Love Llandovery big brand enables small town to take on the world

Over a hundred people turn out to see launch: sheep festival announced

Llandovery – one of Wales’ most picturesque market towns – will launch its ‘Love Llandovery’ brand along with a vibrant new logo to enhance its rural appeal with the aim of sparking a life-long love affair with visitors to the area.

 Over one hundred people are expected to turn out today to see Love Llandovery launched with grand aplomb at the Market Square in Llandovery.  The new Love Llandovery logo along with a giant heart-shaped collage of over 400 personal photographs representing what townspeople love about their town will also be unveiled.
Love Llandovery’s attractive logo has been created in the traditional colours of Wales – red and green – that represent its cultural heritage which he town’s people hope will revitalise Llandovery as the quintessential Welsh village on the border of Brecon Beacons National Park. The logo will be used for all festivals, communications and promotional campaigns as a simple yet powerful image that people can easily identify with.
Nick Stewart, EU Collabor8 Project Officer for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said: "Love Llandovery is an incredible tribute to all the people in the town who form a vibrant and special community in this area.   This new and distinctive brand identity focuses on building an awareness of Llandovery as a unique place to visit – an attractive and genuine market town famous for its droving heritage, offering a warm Welsh welcome to visitors. By focussing on their ideal visitors – those whose expectations match what the town has to offer – they can avoid being a bland ‘something for everyone’ destination”.
 Fiona Walker, Chairman of Llandovery & District Chamber of Commerce said:  “Love Llandovery is clear, dynamic, instantly recognizable and does what it says on the tin.  Our priority markets are not just simply seeking a destination to visit, they want a destination they can get to know and love as we do.  We have had so much support from the town’s people and Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, and we can now look forward to marketing the Love Llandovery brand across the UK.  We love our town and we hope visitors want to embrace what we love about it.”
 Cllr Helen Wyn, Member for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said:  “It’s been very exciting to see the whole town come together to support this vision of Love Llandovery.  Encouraging the sustainable development and regeneration of Llandovery has inspired this community to create a unique brand – and this is something that Brecon Beacons National Park Authority whole-heartedly supports.  Working in partnership with the Llandovery and District Chamber of Commerce and the rest of the community has enabled us to share their vision and with the support of our Collabor8 project we have been able to provide valuable officer time and funding to help them achieve their goals.  It will be very rewarding to work with Llandovery on future projects and events throughout the year.”
 
The logo was designed as part of a major initiative that is underway to transform Llandovery into a sustainable tourism destination. With funding and staff support from the National Park Authority’s Collabor8 project, a series of workshops were held earlier this year and an action plan emerged to address the development of tourism sustainably. The action plan highlighted an opportunity for Llandovery to capitalise on its distinct agricultural and droving links to develop an identity for the town.

As the first initiative under the Love Llandovery campaign, it was announced that the town are launching the first annual Llandovery Sheep in September 2010 to celebrate droving, sheep farming and the wool industry.  And As the countdown to the festival looks set to overtake the town, residents and local businesses are gearing up to 24th-26th September which has been planned to coincide with the National Coloured Rare Breed Sheep Auction Sale, to be held in Llandovery Market on Sunday 26th the final day of the festival. This auction is the only specialist sale of coloured sheep in Wales. Mickey Gough who runs the National Coloured Breed Sale said:
 

“The National Coloured Breed Sale is the biggest event of its type in the whole of the UK.  It is a nationally recognised event traditionally attracting people from England and Scotland as well as Wales.”   He welcomes the planned Llandovery Sheep Festival and said that “This will complement the Coloured Breed Sale and we can hopefully work together to make it a success for the town”.

The festival will give the significant number of visitors that will already be in to the town more to see and do, and hopefully generate and keep visitor spending in the town centre. As well as providing a lot of fun things for children and adults alike to see and do, it will also hopefully educate visitors about sheep farming and the issues faced by sheep farmers who have seen the price of wool dwindle in recent times.

The festival is also being held around the time of National Wool Week, which is being held in October this year, part of the HRH championed Campaign for Wool.

Valere Tjolle
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Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suitewww.travelmole.com/stories/1143624.php