One Hour From London, One Hour From France, 5 Minutes
From The Beach
Folkestone for many years has neglected marketing itself as a
place to live or visit, with tourist promotion always being the first thing to
be cut at the local authority. Damien Collins gave an interesting talk at the
big Regeneration Seminar organised by the Channel Chamber of Commerce in
September. He is a Parliamentary candidate incidentally, and Go Folkestone is
non-political. However he is an advertising executive with several campaigns to
his credit and so has to be listened to when talking about marketing. In one
sentence his main message was that too much tourist advertising is non specific.
Essex for example markets it self as having villages that are ‘hidden gems among
the rolling countryside ‘, something that could apply to 90% of English counties
.
In the eighties Shepway marketed itself as The Garden Coast. Where are the
gardens? Sea Close in Hythe is attractive but rarely open. Derek Jarman’s garden
at Dungeness did not then exist. There was probably a nod to Kent’s cognomen as
The Garden of England. But in reality it was like the Essex example, vague and
pointless.
So what is distinct about our town? What is emblematic? What is the USP, or
unique selling point, What would be a good slogan? We could certainly promote
our location as in the headline above, since we will soon be even more
convenient than Brighton. The time to Paris could also be a memorable punch
line.
As an emblem we have the Martello Towers. They aren’t as good as Dover Castle,
the USP of Dover, but two of them are sometimes open to the public at Folkestone
and Dymchurch, and with the beach or the pitch and putt make a nice afternoon
out. Many of the others are in striking locations on cliffs, beaches or in
woods, ideal destinations for a walk. They are genuinely distinctive, and
visually unmistakable. They were built in the 1800s as a defensive line against
Napoleon and used later against smugglers. Built mainly in an already limited
area from Medway to Seaford in Sussex they have been further limited by
demolition until our district and Folkestone in particular have far more than
any other stretch of coastline. The word, which comes with a touch of respelling
from Cape Mortella in Corsica is pleasantly exotic and Continental. We could
quite legitimately push Shepway into the public consciousness as Folkestone and
the Martello Coast.
I wouldn’t suggest all our eggs should go in one basket, but it does have a
certain ring to it, it is based on a real USP, and from Shepway District
Council’s point of view, it does have the advantage of relating to every part of
the Shepway coastline.
The White Cliffs Project is already designing a long distance footpath around
the Martello’s so, let’s all get involved.
R.Wallace
Article from Go Folkestone Newsletter December 2007
