The Hull and East Yorkshire Bondholders marketing organisation has teamed up with Hull City and Hull Business Improvement District (HullBID) to promote the city centre and wider region to travelling supporters.
They have worked together to erect prominent promotional displays at the stadium’s North Stand, which houses away supporters. The eye-catching artwork features powerful imagery promoting some of the city centre and wider region’s key attractions.
The seven large wall coverings mounted in the North Stand concourse promote The Deep, the Marina, Hull’s shopping and nightlife, as well as Hull’s shortlisting for UK City of Culture 2017. They also contain quotes from positive references about Hull in national newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian.
The striking images were seen by supporters for the first time on Saturday, August 24, when the Tigers kicked off their home Premier League campaign against Norwich City. Norwich took 2,500 fans to Hull for the game, having sold out their allocation of tickets. Over the season about 50,000 visiting fans will attend Hull City games at the KC Stadium.
Hull City are believed to be the only Premier League club who are promoting and supporting the visitor economy in this way. HullBID and the Bondholders have worked in partnership to deliver the large-scale backdrops.
Bondholders Membership Manager Leahann Mollon said: “Hull City’s promotion to the Premier League presents a great opportunity to promote the city and the wider region nationally and internationally.
“Over the season there will be tens of thousands of supporters coming to Hull to support their team and, for many of them, it may well be the first time they have been here.
“These wall coverings are a powerful prompt for supporters to stay in the city a little longer, or perhaps return for a city break. They are also a very effective way of challenging and changing the false perceptions of Hull outside this region.
“This sends out a great message to supporters from across the country that they are very welcome in Hull and that we would love them to see more of the city, either after the game or on a return visit.”
HullBID City Centre Manager Kathryn Shillito said the idea came from a meeting between BID Chairman Jim Harris and Hull City Managing Director Nick Thompson.
She added: “From a BID perspective our hope is that visiting fans will come to the match and possibly want to return with their families for a day visit or a longer stay.
“We collaborated with the football club and the Bondholders and decided that, collectively, we could really animate this wide-open space with some fantastic images of the city centre.
“For Hull BID it’s about showing the city centre off at its best and with our bid for City of Culture it seemed particularly relevant. These images are vibrant and eye-catching and really tell a story. We believe visiting supporters coming to the club will be taken by the pictures and encouraged to either travel into the city centre and spend a bit of money or to come back another time.”
The wall coverings are part of a range of improvements to the match-day experience for fans as the club returns to football’s top flight after a three-year absence, including themed sections of the ground to reflect the types of supporters who occupy those areas.
Hull City Managing Director Nick Thompson, who is also a member of the Bondholders Advisory Group, said: “Hull City’s home games will attract large numbers of visitors to the area. We are immensely proud of our city and region and the opportunity to give our visitors a taste of Hull and East Riding is too good to miss.”
The football club has also used publications produced by the Bondholders to introduce their close-season signings to the city and region.
The “My Hull and East Yorkshire” and “Your Life in Hull and East Yorkshire” booklets are packed with useful information about living, working and spending leisure time in the region.
