Loving the Boro!

I’m sure you all noticed and now may have heard about the lovemiddlesbrough campaign as the launch taking place when the Boro took on Spurs on the opening day of the season.

The aim is to change the perceptions of the town as many of you Teessider’s may well know the press Middlesbrough receives as a whole is somewhat left to be desired with perceptions such as the worst place to live in the UK with also the worst football team and the stereotyping of local people walking around with several more fingers and several more eyes than they actually supposed to but hey this is our chance to prove them all wrong.

First of all the worst place to live tag was extremely harsh and I’m sure if you youtube Jeff Stellings rant on he could put it in better words but theirs words and then theirs actions and this is our action.

Middlesbrough is starting to become a nippy little town but with big ideas and big things in the pipeline. We have already seen such major ideas such as a multi-million art gallery in mima and now you can watch the Olympics on a shopping break with a big screen just outside the town hall. It’s the start of something new and something fresh, yes Middlesbrough are proud of our history and heritage but we are also looking forward to such a promising future that lies ahead.

The Boro on the other hand also don’t exactly get enough praise - this season however Gareth has been getting some good press by the way he conducts himself and the nature of what he thinks MFC should be like in the way it’s perceived and of course the style of play he’s striving to implement.

I caught up with Claire Wordsworth the Campaign Manager on her outtake on the launch and what we can expect for the future, β€˜The campaign brand and strapline - LoveMiddlesbrough, cool place, warm people was really well received with interest from all over the world. We have had requests for t-shirts from as far away as America and Australia from ex-pats who want to support the campaign. We were delighted to see our adopted son Jeff Stelling hold up his LoveMiddlesbrough t-shirt and badge live on Sky Sports and the fantastic Middlesbrough - we love it! giant card display was featured on Match of the Day.

The 3 yr campaign will be rolled out to schools, the college and University, as well as all front line service providers in retail and the hospitality sectors. The lovemiddlesbourgh.com website will be developed and a range of adverts produced to show Middlesbrough in a positive dynamic way. The next part of the campaign will be the launch of an Ambassadors Club, which will culminate in an Ambassadors Gala dinner. There are also plans for a lovemiddlesbrough music festival at the Riverside and various fun promotional items such as a Middlesbrough rubik cube and an animation game.’

Claire has met Gareth Southgate who was extremely complementary as well appearing on BBC Tees on a couple of occasions to stimulate the launch as well as the overall campaign.

Find out more on the Campaign by checking out the website www.lovemiddlesbrough.com.

Mark Anderson.