What was our brief:

We planned the advertising and PR campaigns for the Borrowdale Hotel – then it was sold to Lake District Hotels Limited – a group of hotels owned and run by Charles and Kit Graves. Results at the Borrowdale were good enough to impress the new Directors who kept Market Sense on to support marketing and PR for the group. The brief – keep our hotels in the headlines and help build trade.

What did we do:

It’s over seven years since we began supporting the group. In the early days the focus was on generating customer acquisition, with associate links, lists and advertising support. More recently it’s been about creating ideas and stories about their staff, guests and experiencing the hotels. Happily our photography skills have been well used – supporting editorial writing for features that include Lancashire Life, Cumbria Life and Living North, as well as countless newsletters. National PR success includes The Daily Mail, Sunday Express, The Times and Dogs Today!

The challenge of fresh ideas is constant. We’re known for getting creative and quirky and turning ideas into action. Director Kit Graves once saw a stunning Nutcracker display in Copenhagen and challenged us turn it into the fairy-tale Christmas at the Lodore Falls Hotel. We found a local Ballet School and organised ballet performances, worked with designers who bedecked the hotel in tutus and ballet shoes and liaised with chefs who created a Russian lunch for Cumbria Life diners – then we wrote about it and took pictures. The theme has been so successful it ran for several years.

Our biggest challenges – “find a Corgi and create a Royal Jubilee Afternoon tea gathering” – I am the royal blue model! “Get a picture of Bradley Wiggins as he goes past the Borrowdale Hotel” – I nearly lost my ear.