We were commissioned to make a scroll-stopping film to promote Experience Oxfordshire’s venue-finding service, promoting the wonderful range of meeting and event spaces and venues in Oxfordshire to clients in the Business visits, Meetings, Incentives, Conference, Events and Exhibitions markets (BVE and MICE).
Experience Oxfordshire is the lead organisation supporting the county’s visitor economy. It is a highly competitive sector with destinations around the world seeking to attract this lucrative market and to encourage delegates and attendees to add a leisure or recreational extension to their trip, thereby further extending the economic benefit to the local economy. Oxfordshire offers a wonderfully eclectic selection of meeting, conference and event venues and is well-placed to capitalise on its international reputation.
Experience Oxfordshire came to us requiring video assets which illustrate the breadth and excellence of experience and quality offered by Oxford and Oxfordshire venues. Where else could you hold your meeting in a room that was once home to Oscar Wilde, or dine where C S Lewis, William Gladstone and Rowan Atkinson regularly ate? Or hold a drinks reception in a historic library? Or let your delegates spend the evening networking on the banks of the Thames? From UNESCO world-heritage palaces and ancient libraries to high-tech venues, Oxfordshire is home to a diverse range of venues suitable for everything from bio-tech conventions to luxury incentive breaks, corporate retreats and romantic weddings. Surrounding the historic ‘City of Dreaming Spires’ and the world-leading University of Oxford are the beautiful stone villages of the Cotswolds, bucolic English market towns on the banks of the Thames, and Britain’s greatest palace – all within a little over an hour from London by train, bus or car.
Our brief therefore was to:
- create video assets which communicate visually the range of venues on offer within Oxfordshire and the uniqueness of the destination.
- create assets which attract the interest of domestic and international meeting planners and buyers in order to increase bookings.
- Drive traffic to the www.experienceoxfordshire.org/venues site, with the aim of increasing enquiry levels and resulting sales revenues for local businesses
- Support the visitor economy across Oxfordshire by creating awareness, inspiring visitation and encouraging overnight stays and spending across the county
- Inspire trust, interest and engagement in visiting and staying in Oxfordshire
In terms of deliverables, we suggested o two-minute master film showcasing a selection of up to 15 Oxfordshire venues, and four 30-second cutdowns for social media highlighting different themes.
The film needed to be vibrant and bright, showing inspiring imagery of Oxfordshire sites with a good balance of town and country venues. Over a whistle-stop three days, we filmed interiors and exteriors at 12 sites which are unique to Oxfordshire and which we judged would appeal to the target markets. They were Bicester Motion, Windmill Hill Archive at Waddesdon Manor, New Theatre Oxford, Keble College, Leonardo Royal Hotel Oxford, the Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels, The Store Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rhodes House, the Relais Henley, Milton Hill House, Blenheim Palace and Caswell House.
At each location, we aimed to capture bright, flowing shots of the architecture and surroundings, as well as several staged shots with volunteers to add some action and show the venues being prepared for private functions.
The finished film was a great success and is currently promoting the venue-finding service for Experience Oxfordshire.
