For generations British travelers have flocked to Scotland to take advantage of its accessibility and affordability.  

More recently, however, discount European airlines have enabled people to reach virtually every corner of the continent for a fraction of what it used to cost — a very appealing opportunity for millennials. So as young travelers pursue experiences beyond Scotland, the country’s tourism industry today is primarily supported by nostalgic empty nesters over the age of 45.

“Before we had all the low-cost airlines out to Europe, people would have UK-based holidays, that would be their main holiday,” said Gwen Raez, the International Senior Marketing Manager for VisitScotland. “Many were taken in Scotland; that’s not really happening anymore.”

Raez says that the average visitors today are elderly couples that have fond memories of childhood vacations in Scotland. The rest, she says, “want to have a holiday where you’ve got guaranteed sunshine,” which can’t be found in Scotland as easily as other destinations.

The challenge of appealing to millennial travelers

While Scotland may not be able to guarantee good weather, internal research suggests not many millennial travelers are aware of what the country has to offer. Raez explains that many are familiar with the country’s two largest cities, and of the region’s storied natural beauty, but little else.

“Everybody knows Edinburgh and Glasgow, but we have another five cities that all have their own vibes,” said Raez, adding that the country is also home to world-renowned arts and cultural festivals, adventure sports and wildlife. “It’s not just about viewing the stunning vistas, but getting out and about and enjoying the landscape, which is something we very much trying to do with this campaign.”

Getting inspired by millennial TV viewing habits

The campaign to which Raez refers began with discussions almost a year ago, and is playing out on both television and social media today. After recognizing the importance of getting the next generation of travelers excited about Scotland, the DMO began researching where and how to best reach them.

“We’ve seen a lot of research on dual screening — people watching TV while being on their tablets or their phones at the same time — so we thought about how we could capitalize on that,” explains Raez.

“We know they’re on a second screen and we know certain programs generate a lot of chat around a hashtag, and we felt there was an opportunity to get that chat going around Scotland with that audience.”

Creating a new interactive TV campaign with E4

After reviewing proposals from a number of media organizations VisitScotland eventually chose to partner with E4, a UK-based television station that typically caters to audiences aged 16 to 34. “It was through joint discussions and collaborations [with E4] that we arrived at the final concept,” says Raez.

That final concept includes a series of minute long videos following six millennials with limited knowledge of Scotland on a road trip around the country, that are broadcasted on E4 in an ad spot.

6 @E4Tweets viewers, 1 red campervan, 5 days exploring #Scotland. 🚗 THIS is what we call an epic road trip! 😄 #ScotE4 pic.twitter.com/pMzCKu8oyo

— VisitScotland (@VisitScotland) September 15, 2017

As the videos conclude, viewers are encouraged to vote on what they’d like to see the group do the next day. The itinerary that gets the most votes on Twitter using the hashtag #ScotE4 in the 30 minutes that follow is ultimately pursued, shot, edited and put on air the following evening.

It's voting time again. Decide what the adventurers get up to next by voting below! #ScotE4 #Ad

— E4 (@E4Tweets) September 13, 2017

“It was as close to live as I think I ever want to get,” jokes Raez.

“We wanted to do something that was near-live to generate that interest and engagement from this group [of travelers].”

She explains that the day would be broken into three shoots, one each in the morning, afternoon and evening. As soon as shooting wrapped on one segment the content was sent to an editor at a nearby hotel conference room, who began editing as the group made its way onto the next destination. The editors had to work in near real time in order to send off final cuts to Clearcast, the UK’s advertising standards council, for same-day approval.  

“They would start editing each scene as we filmed it,” said Raez, adding that production days began at 6am and often ended after midnight. “So it really was a perpetual treadmill of filming, getting the rough shoots back to the editor and editing and then getting it up on air.”

Raez says that the treadmill almost came to a grinding halt one Tuesday while shooting in Perth, when a poor Internet connection nearly brought down the entire project.

