Fronted by well–loved presenter Alan Titchmarsh, Britain’s Best is a history series on UKTV History with a difference. On the one hand, a straightforward televisual stroll around Britain’s top historical sites, on the other, an innovative and fully interactive opportunity for heritage lovers to engage with the UKTV History brand and help decide the nation’s favourite.

Britain’s Best was in fact UKTV History’s first multi–platform commission and it wanted the promotional campaign to be as interactive as the series. At the heart of the campaign were 50 x three minute films, produced by our creative team, promoting each of the historical sites. These aired across the UKTV network and were downloadable to PC or mobile. They encouraged people to vote and register their opinions either online or through the WAP site – and so created multiple points of entry for history fans not only to receive information but also to send it back: the 360 degree virtuous circle.

What’s more, our print designers created a point–of–sale campaign, with 1.5 million postcards distributed around the sites themselves. Not to be left out, our interactive delivery team provided red button functionality to the Britain’s Best programme stream, allowing viewers to visit the programme’s micro–site through their remote control.

But it was undoubtedly the mobile WAP site that gave this campaign its interactive punch. Enabling punters to download films, access information, vote and text opinions while at the heritage sites, took a simple TV brand out of the living room to places it had never been before.

Designed, built and hosted here at Red Bee Media, the WAP site incorporated the relevant aspects of handset recognition. It also guaranteed users a seamless experience within the WAP session so they didn’t have to break out of this to use other applications. We believe this essential to ensure the experience is as user friendly as possible and to encourage further interactivity.

Votes and viewer reviews were collated through our implementation of a real time automation system which then passed on all the information to the website for final totals to be tallied.

“Due to the heavy reliance on audience participation to make this multi–platform commission come to life, it’s crucial to have a unique and powerful campaign to really connect with our viewers. We are delighted with Red Bee Media’s work and feel that the strong branding will attract viewer interest and stand out amongst other campaigns.”
Adrian Wills, Channel Head, UKTV History