Visitor Marketing Campaign - Next Steps
Renfrewshire Council · 29 April 2026
Back to Leadership Board — 29 April 2026 and its agenda
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Leadership Board On: 29 April 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Visitor Marketing Campaign - next steps ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 This report provides members with an update on the development plans for a Renfrewshire-wide visitor marketing campaign 2026-28 following the budget investment approved as part of the Council’s budget in February 2026. 1.2 An update is also provided on the recommendations which were taken to Leadership Board on 3 December 2024 following the independent review and evaluation of the Paisley brand. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 Members are requested to: • note the contents of the report including the background and work undertaken to date to develop a Renfrewshire-wide visitor marketing campaign. • note the next steps in the development of the Renfrewshire-wide visitor marketing campaign. • note the update provided on the previous recommendations following the Paisley brand review as outlined in Appendix 1. ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1 Over the last decade, Renfrewshire has invested significantly in place and visitor marketing. Paisley was created as a response to Paisley: The Untold Story which promised a town brand and publicity strategy for Paisley and was an action in Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture in 2021. It has played an important role in helping the council achieve its council plan objectives by positioning Renfrewshire as a destination of choice.
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PUBLIC 3.2 Paisley was launched in 2018 playing a major role in transforming perceptions of Paisley and Renfrewshire, strengthening media profile, and driving visitor growth alongside a new council event (and event bidding) strategy. 3.3 An evaluation of the Paisley brand activity and an independent review was carried out in 2023–24 and presented to the Leadership Board in December 2024. The review found that the brand successfully met its aim of helping to improve perceptions of Paisley. The review also confirmed some operational challenges: there was limited buy-in from local industry, in line with wider council finances, funding resources had reduced over time, and the Paisley only focus didn’t fully reflect the wider attractions across Renfrewshire or support broader goals such as attracting investment and supporting economic regeneration. 3.4 Following recommendations to Leadership Board in December 2024, development work began on a Renfrewshire wide visitor brand. Industry research showed strong support for a Renfrewshire-wide approach with Discover Renfrewshire emerging as a more inclusive direction. This process also revealed that a solely visitor focused brand would have a narrow focus and not deliver maximum long-term economic impact for the area. 3.5 To help inform longer term strategy, the council commissioned a place brand readiness review (in December 2026) to explore a more strategic, whole-place approach. A place brand would help define Renfrewshire’s identity for all audiences, provide a shared narrative, improve competitiveness and visibility, build local pride, and support public and private investment. 3.6 While further work and decisions on place branding are still to come, the Council Budget (February 2026) confirmed funding to progress visitor marketing activity. Building on the continued investment over the last decade, this is the next step in the journey with the development of a two year Discover Renfrewshire visitor marketing and communications campaign. This will maintain momentum, as well as capitalise on the opening of the new Museum and wider investments, strengthen industry engagement, support upcoming cultural capital investments and begin to lay the foundation for any future place brand. 4. Developing a Renfrewshire-wide visitor marketing approach 4.1 In early 2025, the marketing team initiated the development work of a Renfrewshire- wide visitor brand following Leadership Board approval in December 2024. Over the past year, phase one of this work has been completed. This focused on research and engagement with industry and the development of an initial Renfrewshire-wide visitor brand. 4.2 Phase one activity included the appointment of an external agency support to deliver engagement workshops and one-to-one interviews with industry stakeholders; development of a draft brand strategy informed by the research and engagement findings and an internal working group established with Economy and Regeneration. 4.3 The engagement workshops and one-to-one interviews took place with members of the Tourism Leadership Group, Renfrewshire Tourism Network, One Ren and internal teams.