In spite of the setback the teams successfully shot, edited and broadcasted five 60-second videos. Each installment featured the cast engaging in three activities in a single day, which including a visit to a castle, a street art tour, an evening at a cabin in the woods, a visit to a popular concert venue, mounting biking, ATVing and more.

While the whirlwind filming stage is over, the social media conversation is just beginning

Now that the six millennial participants are back from their adventure, they continue to share stories and pictures online.

“Some of them are very active in terms of their social media, so we’re looking at how to encourage them and their fans to keep promoting Scotland and encouraging other people to do the same.”

Raez continues, “We don’t want it to be a one-off in terms of exciting this age group about Scotland, so we’re thinking about how to keep that going using user-generated content.”

Raez adds that it’s too early to get a full picture of what worked and what didn’t in their first crack at a near real-time television and social media campaign, but hopes the numbers indicate that the strategy is worth replicating in the future. Thus far she can say that the videos were seen by over half a million TV viewers, that after the first week the hashtag #ScotE4 had a reach of 11.5 million impressions, and that at its peak the ads were seen by 10% of the TV watching millennial audience in the UK.

“This is something we’re just starting the journey on. Certainly I want to explore how to make the interactivity element even more pronounced; that’s something we want to build on.”

Interested in incorporating more user-generated content into your marketing? Read this field guide to learn how to use it in print:

Take a second to consider: how many people come to your destination for an event?

Sporting events, concerts, festivals, and other special events are a major draw and can bring fresh crowds of first-time visitors to your destination.

Yet many DMOs aren’t taking advantage of this.

To give you an idea of just how heavily events can influence local tourism, consider the impact that sports have on Indianapolis’s tourism industry. Sporting events specifically contribute the following:

• $342 million dollars in revenue
• 113% increase in hotel revenue
• 147% higher average daily room rate

*stats from Chris Gahl’s talk at ESTO17

Not to mention the thousands or millions of dollars worth of earned media coverage and social media conversation (think: Instagram and Facebook posts, Snapchat videos, and Tweets).

The #LoveIndy campaign was launched for Super Bowl & there has been a lasting spike in civic pride. @crowdriff gallery 👍 #esto2017 pic.twitter.com/FZO7YKbRCV

— Amrita Gurney (@AmritaGurney) August 28, 2017

So, how can you ensure local events drive revenue, repeat visits and garner positive attention for your destination? At the ESTO conference this year, Chris Gahl from Visit Indy and Thomas See from Live Nation Entertainment shared their best tips on how to capitalize on these opportunities, by marketing your destination before, during, and after an event. Here’s what you need to know!

We often overlook the fact that people travel to go to a concert. DMOs have opportunity to extend their stay. #esto17 pic.twitter.com/K1PAqauaUX

— CrowdRiff (@CrowdRiff) August 28, 2017

How to market your destination BEFORE the event begins

The goal: To make travelers see your destination as more than just a backdrop for the event they want to attend. Position your destination as a place they’re lucky enough to have an opportunity to explore, and give them incentive to do so!

When a popular musician adds your city to their tour, grab onto those coattails and don’t let go! Make sure everyone who’s interested in the concert finds a reason to stay for longer before they book their trip.

Create special discount packages for event-goers. If the event is on a Thursday, this is a great opportunity to entice visitors to spend the rest of their weekend in your destination. One straightforward way to do this is to offer special weekend discounts together with your tourism partners, for event-goers. This extra incentive may be all they need to  explore more of your city.

Take advantage of AdWords to drive interest. Try targeting searches for “[artist] + [your destination]” and direct traffic to those weekend specials or other relevant content about booking a hotel room and extending their trip!

Interested in how other DMOs are promoting their events? We wrote a blog post about that.

How to market your destination DURING the event

The goal: To offer an unforgettable experience that visitors will always associate with your destination. Create a positive memory to draw attendees back again and again.

Creating a memorable experience for visitors is sometimes as simple as showing that you notice them!

