A nice aspect of my job is that I rarely find myself at the Embassy on a weekend, but earlier this month I happened to spend the better part of a Saturday volunteering my time. It was a special occasion: on 10 May, EU embassies throughout Washington opened their doors for the EU’s Annual Open House Day. For the 7th year, the British Embassy in Washington participated by hosting an interactive and family-friendly outdoor bazaar (in spite of a few hours of rain) celebrating UK culture, creativity, business and innovation. Jokes included: “isn’t this weather just so British?”
This year the Embassy’s array of activities included many exciting aspects (far too many to list here), including: temporary Union Jack tattoos, a Union Jack wrapped Jaguar F-TYPE, and performances by the Shakespeare Theatre Company and students from the British School in Washington. As a purveyor of digital diplomacy, I helped arrange two aspects of EU Day that were a mix of innovation and fun: a selfie photo booth and interactive water bottles.
The EU Delegation in Washington sponsored an #EUselfie competition, inviting guests visiting participating Embassies to take photos in front of iconic backgrounds and upload them to digital channels using the hashtag #EUselfie. Two winners would then be selected, one for the visitor who took selfies at the most Embassies, and one for the most creative selfie. Our Embassy took full advantage of the competition and set up a selfie photo booth and backdrop, complete with cardboard cut outs of some of Britain’s finest exports. It was good fun looking through the #EUSelfie feed throughout the day, especially when a certain Ambassador took part in the competition.
This year we offered all visitors a typical water bottle disguised as an interactive way to learn more about the UK, particularly its creative sector, which is globally worth £71 billion per annum. The label on the water bottle housed a Blippar image that visitors could scan with their smartphones, bringing up facts and figures on the UK creative sector, a video series and a GREAT film poll. The image wasn’t your typical QR code though. Blippar is a UK image recognition software company and winner of a 2013 GREAT Tech Award, and a great example of UK creativity and innovation. The image is so strong that it’s possible to Blip right from the computer screen – you can download the Blippar app and scan the image below to check out the app for yourself!
EU Open House Day in Washington is the ideal place to showcase the UK’s creativity, as the UK and US benefit greatly from each other’s creative sectors. UK Film and TV exports to the US increased 60% over the past decade. Downton Abbey is the most watched drama in PBS history, and its season four opener earlier this year attracted more than 10 million American viewers. The three highest-grossing movie franchises in American history were all filmed at studios in the UK: Star Wars, Harry Potter and James Bond.
Despite the weather, the volunteers and large volume of visitors enjoyed themselves and had a GREAT Day. A big thank you to everyone who came out.