ast year we created the Unexpected MK marketing campaign, which pretty much sums up the city both for leisure and business visitors. As a part of the planning process, we started looking at everything we’ d been saying about Milton Keynes to date, and comparing it to what other towns and cities were saying. When we started looking from a business perspective at what our Conference Desk messaging had been, we stumbled on a fairly horrific truth. For all the amazing unexpected differences that MK has, we’ d been saying the same thing as everyone else. It’ s amazing how many towns in the UK claim to be‘ centrally located’. Well, I suppose we’ re all central to somewhere. Wasn’ t it Alan Partridge who extolled the virtues of his favourite Travel Tavern, based on it being equidistant between London and Norwich? It’ s not just our central location that we’ re guilty of turning into cliché … Good transport links … Free Wi-Fi … Scenic views … It’ s all dull. It’ s all samey. It’ s all clichéd, and most importantly, it’ s all Everywhere. Nothing about what we’ d been saying was Unexpected and, in a

city like Milton Keynes, it was not acceptable. There’ s nothing more cathartic than taking a pile of out-of-date, misinforming collateral and throwing it in the nearest recycling bin. The second, equally horrific realisation was that conference marketers have got their segmentation wrong. We were as guilty as the next person. We would start a marketing campaign and look at whether it was for a B2B or B2C audience. In the modern joined up world, there’ s no such thing. Everything we say should be B2H: Business to Human. In 2016 we ran a campaign promoting MK as a destination where business and leisure work

together. The campaign had excellent results and in many ways was a precursor to the successful Unexpected MK piece. It harnesses the unexpected strength of Milton Keynes. The fact that it’ s worth having a conference in one of our venues because, not only do we offer first class conferencing facilities, but you will have an unparalleled visitor experience – where else can you have a meeting overlooking a real snow slope, then pop out for a bit of snowboarding? Where else will the conference bureau work to turn an entire city around into your bespoke venue? I can tell you that both of those are examples of

conferences we’ re working on right now for international clients. Destination Milton Keynes operates a conference desk facility, connected to all of the major hotels, conference centres and business venues in the city; and because our remit is to promote and enhance the Visitor Economy, we treat every incoming conference delegate as a visitor to the city and ensure that they get the full package. Even better than that, profits made through the conference desk are channelled directly back into promoting and marketing the city and our members, allowing campaigns like Unexpected MK to happen. I hope I’ ve left you with a feeling that the city that you may have only ever thought of as a destination in jest might have a bit more to it than you first thought. At Destination Milton Keynes, we’ re small enough to care but large enough to cope.

Steven Gordon-Wilson is chief executive of Destination Milton Keynes and can be contact at: steven @ destinationmiltonkeynes. co. uk or on Twitter @ stevengw