Campaign Stats:
- 12 Items of Coverage
- Air Time: 117 Minutes
- Audience Reach: 1.75 Million
4media group recently worked on a broadcast PR campaign with the Virginia Tourist Board, celebrating the UK’s love of Country Music. The campaign was fronted by Baylen Leonard and Leah Ross from the non-profit organisation, The Birthplace of Country Music, who dicussed the birthplace of country music and why Brits are enjoying country music so much.
New research revealed that 65% of Brits now actively listen to country music and over half (54%) believe they know a lot about the genre.
TV series with outstanding country music soundtracks have accelerated the popularity of the music genre and with singers such as Dolly Parton headlining Glastonbury and the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran noting country music as influences in their own music, this has further upped the ante on Britain’s love of country.
However, despite the popularity of country music, Brits don’t seem to know that much at all. 97% of Bits have no idea where the birthplace of country music is – Bristol, Virginia in the United States.
The campaign highlighted that Virginia’s music scene boasts a wide variety of genres including R&B, rock and roll, jazz, folk, bluegrass, country and gospel. Its music venues offer music lovers hundreds of performances a year by world-famous musicians on stages around the state, from grand theatres to the local brew house or winery
Country music specialist and renowned broadcaster Baylen Leonard educated Brits further on country music, and has also helped to organise the newest country music festival to take place in the UK. The Long Road Festival in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, headlined acts such as Carrie Underwood and Leanne Womack. It was the first time that the UK has seen anything of this size in an outside Festival.
The campaign achieved a range of broadcast coverage, including 3 BBC radio interviews at BBC Scotland, BBC Solent, and BBC Leeds, as well as an interviews with Wycombe Sound, Yorkshire Coast Radio, and more.