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PUBLIC This included development workshops and interviews asked tourism and leisure representatives about Renfrewshire’s visitor offer and what sets our place apart from others. The insight gained has informed the strategy for future visitor marketing activity. 4.3 Key findings gathered from industry in phase one showed: • Strong industry support for a unified Renfrewshire-wide approach showcasing the range of Renfrewshire’s experiences, with opportunities for active industry participation and buy-in. • Concerns around the name ‘Visit Renfrewshire’ which was viewed as excluding residents; ‘Discover Renfrewshire’ was preferred as more inclusive and flexible. • Key elements of the Paisley strategy (such as audience development and product offer) remain relevant and provide a strong base for planning the new Renfrewshire wide campaign. The future campaign should be backed by the Council but not seen as Council owned, ensuring industry plays a central role in shaping its development. 4.4 Following the completion of phase one, a review of the findings showed that a visitor only brand would be too narrow for the level of investment required and would not offer long-term strategic value, so the development of a stand-alone visitor brand was paused and options for next steps were considered. 4.5 At the same time, work on Renfrewshire’s wider vision highlighted that a place brand could offer broader benefits for all audiences, including residents, visitors, businesses and investors. To help shape a long-term strategic plan, an external agency was commissioned to conduct an internal place brand readiness review which assesses the opportunities and requirements for Renfrewshire to develop a comprehensive place brand. 4.6 The initial review included targeted one-to-one consultations with senior leaders and partners, and an internal leadership and masterclass workshop to build understanding and alignment across the Council family. Insights from research and engagement will inform a final report in Spring 2026, setting out Renfrewshire’s current level of readiness and recommendations on whether and how to progress a place brand and the further detailed engagement required. 4.7 A place brand is not a logo or campaign but a shared strategic narrative that shapes how Renfrewshire understands itself and how it is perceived by others. A Renfrewshire place brand could strengthen identity and reputation, support business growth and investment, build resident pride, improve consistency across partners, and provide a long-term framework for marketing and engagement across the area. 4.8 While the readiness review was underway, investment was approved for a two-year visitor marketing activity and event support as part of the approved Council Budget in February 2025. Visitor marketing will continue as a Discover Renfrewshire campaign (not as a standalone brand) targeting local people and day-visitors.
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PUBLIC This will: • Maintain strong engagement with the tourism sector. • Promote great experiences in Renfrewshire and highlight Renfrewshire as their home. • Promote the culmination of the cultural investment and programming in 2026. • Provide a platform to support future place brand development. 5. Visitor marketing next steps 5.1 Following budget approval, planning is underway to develop the campaign with a launch planned for summer 2026. This includes the following: • Transition plan to retire Paisley brand – using key elements for strategic planning including audience insight and segmentation, product propositions and lessons learned from industry. • Further industry engagement to help inform the next steps and ensure buy-in from industry to make the campaign more collaborative. • Further engagement with Elected Members. • Development of two-year campaign marketing and communications plan including paid-for marketing activity – seasonal campaigns, marketing collateral, content development, PR and media, digital channels, campaign evaluation. 5.2 Indicative key milestones for the campaign are outlined below: Phase Date Key focus Phase one Planning Current – June 2026 Campaign strategy and plan Phase two Launch Summer 2026 June – August 2026 Engagement and soft launch • Local audience priority focus • Ongoing industry engagement Phase three Build Autumn/Winter 2026 September – December 2026 Local and regional activity • AW events programme • Industry support • Paisley Museum support Phase four Plan Jan 2027 – March 2027 Spring/Summer 2027 planning
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PUBLIC Phase Date Key focus • Engagement with industry • Always-on activity Phase 5 Activate April – August 2027 Spring/Summer activation • High-impact media buy – local and regional Phase 6 Activate Autumn/Winter 2027 September – December 2027 Autumn/Winter activation • High-impact media buy – local and regional Phase 7 Report and evaluation January – March 2028 Reporting and always-on activity. Funding ends. 5.3 A stakeholder plan will be developed to ensure Elected Members are kept up to date with the development of the campaign and during the key milestones. 5.4 Updates will be brought to Leadership Board through Service Improvement Plan reporting and a final report will be brought towards the end of the campaign. 6. Progress update from Leadership Board report – December 2024 6.1 Appendix 1 includes a progress update on the recommendations from Leadership Board December 2024. It is proposed that future updates on progress will be reported back to Leadership Board as part of the annual visitor marketing campaign updates. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – A budget of £480,000 was allocated to deliver the Visitor Marketing Campaign 2026 – 2028 and enhanced events support. This includes staffing resource and campaign activation. 2. HR & Organisational Development – none 3. Community/Council Planning – our commitment to engaging with local people and the industry will be central to campaign planning. 4. Legal - none 5. Property/Assets – none 6. Information Technology - none
