HullBID has underlined its commitment to promoting Hull city centre by confirming investment worth more than £120,000 in its own events and partner projects.

The funds, which are being spent by BID in its current financial year, is expected to trigger additional spend by businesses themselves.

Investment has come from the major retailers and the city’s independent retail outlets, and BID is looking to work with any business which wants to do more to promote and market Hull’s growing reputation as a vibrant city which is increasingly attractive to visitors and investors.

Kathryn Shillito, the HullBID City Centre Manager, said the investment is part of the organisation’s stronger focus on developing a programme of marketing and events to promote the city centre locally and regionally.
The strategy will build on the success of achieving the Purple Flag Award, it will deliver a series of festivals based on fashion, food and music and it will continue into BID’s next financial year with a Christmas campaign which is already at the planning stage.

Kathryn said: “HullBID is still working hard to keep the streets of our city centre safe and clean, and indeed we, with partners including Hull City Council and Humberside Police, were recognised for our achievements by the award of Purple Flag status.
“But that award also reflects the work that goes into making Hull city centre a vibrant place for people to visit, with high quality year-round festivals and partnership work with licensed premises and entertainment venues to improve our evening economy.

“Our Christmas campaign for 2012 marked a shift in HullBID’s strategy. Instead of spending money on adding to the array of activities in the city we decided to invest in marketing the city as a destination whilst promoting what our member businesses and other partners were doing.”

The main outcome of that was the “Wonderf-Hull” campaign which appeared everywhere from the pages of the Mail and The Journal to the backs of buses and – in a first for Hull – advertising slots on daytime TV.

HullBID invested a total of £33,000 in that campaign, with the money going further because of the level of co-ordination with initiatives funded by city centre business partners.

In addition BID has allocated £27,000 for the Fashion Week, which will take place from Monday 29 April to Saturday 4 May 2013 and £27,000 for the Yum! Festival of Food and Drink in August.

The Hull Trinity Festival, which last year brought together 16 city centre pubs and café bars for a live music extravaganza, will be repeated following the investment of £10,000 by HullBID. The event was a resounding success and it has been shortlisted this year for a REYTA Award in the “Remarkable Event” category.

Other events including support for Hull Civic Society’s Heritage Open Days event and the provision of live entertainment as visitors leave Hull City Hall following the University of Hull’s Graduation Ceremonies will take the total spend by HullBID on city centre events by the end of September to approximately £120,000.

“We have received very positive feedback about the Christmas campaign from city centre businesses who welcomed the fact that their own investment was being supported by HullBID,” said Kathryn.

“We anticipate a similar success story with the HullBID Fashion Week, when we will be coordinating a lot of events and activities around the city centre as well as promoting the activities of the major retailers, the big shopping centres and the small independents who bring character to our retail offer.

“The Yum Festival will feature local food and drink producers and the Hull Trinity Festival will see city centre licensees investing in local musical talent. So while HullBID is spending £120,000 on events to attract people into the city centre the real value is far higher because of the business investment which our work attracts and supports.”