Meet South Africa on OOH

South African Tourism has initiated an integrated campaign in several cities of India to drive tourism from India.

South African Tourism is running an out of home campaign titled 'Meet South Africa' across 22 cities of India to create awareness on the tourism opportunities present in the African nation. The campaign creatives highlight the diverse landscapes and experiences such as adventure, wildlife and luxury, among others the country offers to the travellers.

According to South African Tourism, 84,202 Indian tourists visited South Africa between January and September, 2013, which is an increase of 6.2 per cent vis-à-vis the same period last year.

Executed by DDB MudraMax, the campaign includes large format billboards, bus shelters, mobile vans and ambient media like malls in strategic locations to further enhance consumer outreach.

Apart from the major metros, the campaign has been extended to Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Chandigarh and Kochi, among others.

The campaign began on January 17 and will end in February.

The main objective behind the campaign is to position South Africa as a preferred destination among potential Indian travellers besides extending the brand marketing outreach to a larger mix of traveller segments across key markets.

Hanneli Slabber, country manager, South African Tourism, says, "The travel segment in India is evolving with increasing number of travellers looking out for unique experiences at their holiday destination and planning their own itineraries tuned to their specific interests and preferences. Our Meet South Africa campaign aims to give a glimpse of the distinctive and varied activities we have on offer to suit the wide-ranging demands of Indian travellers. Engaging with our audience remains our key focus and we hope to build an aspiration in the consumers' mind to not just visit South Africa, but to meet our spectacular country and innumerable experiences through this magnificent campaign.

Mandeep Malhotra, president, DDB MudraMax Outdoor, Retail and Experiential, says, "Most consumers have pre-conceived notions about certain countries. Since many of them think South Africa mainly offers safaris, we want them to know that there's much more than that."

The tourism board had announced DDB MudraMax as its outdoor partner in December, 2013.

Before the commencement of the OOH campaign, South African Tourism ran a cinema branding campaign across seven cities and 94 screens of the country. It ran a 60-second montage on the picturesque landscapes and the luxuries offered by the country for the Indian viewers.

The campaign ran across screens on Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The tourism department had also set up kiosks at the multiplexes to tell people more about travel to South Africa. These kiosks were set up in association with the travel operators such as Kulin Kumar Holidays, Thomas Cook (India), Club7 Holidays and Kuoni India.

The 60-second ad also launched the second season of the 'Take Me to South Africa 2.0' contest featuring South African Tourism's brand ambassador, ex-cricketer Jonty Rhodes. The contest offered the winner a fully paid trip to the Rainbow Nation (South Africa).

South African Tourism Board had done a similar OOH campaign in 2010 and 2012 that focussed on four aspects about holidaying in South Africa, namely, wildlife safari, scenic beauty, outdoor adventure and world-class shopping. In 2012, it had organised road shows across several cities to target travel operators, South African representatives and suppliers.