GREAT began with a problem familiar to any large organisation: too many parts telling different versions of the same story.

Ahead of London 2012, government departments were developing separate campaigns around tourism, trade, food, education and other parts of the UK offer. The response was to bring them together around a single consumer-facing idea – one brand that could present the UK internationally with a clearer voice.

More than a decade later, GREAT operates in over 150 countries, promoting the UK as a place to visit, study, trade, invest and do business. But much of the way it works looks less like traditional government communications and more like brand marketing. It partners with businesses including British Airways, works with organisations from the Premier League to the British Fashion Council, and draws on a private-sector council to inform its marketing and market strategy.

That approach became sharper with “See Things Differently” – a brand proposition built around the idea that the UK’s diversity of perspectives is part of what drives its creativity and innovation. The central thought stays consistent, while the language, emphasis and execution change from market to market.

Kate Taylor Tett, who became Director of the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign in 2023 after a career spanning advertising and retail marketing, is joining us at Future Forum. Her own career – and the campaign she now leads – sits neatly between government, business and creativity.

GREAT started as a way to get government speaking with one voice.

It became a brand asking the rest of the world to see the UK differently.