Yaxley Consulting has been the initiator and driving force behind a campaign to launch an entire English county, Suffolk, as the "First China Friendly County."

Working for Suffolk County Council and Choose Suffolk, the local development agency, Yaxley Consulting created a full website in Mandarin promoting Suffolk as a tourist destination which was officially launched in October 2009 to 300 business and local government leaders with a video created by Yaxley Consulting featuring people from Beijing.

Yaxley Consulting created press releases, and drew in high-level personal official support in the form of Their Excellencies the British and Chinese ambassadors to Beijing and London respectively, as well as Lord Davies, the Minister for Trade, Investment and Business.

The campaign intends to promote Suffolk to the explosively growing outbound Chinese travel market as a quintessentially English county. It also intends to show Chinese visitors that as well as marketing to them through official sources, individual private tourism businesses within Suffolk are prepared to become "China Friendly". This involves them preparing Chinese language information and materials, which are services Yaxley Consulting can provide through its Beijing Office.

This is a very forward-thinking, thoroughly executed campaign, which has already captured the imagination of many involved with it. The leader and chief executive of Suffolk County Council are keen to extend it further from pure tourism opportunities to other inward investment in the areas of education and business.