Create personalized signage that welcomes guests at key points of entry. Something like, “Hey Superbowl fans! Welcome to Minneapolis!” is an easy way to make someone smile. If your destination is a drive market, having eye-catching billboards on the highway could be a fun way to say hi. If you’re mainly a fly market, digital screens at airports can also make a great first impression.

This is also a fine opportunity to introduce your brand hashtag and encourage visitors to share their photos with it.

Incorporate your visitors’ event photos into your destination’s physical space. To take your signage one step further and truly evoke positive emotions, make visitors a part of your space by curating and displaying their social photos on a digital screen.

With a platform like CrowdRiff, you can curate your favorite photos taken by event go-ers and turn them into slideshows, or even create a live photo collage that’ll automatically refresh with new photos with the event’s hashtag, that works perfectly as a display on a screen.

Imagine going back to your hotel after a great sports game, and coming across a digital screen with the Instagram photo you just took displayed alongside the photos of other die-hard fans.

Not only is this a creative way to welcome guests to your destination and hotel, but it’s also a powerful talk trigger that will spark more chatter and conversation on social media.

How to market your destination AFTER the event ends

The goal: To remind visitors of the great time they had in your destination, create a sense of nostalgia, and inspire them to come back again soon.

Just because the event is over, doesn’t mean marketing’s job is done! This is a great time to use the momentum and energy from a recent event to fuel online interest and conversation.

Write a recap post including visual user-generated content. Give attendees a chance to relive the highlights! Create a recap that includes the best parts of that event, and jam-pack it with the best photos and videos from social media. Including these images will also make fans who didn’t attend see what they missed out on.

Save your favorite social visuals for next year. If you host a recurring festival like Coachella or Oktoberfest, keep a record of the best visuals from this year’s event for future marketing purposes – you’ll thank yourself next year! CrowdRiff enables you to categorize visuals into albums so you can stay organized and quickly find the image you’re looking for. If you don’t use CrowdRiff, you might consider making a document to bookmark the links to your favorite social visuals.

Retarget visitors with ads detailing future events they might like. If someone traveled to your city for a baseball game, chances are they’d be interested in a basketball game, too; if they recently attended a Taylor Swift concert, make sure they know when Shawn Mendes will be in town!

Take advantage of the tourism potential your destination’s events can bring in!

Large events can bring in hoards of visitors to your destination — and keep them coming back too, if you know what to do. We hope this post has given you some great ideas to implement the next time you have a special event in your destination.

And if you’re interested in how you could be using a visual marketing platform like CrowdRiff to help curate the best UGC visuals, let us know today!

If asked to give one word describing the Napa Valley, most would say “wine.” Asked for a second word, most would draw a blank.

While California’s premier appellation is among a small handful of top wine-growing regions in the world, its culture of artisanal exploration and handmade craftsmanship have inspired many other flourishing creative pursuits.

“There is a perception that because it’s a big name [in wine], and while it can be luxurious they may not realize how laid back and welcoming it is,” said Lisa Poppen, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Visit Napa Valley. “Our effort is to communicate beyond the expected.”

The Lesser-Known Story of the Napa Valley

“Our goal, specifically for content, is to tell the story about what makes the Napa Valley unique and special.”

“Like its collaborative spirit amongst all the craftsmen and makers, in the wine industry but also in the arts, food, culture, wellness — and why they’re so inspired not only working; but also living in the Napa Valley,” said Poppen.

The true story of the Napa Valley is larger than that. It’s about the culture of artisans and craftspeople from around the world that gather there to pursue their passion. Some of the resulting masterpieces can be bottled and poured into a glass, while others may require a canvas, fork or yoga mat.

The Valley’s wine story is so widely known that the destination marketing organization spends most of its advertising spend during the half of the year that doesn’t draw as many tourists to its vineyards, namely November through April.  

An Out-Of-The-Box Storytelling Partnership

With the 2016 fiscal year coming to an end last spring, Visit Napa Valley was considering how to best tell the deeper story of their destination, sending a request for proposal to travel publications asking for out-of-the-box storytelling ideas.

