VisitLondon appoints marketing supremo
VisitLondon has appointed Martine Ainsworth-Wells to the new position of general manager, marketing.
One of Ainsworth-Wells’ first projects will be to develop a £3m campaign promoting London in the United States. It will probably use radio as its lead medium.
Ainsworth-Wells heads a team of nine and has responsibility for all agencies. She reports to deputy chief executive and former VisitLondon marketing director Sandra Elliott.
Ainsworth-Wells is a former client services director at USP Radio, a radio advertising, promotions and sponsorship agency, where she held a board position. She is also a former head of promotions at the Evening Standard and head of sponsorship at Heart 106.2 FM.
VisitLondon, formerly the London Tourist Board, is funded by the London Development Agency. The organisation introduced a new branding for London under the banner “Totally LondON” in January last year (MW January 30, 2003) and retained advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers.BDDO, which created a television campaign, featuring Tory MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine, based around promotional offers last autumn (MW October 16, 2003).
VisitLondon has just organised a series of showcase events for the capital under the banner “One Amazing Week”, which begins on Sunday (February 22) when rock band Motörhead play the Royal Opera House.
It is also launching a promotional initiative called Go London, which will see a 12-page brochure featuring food, shopping and entertainment offers inserted into The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday in March.