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PUBLIC 7. Equality and Human Rights – there are no negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individual’s human rights arising from the recommendations contained in the report, as the report is for noting only. 8. Health and Safety - none 9. Procurement – none 10. Risk – none 11. Privacy Impact – none 12. COSLA Policy Position – none 13. Climate Risk – none 14. Children’s Rights – in order to reflect the views of Renfrewshire’s children and young people, engagement with these groups will be considered as part of the campaign planning. Author: Joanne Quinn, Marketing Manager
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PUBLIC Appendix 1 – Recommendations from Leadership Board December 2024 – Progress At Leadership Board (December 2024), Elected Members were asked to approve six areas of activity following the review of Paisley brand. These recommendations included how the Council might approach the marketing of Renfrewshire as a place to live, work and visit in future and have informed the activity to date. The below table provides a progress update: Ref Recommendation Progress update 1. To provide a Renfrewshire perspective, redevelop the Visit channel of Paisley.is to create visitrenfrewshire – a website to provide traditional visitor information on accommodation and attractions and information on getting to (and around) Renfrewshire. Marketing and Communications will lead work with Economy and Development to develop a plan for this transition. Due to the end of Future Paisley funding, management of the visitor site will require resource to be identified and future visitor campaigns will be required to be fully funded and resourced. Complete. As outlined in this paper, a Renfrewshire-wide visitor campaign will be developed following approval of funding. The development of the campaign and associated channels will be delivered by Marketing and Communications service and supported by a working group with Economy and Development colleagues. Future progress updates will be brought to Leadership Board. 2. To provide specific focus on investor marketing, review and redesign the InvestRenfewshire website, managed by Economy and Development, to become the single online resource for information required by prospective investors and business relocators and the main call to action for inward investment marketing. Invest content currently contained within Paisley will be integrated with InvestRenfrewshire. The design of InvestRenfrewshire will align with the look and feel of Paisley. The InvestinRenfrewshire website will be decommissioned and its content migrated to Renfrewshire.gov.uk. This brings it in line with brand and accessibility standards, connects it more effectively with related services such as employability, benefits or business support, and ensures it benefits from the same technology, governance, and support of Renfrewshire.gov.uk. It also supports the council's future use of AI tools. This follows the same approach being taken for the HSCP website, which will also be decommissioned in 2026 with its content moving to Renfrewshire.gov.uk, creating a well-governed website for wider local services. See note 3 for update on retiral of Paisley brand. 3. Through Marketing and Communications, continue the drive to change perceptions of Paisley and support the culmination of a programme of significant regeneration and cultural investment, using Paisley as a campaigning tool within the council’s portfolio, to promote specific Paisley campaigns that have national profile. Complete. Due to the developments of the Renfrewshire- wide visitor campaign and following industry feedback, Paisley will be retired in 2026. www.paisley.is will be decommissioned and a Discover Renfrewshire web presence will be developed in its place. Work will be ongoing to change perceptions of Paisley and support the culmination of
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PUBLIC regeneration and cultural investment as part of the new campaign and through ongoing communications and marketing activity. 4. Through Marketing and Communications and with place partners, establish a formal Renfrewshire marketing group which will have the remit to explore joint marketing opportunities and increase collaboration with place partners in Renfrewshire. This will create opportunities to identify funding for future campaigns and will provide access to new audience channels. Complete. There was agreement to establish a subgroup of the Tourism Leadership Group. This group will form a key role in developing the visitor marketing campaign. In addition to this, industry relationships will continue to be fostered through existing networks and groups such as the Tourism Network and Events Partnership. 5. Through the Economy and Development service and with place partners, scope a new data ‘dashboard’ which will provide insight and intelligence across culture, tourism and leisure in Renfrewshire to supplement marketing information and provide data to help support business growth/product development as well as monitoring performance of the Tourism Action Plan. Ongoing. This will be carried into planning for the Renfrewshire-wide visitor marketing campaign. 6. Through the Events Service, undertake engagement on the council’s future events strategy to enable the development of a sustainable events programme that continues to contribute to Renfrewshire’s visitor offer. Complete. The council Events Strategy was approved in February 2025 and budget for a three-year programme to the end of 2028 has since been agreed. The council’s events programme will remain a key highlight in the visitor marketing campaign and enhanced marketing and communications support will be delivered through the additional funding approved as part of the Council budget 2026.