The international tourism industry continues to navigate
fluctuating COVID guidelines and restrictions.
In these uncertain times, travelers cautiously await the
next opportunity to beat their cabin fever and head off to unexplored places.
Since travel has been put on hold for many people, tourism destinations that
thrive off seasonal tourist travel have been hit hard and struggle to find conducive
ways to attract potential travelers.
These setbacks prompted an international tourism company to
seek digital advertising solutions to re-engage large audiences of potential
travelers and take them on a virtual road trip.
The challenge
Switzerland Tourism, the national marketing and sales
organization for Switzerland, aimed to position the country as a premier
tourism destination and engage potential travelers by promoting the Grand Tour
of Switzerland, the number one road trip of the Alps.
To achieve this objective, Switzerland Tourism partnered
with global advertising company VDX.tv to launch an omnichannel video campaign
reaching audiences through over-the-top (OTT) and digital content across
connected television (CTV), desktop and mobile.
The strategy
For this campaign, a household targeting strategy driven by
CTV was used in order to engage various members within a home and activate the
power of household influence in decisions about upcoming trips. Used within a
wider omnichannel approach, household targeting enabled Switzerland Tourism to
extend its reach and brand impact across a large audience.
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The Switzerland Tourism campaign utilized video-driven ad
units, which featured a video with internationally known Swiss singer and
songwriter, Bastian Baker. The ad unit contained multiple tabs, which allowed
for a wide variety of information to accompany the video and provided more
content for audiences to engage with.
One tab on the unit featured an
interactive map with Swiss hotspots, each containing a call-to-action (CTA)
that triggered dynamic content to be displayed alongside the map. The hotspots
feature not only allowed various regions within the country to be showcased,
but also enabled audiences to pinpoint specific attractions within a region and
get a more localized experience.
Another tab contained a gallery of Grand Tour of Switzerland
highlights and details, which users could click on and be taken to the website
for more information. Users were able to interact with virtual video tours of
natural landmarks and various cities throughout Switzerland and discover further
attractions within those cities. Additionally, users could virtually plan out a
road trip map that helped them decide the best route to take to reach all of
their desired destinations.
The results
The educational information and strong call to actions
(CTAs) within the ad unit drove high-quality traffic to the Switzerland Tourism
website. The interactive nature of the tabs also enabled the campaign to gather
user interest data that could be used to optimize future campaigns and reach
new audiences in the future.
The interactive components showcasing the Grand Tour of
Switzerland were critical factors that helped make the campaign successful. The
campaign resulted in a 96% video completion rate (VCR) on CTV, 77% VCR across
all screens and a 3.8% engagement rate.
As pandemic restrictions continue to change daily and impact
travel plans, video experiences and virtual tours can provide consumers with
inspiration for future travel and highlight all that your travel destination
has to offer.
Equipped with the proper advertising insights and
technology, the international tourism industry can re-engage large audiences
and provide unforgettable experiences for travelers, from the early
vacation-planning stages to their return flight home.
About the author...
Matt Keating is sales director at
VDX.tv
.