Destination marketing

Here you can find practical examples of successful and outstanding destination marketing campaigns and techniques. 

Understanding Ambush Marketing

The word 'ambush' means 'an attack from a hidden position'. Ambush marketing is a way of marketing. It happens a lot in sporting events. For example, a sponsor pays money which makes possible to hold the event, in return to get publicity, media coverage etc. Ambush marketing happens when campaigns are done around the event, but there is no money paid for the event. Brands find ways to promote themselves on the same event, but the do not pay sponsorship. Even, if they want to, they cannot because one brand is an exclusive sponsor. They do not break the laws like this but sometimes get more coverage in the media or people's attention when they find a way to shine through the main sponsor.In this blog, I will show the most famous ambush marketing tricks that have won over the main sponsors in the eyes of people and the Media. Also, what has changed within last years and how ambush marketing can be prevented buy us as the event managers. 

Experience

'People will forget what you said

People will  forget what you did

But people will never forget how you made them Feel'

/Maya Angelou/

All of us know that we are being targeted. Day by day we are passing by billboards and watching adverts on the TV. But are these marketing tools enough to encourage us to choose one brand rather than another one? Do we want something more? Do we want to experience how does it feel to be part of the brand? In the following weeks we are going to introduce some of the amazing marketing practices which were used in the last few years. So are you ready to discover and participate?

          Are you ready to experience?

London

Some of you might wonder that how could ambush marketing be stopped? Well....there are rules and regulations that can be put in place but clever marketing people will find a way to use big games in their advantage.

This video will explain some of the methods that London used in order to prevent ambush marketing but lets look at the advert published by Subway. It does not mention any prohibited words, display Olympic colors or anything relevant to London2012, but when seeing these adverts on the streets and in TV, would you think of the Olympics when it is just around the corner?

Look at the official restaurant commercial of London 2012 here: 

McDonald´s Olympics- We all make the Games

The correct answer is...Reebok.

Indeed, the official sponsor for 1996 Olympics was Reebok not Nike!!

Atlanta entered the Olympic bidding in 1988, in a fierce competition with Athens to get the title 'Host city for Summer Olympic 1996'. Atlanta is also known for the home of Coca-Cola company headquarters. Although, it is always said that cities win on the basis on their bid and the facilities they can offer for the athletes, spectators, media etc., some people thought that the headquarters of Coca-cola might have been an influential factor in the choice of Atlanta.
The Atlanta bid was initiated by Atlanta lawyer Billy Payne and this decision had a big effect on the community. Thousands of people were inspired by one man's vision to bring the Games to the city. But the event is claimed to be an entirely a privet-sector phenomenon, meaning that without the usual finance from the government. It is said that The International Olympic Committee got sold out for money and everything has a cost. There was a lot of bad coverage from media when the Games were happening and also rules and regulations were not in place.

However, the game has been memorable and later reported that the crows have been the largest in Olympic history.

This is how it happened: Nike managed to build a Nike village next to the athletes village with a massive logo on display. Also it bought a significant amount of billboard space around the venue to promote the brand.

Coca Cola - own it

Coca-cola make-it

I think we can all agree that Coke is a very controversial company. Although Coca Cola has been proved unhealthy by scientists over and over again the enterprise is still on top of their game and sells more soft drinks then ever. Coca Cola is bad for your health and weakens your immune sytem. However none of these facts stop people from buying Coke on the daily basis. What does Coke do so well that alhough they have a sizable portion of negative press they can still encourage people to buy their products?

Is it the taste?

Is it the packaging?

The answer for both of the questions is: No! They have an amazing marketing team whom discovered that the customers of the company choose the brand because of the experiences they associate the Coke name with

.

Just think about it...

The winner is.....

Imagine You through a party and invite a lot of interesting, brilliant people. Imagine Your roommate will fail to help with the organisation of the event, as well as the costs of the food, decoration etc and then shows up on the event and will be claiming co-sponsorship. Now imagine watching in awe how he/she will take the credit for Your expense and effort. Now imagine that party just cost You $50M, like the sponsorship deal for the 1996 Summer Olypmics in Atlanta, GA.

Who do You think was the official sponsor by looking at this picture?

Was it?....

A: Nike
B: Reebok
C: Adidas

Leave a comment in the end and I will tell You the correct answer soon.

