To help increase South Bank's visibility across domestic and international audiences, the BID strategically invests in a range of campaigns that drive footfall from audiences across the globe.
South Bank BID is a high-level partner of London & Partners, the Mayor’s Tourism Agency who deliver the Visit London channels. This translates to ongoing visibility for South Bank across their channels, and campaigns, and strategic PR and media opportunities where appropriate.
A key component of this partnership working is the Let’s Do London campaign, which emerged from the need for a strategic campaign approach to the post-COVID recovery. With the tourism economy a crucial component of South Bank’s business landscape, following the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic the BID quickly acted to advocate for and support strategic initiatives that would encourage visitors, both domestically and internationally, to return to London when safe to do so.
This led to the development of the Let's Do London campaign, London's biggest ever Domestic and International campaigns, which the BID was a key funder of.
These campaigns ran in 2022 and 2023, with 2022's campaign seeing an estimated £289m of additional spending brought to the capital, and investment of £28 for every £1 spent through the combined contribution of GLA and industry funding. This is alongside an additional 600,000 visitors to London from other parts of the UK, Germany, France and the USA.
Nic Durston, South Bank BID’s Chief Executive, continues to sit on the Tourism Advisory Group, who helped deliver the campaign, to provide the perspective of South Bank businesses in terms of emerging tourism movements and trends.
Alongside helping fund the domestic and international campaigns, the BID continues to work with the GLA on ongoing promotional and local activations to highlight all the exciting events taking place in South Bank. This included partnering with the Mayor on 2022’s Spring Into London campaign, where the BID funded the installation of the London Lights on Observation Point, which drew thousands of visitors during February half term.