Peter Phillipson, Chairman, Merlin Entertainments

Feb 8 2010 by Andrew Hebden, The Journal

PETER Phillipson has spent his career creating and revitalising world-famous brands. Now the chairman of Merlin Entertainments tells Andrew Hebden of his latest ambition – to open the eyes of the world to his home region.

Now – after two years as chairman of Merlin – he is ready for his next move. With Merlin preparing for a floatation, Phillipson says he has no desire to chair a public company so he will be handing over to former Cadbury Schweppes boss Sir John Sunderland (“terrible name that,” he quips). And while he has plenty of commitments as chair of the charity Children with Special Needs and the Best Practice Forum, plus a similar role at Yorkshire-based hair straighteners firm GHD, he is looking closer to home for his next challenge.

“What I’d really like to do is to do something in the North East,” he reveals. “I don’t know if that’s something in business or in the area of charitable giving or working for one of the public organisations. But the idea of coming back and using some of the experiences I’ve been through to benefit the region is something I would like to do.”

As a regular visitor to the region to see his parents, daughter and, inevitably, a trip to St James’ Park, this North East exile has watched the region reinvent itself with some interest.

“I think the region has made significant progress in the last five or six years,” he says. “I think it offers tremendous contrasts from The Sage and the Baltic to the Bigg Market and the Quayside, to the Northumberland coast and the Tyne Valley. It’s a real area of just fantastic contrasts. I’ve never met anyone who has visited the area who hasn’t had a great time and I’ve brought a lot of people up here.”

He admits that there is still work to be done to challenge preconceptions among some southerners about the North.

But he goes on: “We know that, once we get them here, they enjoy it because the product that’s on offer is very good and diverse – so the trick is getting them here, making them try it.

“I do think that’s a tremendous challenge in terms of communication but also one that any marketing man worth his salt would really relish.”

And relish it, Peter Phillipson surely would.

Everyone had heard of Madame Tussaud’s or Alton Towers, but they were brands that had been neglected

We got David Beckham on the plinth and got fantastic coverage – on the front of all but one of the national newspapers.