Today Wesgro, in partnership with the Western Cape Government, launched the latest international tourism campaign ‘Get in a Good Space’ – a digital campaign geared to keep the destination top of the travel consideration list by demonstrating how the region is the perfect antidote to lockdown life. See the campaign video here.
Building on from the ‘We Are Open' campaign which focused on wide open spaces, the new campaign creative beautifully demonstrates the vast and less crowded spaces waiting to be discovered in the Western Cape – a stark contrast to other popular travel destinations in Europe – by showcasing the beauty of the region and the positive feelings it evokes through the eyes of four ‘Neverending Tourists’.
Prioritising two of the Western Cape’s key travel markets, the ‘Neverending Tourists’ featured include German and Dutch expats who came to the Western Cape on holiday, fell in love with the destination, and never left. Using authentic voices to rally potential visitors, the campaign depicts these neverending tourists exploring the spaces they love most, accompanied by them explaining how living in the Cape makes them feel.
“What struck me most about the campaign is the evidential truth that Cape Town and the Western Cape really does get you in a good space,” comments Wesgro’s Chief Marketing Officer, Monika Iuel. “This came through authentically in the interviews we had with our campaign subjects and has translated into an incredibly moving AV,” she adds.
To support the local tourism industry, campaign collateral has been made available to the travel trade via a dedicated portal. The local tourism industry is being encouraged to make use of the collateral, to attract back key markets with a unified voice, and look and feel.
“The international market still has a lot of questions, ranging from changing travel requirements in their own country to safety whilst on vacation. They’re still in a ‘dream phase’ as they emerge with cautious optimism out of a hard lockdown,” says Iuel.
In-fitting with this current reality, the campaign is specifically focused on awareness, positioning the Cape as an optimal wellbeing destination with high impact engagement tools being included as part of the roll-out between May and October this year.
Deepening the support effort, the campaign will include a re-imagined take of the popular virtual tours launched as part of the ‘One Day Western Cape’ campaign last year, to support the hard-hit tour guides across the province.
As part of the campaign partnerships, Tripadvisor has been selected as the preferred platform partner to assist with championing the campaign.
“Acknowledged as the world’s preferred travel guidance company, Tripadvisor is the trusted go-to platform for advice at every stage of the journey – dreaming, planning, experiencing and sharing,” said Wesgro’s Head of Marketing, Jean Scheltema.
“A high reach, high engagement platform with a loyal base of active monthly users all over the world (including 4.6m in Germany and 1.8m in the Netherlands) we identified the platform to be optimal partner for the highly targeted nature of this campaign,” added Scheltema.
As part of the Western Cape Government’s broader efforts to instil traveller confidence and support the tourism sector, Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, said: “Building on existing platforms and resources for the tourism industry, the campaign will direct travellers to the safetravels.capetown website as part of the awareness phase to put international travellers' minds at ease with regards to visiting the Western Cape. In addition, we will be engaging with the tourism industry in the upcoming months to promote the use of the campaign collateral to ensure more people around the world know about the great experiences available in Cape Town and the Western Cape.