UK showcases 12 Days of GREAT

The British government is embarking on its GREAT campaign in Canada for the months of October and November, hosting a calendar of activiries and promoting British-themed events to showcase the UK and its connections to Canada during what it is calling its “12 Days of Great.”

Kevin McGurgan, British Consul General Toronto, was on hand to speak to the initiative, and shared some details of the campaign with PAX.

“Everyone knows about British heritage, but we also wanted to promote British future, and its relationship with Canada,” he said. “So we brought several contemporary British companies specializing in design, fashion and technology together to build a ‘UK house’ to show off what we do.”

Geared toward showcasing British creativity and engineering available to Canada, the first day of the open house hosted a cake-cutting ceremony for a selection of corporate, retail and travel trade partners, and featured displays pertaining to prominent, innovative British industries including commerce, clothing and the travel industry – as well as the very cars set to appear in the upcoming Bond film, Spectre.

“Canada is a vitally important market for the UK with regards to tourism,” McGurgan said. “We have strong familial ties between our countries – and particularly from Ontario and British Columbia, we have about 1.5 million Canadians travelling to the UK every single year.”

Another part of the campaign is the Shopping is GREAT competition, where Canadians can use social media and a map provided by the British government in partnership with British Airways and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to visit stores carrying select brands of clothing, take selfies once in store, and receive the chance to win two return flight tickets to London, England.

“I think Canada and the UK are two really exciting places to live,”McGurgan told PAX, “where we share ideas, and learn from each other. I see, live and breathe this every single day as a British diplomat, and so I’m very excited to invite those interested in sampling the best of the UK to come in, pique their interest, and then go and visit overseas.”

The campaign is headquartered at an open house location at The Shops at College Park, unit G1, welcoming guests from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Oct. 30 – Nov. 9. 

For more information, visit 12daysofGREAT.com