid social and out-of-home ads in Paris and Madrid. These markets were selected because they showed the strongest rate of post-pandemic recovery, meaning they have the highest potential for return visitors, said Wilkinson.

Americans love British accents

VisitBritain developed another campaign focused on the U.S. market that is based on the insight that Americans like British accents.

Production company The Mill created a “Fake Brit Till You Make It” app using 500 recordings from natives of Liverpool, Newcastle, Essex, Scotland and Wales. Users can try their own attempts at the accents and be scored on their accuracy. They are then encouraged to share their impressions on social media.

“Americans love a British accent,” Wilkinson said. “Britain has one of the highest densities of different accents heard anywhere in the world. A lot of the U.S. audience that we’re going after also watch a lot of British reality TV, and they’re already doing accents on their own on TikTok and Instagram.”

VisitBritain is working with influencers to try the game and share it on their own channels. It has also partnered with magazine Vanity Fair to run a “Talk British to Me” content series directing traffic to the game.

The VisitBritain website spotlights activities corresponding to each accent, such as the Johnnie Walker experience in Edinburgh, Scotland or white water rafting in Wales. VisitBritain also works with a variety of travel partners, including Hilton and Historic Royal Palaces, to guide customers along the booking journey.

Both campaigns will run until June and continue to evolve. For example, VisitBritain recently added a His Majestea flavor to its tea range to mark the coronation of King Charles on May 6, which was served during his state visit to Germany in March.

VisitBritian also plans to serve the teas at events planned for both the coronation and the Eurovision Song Contest running in Liverpool May 9 to 13.

“We’ve got a really exciting couple of months ahead, so we want to celebrate those moments on the world stage,” Wilkinson added.