1. VisitEngland’s Torch Relay Campaign
FAN IN A VAN
Rachel Kershaw

2. The Idea
The Olympic Torch Relay presented a national
opportunity.
Destinations and Industry Partners outside of
London felt they would not benefit from
effects of London2012.
VisitEngland wanted a campaign that would
• Highlight the entire country to potential
visitors
• Engage fans and followers on social media
channels
• Present an opportunity to industry
partners
• Raise consumer awareness of VisitEngland
• Drive traffic to the VE site and blog
• Generate positive media coverage – of
England and of VisitEngland
Rather than send an established blogger on the road, VisitEngland decided to discover its own star – to
find England’s biggest fan, to send them out on the road and turn them into a blogger.
Fan in a Van was born.

3. The Search
VisitEngland’s new Fan in a Van needed to:
• Be a big fan of England (obviously)
• Be social media savvy
• Be fearless – bungee jumps and eating challenges were on the
menu
• Be outgoing and a confident speaker
• Be great writer
• Be able to take great photos and use a videocamera
• Get under the skin of the deepest, darkest depths of England and
find its most interesting characters
A three part search was launched to find a social media savvy England
fan:
Part one: writing and photo
Part two: video
Part three: meet the expert panel
Social media was used throughout – to advertise the position and
encourage entries; to announce the social media platforms; to
introduce me as the winner, and to invite fans and followers to name
the van that was to become my home for 70 days…

4. The Winner… Yours Truly
Opportunity of a Lifetime – I saw VisitEngland’s
search for England’s No1 Fan on Twitter and had
to apply!
A bit about me:
• I grew up in Rochdale, live in Newcastle and
have always holidayed at home
• I love writing, blogging and tweeting
• Even more than that, I LOVE England
After applications from nearly 100 wannabe Fan
in a Vans and three selection rounds I was
named VisitEngland’s winner!
I hastily organised a sabbatical from my job in
Newcastle and hotfooted it to London to spend a
week with the PR team before my journey
began.

5. The Journey – from Land’s End to
the Olympic Park
Our journey began with the launch of the Torch Relay on
18th May in Land’s End
VisitEngland arranged a press trip with key travel writers
and bloggers which kicked started the Twitter activity
I had dedicated social media platforms:
Twitter - @faninavan
Blog – visitenglandblog.com/faninavan
I tweeted and uploaded pics on the road, and uploaded blogs regularly, when I could find reliable WiFi!
All I had confirmed were overnight stops. Activities were recommended by VisitEngland and their partners
around the country and, increasingly, by our fans and followers.
Over the next 70 days we:
• Drove over 5,000 miles
• Stayed in 48 Camping & caravanning Club Sites
• Broke down once - and what an experience!

6. The Results – Industry Engagement
Key campaign partners were The Camping &
Caravanning Club and O’Connors Campers
Other supporting organisations included:
• Heritage Open Days
• Historic Royal Palaces
• Treasure Houses
• Destination Management Organisations across
England
Partners were tagged in tweets and tagged in blog
posts and all generated their own social media buzz
A ‘Fan in a Van After Party’ at the Tower of London
was the perfect way to thank all our partners and
friends of Fan in a Van I met along the way.

7. The Results – Consumer Engagement
Over the 70 days, the campaign gained:
1,300 Twitter followers
13,000 page views
4,000 unique visitors
Branded campervan, Rosie, raised awareness of VisitEngland
and got us lots of waves along the way!
A Facebook competition asked ‘Fans of Fan in a Van’ to send
in their pics with Rosie to win a campervan trip of their own!
A radio competition held with Radio Merseyside asked
listeners to suggest activities for Fan in a Van for the chance
to win a luxury Fortnum & Mason hamper.
Campervan Rally at the end of the campaign was a great
opportunity to meet all of our fans – and gain some new ones
At the end of the summer, my blog was voted Best Roadtrip
Blog in the Avis Travel Blog Awards

8. The Results – Collateral
During the 70 day adventure, I was tasked with
building a catalogue of content for VisitEngland:
• 3,000 images for the VisitEngland blog and Flikr
account
• Dozens of blog posts
• Nine videos of highlight experiences for the blog
and YouTube account
• Hundreds of locals’ recommendations for things
to do and see around the country
• Six timelapse videos were produced for use in
future campaigns

9. The Results – Media Coverage
Fan in a Van generated:
Over 150 pieces of coverage
worth over £300k AVE
= an ROI of 10:1
Highlight coverage included:
• Double page spread in the Sunday Mirror
• Interview on Sky’s breakfast TV show, Sunrise
• 16 regional radio interviews
• ITV’s Holiday Home from Sweet Home