Glasgow glows, day and night, thanks to massive Delta Air Lines advert in New York’s Times Square

A new digital tourism campaign aimed at boosting the number of American visitors to Glasgow has been launched in the world’s most sought after advertising location.

Glasgow Life has teamed up with Delta Air Lines to promote the carrier’s new daily, non-stop route into the city from New York-JFK, which begins on May 25, via a giant digital billboard in the heart of Times Square, one of the world’s busiest shopping and tourist centres.

Spanning nearly 30ft in height and 60ft in width, the massive HD screen – which is located at 1500 Broadway on the corner of West 43^rd Street – is certain to make an impact, with nearly half a million people passing through Times Square every day.

Featuring an image of Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and the canopy of lights that illuminates Royal Exchange Square alongside the strapline ‘Glasgow glows, day and night’, the 15-second ad will be shown on a loop some 60 times every day between 6am and 2am until May 5.

The campaign comes on the back of Glasgow’s newly launched Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023, which provides the blueprint for continuing to build the city’s global profile as a successful tourist destination.

Growing overnight tourism visits from two to three million and positioning Glasgow as the ‘gateway to Scotland’ is at the heart of the plan, which aims to deliver an economic boost of £771m and contribute an additional 6,600 jobs in the city over the next seven years.

The US is Glasgow’s leading international tourist market, with American visitors making 115,000 trips and spending more than £36m in the city every year.

Susan Deighan, Director of City Marketing and External Relations at Glasgow Life, said: “If we are to achieve our ambitious target of increasing overnight tourist numbers to three million by 2023 then it’s vitally important that we continue to tell Glasgow’s story in our key international markets.

“New York’s iconic Times Square is regarded as the world’s most prominent advertising location and a global tourist hotspot which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every day, so there’s no better place to promote Glasgow.

“Our international city marketing strategy sees us working collaboratively and innovatively with airlines like Delta to develop and promote direct air connectivity to Glasgow. We look forward to continuing to build on that partnership to position the city as the gateway to Scotland and grow visitors from the US.”

Frank Jahangir, Delta’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Affairs for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: “Delta is growing its footprint in the UK and with the introduction of our new Glasgow service will now be operating two daily flights from Scotland this summer. Meanwhile, our hub at New York-JFK offers more than 60 convenient connections enhancing the travel options for passengers flying between the United States and Scotland.”

Amanda McMillan, Managing Director of Glasgow Airport, said: “The launch of this advertising campaign is a bold move and clearly underlines Glasgow Life and Delta’s commitment to ensuring the arrival of the daily Glasgow-JFK service in May is big news in the Big Apple.

“Times Square is probably the most famous advertising location in the world, visited by millions of tourists each year. The campaign rightly shows a real ambition to tell Glasgow’s story, as does the city’s recently launched Tourism and Visitor Plan.

“There can be no bigger statement of intent than having ‘Glasgow glows, day and night’ alongside some of the world’s most famous brands in the heart of New York City.”

Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “It’s exciting to see a stunning image of Glasgow lighting up New York, something we hope will inspire more visitors to come and experience everything that Scotland’s biggest city has to offer.

“To further complement the high-profile billboard placement in Times Square, VisitScotland is running a mobile-focused campaign to support the launch of Delta’s new service from New York-JFK to Glasgow; reaching out to prospective visitors across the city and beyond.”

Delta Air Line’s new direct, daily Glasgow to New York-JFK service will run throughout the summer from May 25 2017 using a 164-seat Boeing 757-200ER aircraft. Flight DL466 will depart New York-JFK at 11.45pm and arrive in Glasgow at 11.25am the following day. Flight DL266 will leave Glasgow at 1pm and arrive in New York-JFK at 3.40pm.

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NOTE TO PICTURE DESKS: Please credit images to photographer Helene Glanzberg.

For more information, contact:

Graeme Watson

Senior Corporate Communications Manager

Glasgow Life

+44 141 566 0835

+44 7534 982 312

graeme.watson@glasgowlife.org.uk