As travel brands strive to establish their own
identity and voice, digital marketing content is transforming from social media
postings highlighting promotions and new products to stories inspiring wanderlust.
I first caught glimpse of 'Move' shared on a
friend’s Facebook page, there in one
brilliant minute of compelling content three friends traversed 11 countries and
38,000 miles and left me eyeing Google Flight Search’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. With no blatant brand plastered across the
images, I was drawn to the friends’ adventure – a personal story of a trip of a
lifetime. It instigated memories of my steps on some similar global roads. Only
months later did I realize that ‘Move’ was a part of a video series campaign
commissioned by STA Travel
to build brand awareness.
‘Move’ now has over 2.5 million views on
Youtube where STA’s branded video appears. The Director, Rick Mereki, has his
personal channel where ‘Move’ views
exceed 15.5 million. The short video was by no surprise one of Vimeo’s advertising finalists in 2012.
Tourism boards and travel brands are beginning
to stray away from the scripted and impersonal video, bringing back the thrill
of unknown destinations. Key to this new content approach’s success is the
brand’s trust of filmmakers to capture the location’s mysteries in their own
manner. Stepping away from the corporate restrictions on content empowers
filmmakers to do what they do best: be
storytellers. Engaging, powerful content which offers a fresh perspective will
spread itself across social network sites as we have seen with ‘Move’ as well
as with Barcelona (funded by the
Catalan Tourism Board) and Enter
Pyongyang (funded by Koryo Tours, the leading North Korean travel
specialist).
Sources:
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