WE did it. One million pounds of advertising at Heathrow rescued from the jaws of certain defeat in what will surely go down as one of the most memorable evenings for the North East Twitterati in recent memory, writes Mark Stephenson of NECC.

The Heathrow-Visit Britain competition, ran under the banner of the Visit Britain Your GREAT Britain campaign, posted four pictures – each representing a region – on the Heathrow Facebook Page. The aim therein was to ensure that our picture, Hadrian’s Wall at Housesteads, received the most ‘likes’. The picture or region with the most ‘likes’ at the end of two weeks would win £1m of advertising at Heathrow.

Following two weeks of campaigning the North East was in the lead with just shy of 10,000 votes. Going in to the final weekend things looked good. But then Northern Ireland, represented by the beautiful Giant’s Causeway, made a last ditch surge – and overtook the North East which had led from the outset.

Going into the final day the North East retook the lead, comfortably at one point, and then suffered at the hands of yet another Northern Ireland surge which took them to over 800 ‘likes’ ahead of us with just a few hours to go. In the first two weeks both the leading images had totted up nearly 10,000 ‘likes’ a piece. On the final day they doubled that figure – each.

With two minutes before the close of the competition, at 11:59pm, the North East was behind by over 200 ‘likes’. With seconds left before the close the North East was, miraculously, ahead by 103 ‘likes’. It was a minute before midnight and the hundreds of people who had been calling, Tweeting, Facebooking, LinkedIn-ing and whatever else – all erupted.

It was a wonderful moment not only because we had won but because we didn’t give up; because it was a collaborative effort from right across the region. The determination, pride and passion that oozed out of every Tweet and every public call to arms was palpable and it helped us secure a prize that will be very useful but stands for far more than the prize in itself.

As our economy continues to change and grow we can rest assured that the passion and determination that helped us win this competition will help us win in others. With a minute to spare the writing was on the wall, as it all so often is about the North East. We proved it wrong – and we should revel as we continue to prove others wrong too.