“We were looking at planning our paid efforts in a more holistic and impactful way. Historically, we were somewhat event-driven with our messaging and placement.”

Though they received many responses, experiential travel publication AFAR Magazine stood out for its alignment with the brand’s goals, audience, and storytelling idea.

“They have a very unique point of view as a publication, this idea of travelling deeper, of personal fulfillment through travel,” said Poppen. “It was a nice fit, and really you never know until you start working together, but it’s been incredibly seamless and quite a joy to create special content with them.”

Partnering with AFAR Magazine to Create “Makers of the Napa Valley”

Together with AFAR Magazine, they created a series of content that highlighted five makers of different backgrounds and expertise, each telling the story of how the region inspired their craft in a two-minute video.

“Along with print advertising, there was advertorial that helped further tell the story, ” said Poppen. “In addition to video content, there are supporting itineraries where each maker shared their knowledge of the Napa Valley and things they like to do.”

“We were trying to tell the story of not just the wine, art, food, culture and wellness that exists in Napa Valley, but also who these individuals are and how Napa Valley inspires them.”

The AFAR Magazine production team sourced many of the featured makers, finalizing their selections in September 2016. Videos were shot in October and went live in November on both AFAR’s Napa Valley Travel Guide and Visit Napa Valley’s website.

The Makers of the Napa Valley Series’ most popular video features husband and wife pottery makers William and Nikki Ballere Callnan, and was viewed more than 125,000 times. In the video, the young couple discusses how they work with local wineries and restaurants to produce dishes and serving utensils as unique and artfully crafted as the culinary masterpieces they carry.  

“It was quite beautiful and it came out naturally,” said Poppen. “Each of these individual artists and makers were drawn to the Napa Valley for a variety of reasons, but what really came out was how collaborative they are, how they’re inspired by each other, how they help each other out and often work together in various ways.”

How Makers of the Napa Valley Surpassed Initial Goals

On the whole, the campaign ultimately surpassed every single one of its original KPIs, achieving more than double the clicks, click through rate and number of sessions initially set out in the RFP. Total clicks reached just under 20,000 with a 0.15% click through rate and almost 11,000 sessions. Overall impressions surpassed the initial goal of 10 million, topping out at 13.6 million.

“Some of the standout numbers include nearly 800,000 engagements and almost 3,000 hours spent on the videos.”

“AFAR was equally thrilled; it was driving so much traffic to their site that they actually put additional paid media of their own into a network buy to drive new audiences,” adds Poppen.

She attributes the success of the campaign to the way in which it captures the relaxed and creative atmosphere of the region, exposing viewers to a side of the Napa Valley they likely didn’t know existed.

“It shows that if there’s authenticity in the people who are sharing their story then it will truly resonate with the visitor. That’s what’s interesting to them.”

What’s Next 

While Visit Napa Valley did share some behind the scenes content with their social media followers during production, they want to take their social media efforts to the next level in fiscal year 2018’s iteration of the Makers of Napa Valley series.

“The makers try to bring their content to life in different ways, and I think this year that will grow now that we’re working with CrowdRiff,” said Poppen.

Poppen explains that since starting with CrowdRiff, the destination marketing organization has been able to incorporate more user-generated content to its website, and intends to utilize it further in building out the next iteration of the campaign. Specifically, Visit Napa Valley wants to encourage others to share that deeper story of inspiration, collaboration and craftsmanship that deserves to be as synonymous with the region as its wines.

“There’s more opportunity now that we’re using CrowdRiff for some of the user generated content on our website and our social media to take this message and allow our visitors to add their take to the story.”

Interested in how CrowdRiff can supercharge your brand’s visual marketing?

Last week I returned from Minneapolis where I attended ESTO, the annual education summit of the U.S. Travel Association.

