Cape Town Tourism campaign takes home gold at Cannes Lions 2013
Almasalla Travel News – Ashraf El gedawy – Cape Town Tourism s Facebook campaign, Send Your Facebook Profile to Cape Town, has won a Cannes Lions Gold Award for Cape Town Tourism’s advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather. The prize was awarded in the Branded Content Category (Best Use or Integration of Digital or Social Media) making them one of only two 2013 Gold Award winners from South Africa. This comes off the back of Cape Town Tourism’s prestigious SMITTY Award for The Best Overall Use of Social Media globally received earlier this month.
Cape Town Tourism partnered with Ogilvy Cape Town and Flow Communications to conceive and execute the game-based campaign aimed at promoting destination Cape Town to a global digital media audience and enticing more visitors to the city. The campaign formed a significant part of Cape Town Tourism’s digital marketing strategy, launched in 2008, to address the major shift in tourism trends and consumer behavior. Since then the organization has won international recognition for its work within this field.
Says Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette Du Toit-Helmbold: “The last few years have seen Cape Town shift its brand position to appeal to the new, connected world traveler. Cape Town Tourism is setting a benchmark for international tourism organizations and destinations by turning to the web and social media to promote their services and reach customers in a more far-reaching, intimate, interactive and instant way. Technology and digital marketing will continue to play a significant role in the way we sell Cape Town to the world. What sets our strategy apart is that it is centered around visitors and local citizens. It gives authenticity and meaning to our work and delivers tangible results to the tourism sector and the people of Cape Town.”
Facebook devotees were invited to sign up to send their hard-working Facebook profiles on a holiday to Cape Town. After selecting from a range of choices and interests, the competition delivered a travel itinerary and boarding pass, followed by regular, picture-rich updates about their profiles’ activities and experiences in Cape Town. Players could share their experience and invite friends to send their profiles to Cape Town, too.
All players were automatically entered into the competition for a real trip to Cape Town – flights, accommodation, and experiences included. The main prize was won by Canadian, Jan van der Leeuw, with a return trip and hotel stay going to, Nadia Jeffries, of the UK.
Marianne Bitter, of the Netherlands, won 2 air tickets for being the player who got the most friends to play the Facebook game.
The game ultimately drew 8,212 players, mostly from South Africa, the UK, the USA, India, and Germany, generating roughly half a million impressions on Facebook during the campaign alone. It has also provided the organization with a database of intrigued and connected would-be visitors that are now included in Cape Town Tourism customer relationship management programs.
Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, commended Ogilvy on their win: “This campaign was executed in record time, with minimal funds. It required incredible trust and the combined effort of our Cape Town Tourism team and our passionate creative agencies, Ogilvy Cape Town and Flow Communications.
Not only was the campaign fun, original, and successful, it has been recognized as a global best by both the tourism sector (SMITTY Awards) and now by the creative world at Cannes. Most importantly it showcased Cape Town in the digital space to the new connected, social consumer who relies on the opinion and testimonials of people within their social media networks. Cape Town Tourism has already seen the excellent return on investment that the digital space can afford us. It’s a cost-effective way to keep Cape Town in the spotlight, and we will continue investing in innovative digital marketing programs to attract more visitors to our shores.”
