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 within the Branded Content Category (Best Use or Integration of Digital or Social Media) making them one among only two 2013 Gold Award winners from South Africa. This comes off the back of Cape Town Tourism’s prestigious SMITTY Award for The simplest 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 sport-based campaign aimed toward promoting destination Cape Town to a world digital media audience and enticing more visitors to the town. The campaign formed a vital portion of Cape Town Tourism’s digital business plan, launched in 2008, to deal with the foremost 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 previous few years have seen Cape Town shift its brand position to entice the brand new, connected world traveler. Cape Town Tourism is setting a benchmark for international tourism organizations and destinations by turning to the net and social media to advertise their services and reach customers in a more far-reaching, intimate, interactive and instant way. Technology and digital marketing will continue to play an important role within the way we sell Cape Town to the arena. What sets our strategy apart is that it’s centered around visitors and native citizens. It gives authenticity and intending to our work and delivers tangible results to the tourism sector and the folk of Cape Town.”
Facebook devotees were invited to enroll to send their hard-working Facebook profiles on a vacation to Cape Town. After selecting from a number choices and interests, the contest 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 contest for a true trip to Cape Town – flights, accommodation, and experiences included. The most important prize was won by Canadian, Jan van der Leeuw, with a return trip and hotel stay going to, Nadia Jeffries, of the united kingdom.
Marianne Bitter, of the Netherlands, won 2 air tickets for being the player who got the foremost friends to play the Facebook game.
The game ultimately drew 8,212 players, mostly from South Africa, the united kingdom, the us, India, and Germany, generating roughly half one million impressions on Facebook in the course of the campaign alone. It has also provided the organization with a database of intrigued and connected would-be visitors which 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 just was the campaign fun, original, and successful, it’s been recognized as a worldwide best by both the tourism sector (SMITTY Awards) and now by the creative world at Cannes. Most significantly it showcased Cape Town within the digital space to the brand new connected, social consumer who is dependent upon the opinion and testimonials of individuals within their social media networks. Cape Town Tourism has already seen the superb return on investment that the digital space can afford us. It’s a price-effective method to keep Cape Town within the spotlight, and we shall continue investing in innovative digital marketing programs to draw more visitors to our shores.”
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