Flash Mob - Expect the Unexpected

Have You ever witnessed a large group of people appearing from nowhere, performing for a few minutes and then disappearing again!?

It could have been anything from singing to dancing or maybe in special cases performing a short play!

Yes?

Well, then probably you have been a spectator of a Flash Mob.

Since its emergence in 2003 Flash Mob is being used as a very popular and efficient marketing tool. Not only it raises awareness of the particular company but it also makes costumers involved (although most of the time they don't even know about it).

Quite a few brands used Flash Mobs over the last few years, however one of the most briliant and most memorable for all of us - lets hope we agree on this- is the T-Mobile Welcome Back Flash Mob from 2010.

The advert was one of the first one of its sort, in the UK, which went viral on the internet.

It was the perfect commercial, not only because everyone could associate with the feeling of waiting in the hall for your loved ones to arrive and giving them kisses, hugs and roses but because you could see the surprise on the faces of the waiting crowed.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

It is not that difficult to set up brilliant goals and missions then lay on a beach, sipping cocktail, dreaming of a bright future and thinking what a great destination you have and why nobody is coming to visit. Unfortunately, this is not a single case and this could be the end of a story. This proves once again that coming up with the objectives and developing an actual strategy has never been an easy task. However, it's not that difficult as it might seem from the first sight. As we are being taught straight away when engaging in some new venture, "if you don't know how to do something- watch! if it's unclear- ask! and if it's still too complicated- than find the people who do it and follow them!" What is more valuable is that if these people find your idea attractive enough then there could be a profitable partnership on a horizon. As it is said "Two Heads Are Better Than One!"

Mcmillan - No one should face cancer alone

If we go along with the definition of the Oxford dictionary, brand is: a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name. Considering this definition nothing else  then products can be branded.

Is this true, though?

When you think about a brand do you necessarily think about a brand which manufactures goods? Or do you rather think about a company with a well-established name? A company which did something unique on their field and therefore they become well-known as a brand?

On of the companies with a well recognized brand image is the Mcmillan cancer support company. They are not an ordinary brand in a sense that they don`t produce goods. The company provides practical, medical and financial support for those who has been diagnosed with cancer. Their motto is: No one should face cancer alone.

Film Tourism: Live the Bond Lifestyle

Let’s admit that most of us like watching movies and almost everybody has their favourite ones, featuring the actors we like filmed in the scenes we keep remembering and sometimes repeating to our friends in day to day life. As well as that there is one thing about the movies that almost everyone has ever thought about, and this is being able to imagine yourself in the same circumstances, outfit, mood and the most important on the same location as it was in a film. Most of us would agree that the locations we have on our mind when planning to go on holidays or city-break would be the destinations seen in the movie or on TV, they don’t just come randomly to our head from nowhere. Even though in reality it might not look exactly the same as in the movie and the people around won’t be Hollywood stars, we still pursue this dream to go to that place we saw and live exactly the same life as a movie hero. And this tendency was well spotted by some destination marketing organizations and they really deserve a big credit for that.

Introduction to business environment

Show Them What You've Got

Film tourism, despite being considered as a niche product has proved in some cases to be one of the main generators of tourist arrivals. Each time more and more destination marketers consider it to be a very effective promotional tool and don't doubt much when spending sufficient amount of their budgets on it. Now it became obvious that traditional marketing campaigns, which include boring and annoying advertising through billboards, TV commercials, magazine ads featuring the locations are not really effective anymore. People would hardly be able to recall the names of destinations and what is worse could be thinking of completely different locations. So to avoid this wastage of money, time and people's patience its time to come up with something more creative. It's time to listen first to what customers really like to watch and experience, and after that to adapt and deliver the right product. Actually it's never been easier, just hang on for a moment, listen and watch what movies people really like and then just get creative. The most important is to make sure that the message got across to the right audience and made a difference. 

In It to Win It

              Grand Theft Auto Video Game, one of the locations - New York ( Liberty City)

Digital marketing is a new way to engage with the customers through computers, smartphones, game consoles and other electronic devices, using technological platforms such as internet, social media, apps etc. According to statistics 35% of internet users play online games. And it's not only male teens who play games as most of us would think. The percentage is spread almost equally between males and females and the average age would be 34 years old. This has created a base for the new form of digital marketing- a game based marketing.