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BBC Working Lunch PR

Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Isle of Wight has over recent months grown in the national TV and Media spot light, and today many of Island Businesses are reaping the rewards of their recent involvement with BBC Working Lunch Island features.

Working Lunch is BBC Two's award-winning daily business, personal finance and consumer news programme and is estimated to be watched by over 350,000 million viewers each day.

The presenter, ex-England football player, Graham Le Saux interviewed the businesses on consecutive days covering features on various aspects of Island Life including - Marine Feature – Sail Ventures, Seaward Marine, Cowes Harbour Authority and Ellen MacArthur’s OC Group; Aerospace Feature – Britten Norman; Food Industry Feature – Ventnor Fishery, Isle of Wight Cheese Company and Ventnor Brewery; Beauty Industry Feature – the award winning Liz Earle Cosmetics, Tourism Feature - Arreton Barns and the Hambrough Hotel.

The Companies involved found the filming extremely beneficial, with some noticing a direct impact on their sales. Seaward Marine based in Cowes, produce beautiful, high specification boats starting from £75,000 to £750,000 which are built on an individual customer basis. They have had some potential sales leads from the BBC feature:

“The BBC Working Lunch interview was a more enjoyable experience than we expected and a great morale boost for our staff. It seems many of our customers and potential customers watch this programme so it was a good PR opportunity for the company as well. The national exposure that it has given us has resulted in a few surprise phone calls this week and looks likely to lead to extra sales - we are most grateful for the free marketing!”
Barry and Alison Kimber, Seaward Marine

“I've had a lot of people contact me and tell me that they saw the Working Lunch section … and there's been a lot of people at the Farmers' Markets who have commented too. If nothing else the programme has given us more exposure on a National level and this can only be good. It seems as though whatever paper or magazine you pick up these days there's always something being written about the Island...!! Long may it continue!!?”
Richard Hodgson, The Isle of Wight Cheese Company Ltd

“I thought the BBC Working Lunch programmes about the Island were excellent. The interviews gave a serious, professional and diverse image of the business community successfully working and living in a truly beautiful setting.”
Kim Buckland, MBE, Co-Founder, Liz Earle Cosmetics

If you missed the programme, you can watch the features online for free. Visit www.bbc.co.uk/workinglunch. And visit the “Watch Again” section, where you will see a link to “Graeme le Saux's Island reports“.