Why Doncaster’s suddenly a hit with cereal tourists

Food giant Kellogg’s ran a spoof news report describing Doncaster as the location of the 11th most popular tourist attraction, a fictitious sculpture made out of its Squares bars by a shopkeeper in the town.

The advert finished with the tagline “it’s all lies, they’re not even square” and now the town is turning the slogan on its head with a series of videos carrying the message “it’s all true”.

Doncaster’s executive mayor Ros Jones said: “We loved the Kellogg’s campaign and Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition based on the advert.

“Kellogg’s tagline was ‘It’s all lies’, but Doncaster really is a great place to visit. Our tourism economy is worth £400m a year and we get more day visitors than Blackpool, Cambridge or Bath.

“Our work to promote the borough has already won national recognition and we are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to do this. The ‘Seven Wonders’ videos have been produced in-house by the council’s communications team for no cost other than staff time.

“We hope that people will enjoy our videos and perhaps make a trip to see some of our attractions in the near future.”

The videos follow the adventures of Henry, a traveller who missed a connecting train in Doncaster and is sceptical about what me might find to do in a northern town.

In the first of the videos, released yesterday. Henry is seen exploring Cast, the town’s new theatre, and auditioning – and failing – to land a part in a production.

The number of visitors to Doncaster attractions has risen consistently in recent years from around 700,000 in 2009 to more than 1m last year.

Yorkshire was recently named third by Lonely Planet in a list of the best 10 regions to visit in the world.

• The new video campaign will focus on attractions the council has called the “Seven Wonders of Doncaster”.

The new theatre Cast, Cusworth Hall, Doncaster Racecourse, the Mansion House, Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, shopping and the Yorkshire Wildlife Park will each feature in one of the short films.

One video is being released each week on the council’s YouTube channel and promoted via its Facebook and Twitter pages.