John Cooper Clarke & National Trust Sign Off Summer with an Ode to the Coast

Today, National Poetry Day, the National Trust has unveiled the final part of its integrated ‘Coast’ campaign, with an online film showcasing the Nation’s Ode to the Coast.  The campaign celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the National Trust’s Neptune Coastline campaign and aims to raise public awareness and affinity with the charity’s work protecting 775 miles of coastline, for ever, for everyone.

The first verses of the Nation’s Ode to the Coast, written by Dr. John Cooper Clarke, were launched in July with an integrated campaign involving TV and cinema advertising, PR, social media, influencer engagement and experiential activity. Over the summer, the nation was asked to use #lovethecoast to share what the coast means to them and help inspire the final verses.

Over 11,500 members of the public submitted social media posts, postcards, emails and letters that summed up their love of the coast, taking the form of words, pictures and even sounds. The contributions celebrated the beauty of the nation’s majestic coastline and highlighted the special moments and memories created there.

17 members of the public appear in the final poem film alongside Dr. John Cooper Clarke, National Trust rangers and volunteers. Each reads out lines of the final poem, written for the nation by the nation. The end result is an emotive and compelling film, which celebrates people’s love for our coastline.

The film of the final poem was created for the National Trust by Mischief (working with FEED productions), with media planning and buying by Mindshare and The National Trust and social media handled by the client team. The final poem film is appearing through PR, social media, You Tube/ Google, Facebook and Twitter, Spotify, Videology, Exponential, 4OD and Sky OD.

Mark Scott, Marketing Agency Director at National Trust, said: “The campaign has been a tremendous success for the National Trust, with hundreds of thousands of people viewing the film on Facebook and YouTube. It is also an exciting move for the charity as we step towards a more brand led marketing approach.

“Caring for the coastline and ensuring it is managed in such a way that future generations can enjoy it is a huge responsibility and one we do not take lightly. We cannot stress enough how much we appreciate and value people’s help and support – without them we could not continue our work at these special places. The Nation’s Ode to the Coast has been inspired by the public’s love for the Coast and, like our work, can only be achieved with their support. We hope that the work we have been doing over the last few months has inspired the nation to continue supporting the Trust so that coast can be dutifully looked after for another 50 years to come.”