Can numbers make an emotional connection?

National Parks ad campaignWe are big fans of ‘experiences’ rather than ‘things’when trying to convince a potential visitor to choose a destination. In our creative  marketing workshops we often use as an example the lovely national parks campaign which focused on the emotional benefits of a visit rather than the miles of footpath or the acres of woodland.

So I was interested to see this recent article ‘UK National Park in Numbers’ on the Outdoor Magic website complete with aforementioned lovely images but going on at length about the numbers – land area, numbers of YHA hostels, highest peaks etc.  And it was interesting, especially as it provided comparisons among all the UK’s parks. OK, I know I’m a tourism geek so a lot of these stats might be of more significance to me than the general visitors, but still.

And then I thought of another exercise we do in our workshops – lists! Top 3s/5s/10s, best places to, bucket lists, superlatives – highest, widest, deepest; and the rest. Appealing to the media of course, but also appealing to visitors because it organises the facts in a useful way.

So my conclusion is that it’s not just about touchy feely, right brain stuff – the numbers also do a job.