Yorkshire pushes the region with online drive

Yorkshire Forward, one of England’s nine regional development agencies, is launching an online campaign created by digital agency DS.Emotion.

Yorkshire Forward e-marketing manager Rob Walton says: “The Yorkshire and Humber region is as big as Ireland, Norway and Singapore. It has 5 million people and 270,000 businesses contributing to an economy worth over &£72bn. New media is an increasingly important channel.”

Yorkshire Forward was set up by the government to promote sustainable economic development throughout Yorkshire and Humber. The first stage of its online campaign involves a new website – www.yorkshire-forward.com – aimed at encouraging public and private investment.

DS.Emotion plans to follow the launch of the website with the roll-out of podcasts, viral campaigns and online games – the first time such techniques have been used by a regional development agency.

The new site will be updated regularly with news and regional business events. DS.Emotion has used a content management system that allows Yorkshire Forward to take on full management of the site and allows the client to develop new sections easily.

Visitors can browse images of the area and download key documents and publications as well as videos featuring key speakers.