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Under threat Visit Cornwall up for national marketing award

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#LoveCornwall Night train film

The closure-threatened organisation which promotes Cornwall to the rest of the world has been shortlisted for a national marketing award.

Visit Cornwall is in line for Best Use of Film in The Travel Marketing Awards 2015 for its #LoveCornwall film series.

The shortlisting recognises the series of films as one of the best performing promotional campaigns of last year. Visit Cornwall is now assured of at least a runner-up trophy when the Awards are announced at Grosvenor House in London on 19 March - which ironically could coincide with the Cornwall Council funded organisation being disbanded as the local authority struggles to make almost ^200 million in savings.

Only last week all 16 staff at Visit Cornwall were given redundancy notices and may all lose their jobs if a deal is not found for the private sector to take over the running of the tourism organisation.

Malcolm Bell, head of Visit Cornwall told the WMN that all was needed to save Visit Cornwall was for the council to agree a ^300,000 transition grant.

The #LoveCornwall film series was created to champion the county as a unique, rich and diverse holiday destination and to create a ^buzz^ about Cornwall among the digital community.

Each film is an individual short story, using clever and succinct storytelling; creativity; beautiful imagery; evocative music; and fun animation, to bring to life Cornwall^s unique characteristics and characters.

The films use a variety of approaches; drama, documentary and poetry, to emotionally connect with the audience.

Themes include spending quality time with our families ^ in the film ^Fathers and Sons^ which follows three generations on a camping trip to Lansallos, and celebrating lesser known traditions such as pub singing in ^A Cornish Jukebox^.

Released around key dates such as Father^s Day and St Piran^s Day, the films were distributed across Visit Cornwall^s established platforms, including the award-winning website, visitcornwall.com, as well as to the media and partners in the tourism industry.

To date, the eight films in the series have generated a total of 126,783 views and have contributed to the Visit Cornwall YouTube channel passing a milestone of over 1,250,000 million views.

Lauren Hogan, digital marketing manager at Visit Cornwall said: ^We wanted to utilise video content to tell great stories. The #LoveCornwall film series has an authenticity and eclecticism that is rare in destination tourism promotion. Our films have been described as trailblazing in destination marketing and without doubt have played an important role in Visit Cornwall^s record-breaking achievements which saw the website increase by an unprecedented 40% to three million visits last year.

^I am proud that the series has not only been such a success with visitors but also with the tourism industry who have used and shared the films themselves ^ to now have recognition from industry professionals is a huge coup and I am thrilled to have our work shortlisted in these Awards.^

Commissioned by Visit Cornwall, the Cornwall Development Company tourism service, the films were created by De Facto Films and Sound View Media and can be viewed at www.visitcornwall.com.

Now in their seventh year, The Travel Marketing Awards are organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing^s Travel Industry Group. They aim to raise marketing standards across the travel industry by showcasing best practice.

Alongside Visit Cornwall, the shortlist, which spans 34 categories, includes the likes of British Airways, First Choice and Premier Inn, as well as another Cornish favourite, the Eden Project and First Great Western.