This was my first ESTO (though CrowdRiff’s third) and I was excited to host my first Learning Lab workshop, alongside our CEO Dan Holowack and customers Jeff Robinson of Visit Indy and Jeremy Harvey of Visit Savannah.

For folks who couldn’t attend our session, or missed the conference this year, I’ll share a brief recap:

We are in a new era as marketers, the era of visual decision making.

When I was figuring out where to go out to eat and drink in Minneapolis, I asked my local friends, and used their list of recommendations to browse websites as well as Instagram photos taken by people just like me.

I’m not unusual. Last year over 1 trillion photos were taken on the iPhone alone, many of which were shared on social media. These visuals are influencing travelers throughout their travel journey – from inspiring them to visit a destination to choosing where to stay to helping them decide where to go to eat or what activities to explore when they are in market.

In an environment of information overload, visuals are what get people’s attention and make them want to learn more about a destination, a restaurant, a tour operator or a review.

Visual influence requires relevancy.

If you’re getting ready to head to a local festival, do you want to see photos from yesterday or 3 years ago? Can your travelers and locals see this kind of imagery on your destination website and social channels?

If not, they are going to find it elsewhere. Worse still is that you will have left them with an impression that you don’t have relevant information, so they are unlikely to keep coming back to you for future trip planning.

Don’t just keep your text content up to date — make sure your visuals are recent and relevant to your audiences too.

Being real is more important than being perfect.

Anyone who has worked in marketing for more than 5 years likely grew up with the notion that brands needed to project an image of perfection in order to be professional and impactful. That’s why so many tourism marketing materials are filled with imagery of sandy white beaches with no crowds and hiking trails that are blissfully empty.

We all enjoy the fantasy of a dream destination, so we don’t suggest you remove this imagery entirely. But people today trust imagery that is shared by other travelers more than they trust these perfect branded photos and videos.

Don’t be afraid to show this side of your destination. Look at the website of Niagara Falls Canada *below) for example. The imagery they use is taken by visitors and locals, and captures the personality of their destination in a way that feels believable.

Big influence doesn’t require big budgets

In our workshop, we shared examples of destinations who are go-to authorities of their destination, largely in part because they have mastered telling, curating and sharing the story of their brand. The tourism brands we showcased ranged from smaller cities to globally known destinations. And some of the best examples were done on a relatively small budget.

Gathan Borden is the Vice President of Marketing at Visit Lex, who shot a series of commercials based on footage of Go-Pros strapped on horses at a local farm. These videos cost a fraction of other videos he had produced, and yet they have become some of the highest performing. I love this nugget from him:

5 Common Characteristics of Visual Influencers

While every destination is unique, there are certain commonalities among those who really stand out with their visual content. If you want to achieve the incredible impact these DMOs have, consider the following:

Focus on what makes you special

It’s tempting to appeal to every kind of traveler, but don’t. Just don’t. Focus on what makes you special, and attract the travelers who are interested in you because of this specialness. Make your traveler feel like they have discovered a destination that was tailored for people like them.

Show, don’t tell

Pictures really do say a thousand words. And by pictures, we mean moving images too. Videos, GIFs, you name it. If there’s one thing you take away from our session, it’s this.

Let others tell your story

What if I told you there were thousands of people who were eager to promote your brand, for free. Wouldn’t you jump on that opportunity? These people are everywhere online, sharing photos and videos and great experiences on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc… You just need to find them and put them front and center in your marketing.

Be aspirational and authentic

Don’t choose between branded professional photography and user-generated visuals. There’s a place in a marketer’s toolkit for both, as they serve different purposes and work beautifully together.

Take creative risks

This one sounds easy but it’s the hardest to do. We all have reputations and very public profiles – it’s not easy to expose ourselves to a possible failed experiment. The problem is, some of the best ideas shared in our workshop took a stretch of the imagination and a leap of faith by the DMO. Find ways to foster and test creative ideas.

Learn more

If you’re interested in seeing a copy of my slides or learning more, Tweet me @amritagurney or get in touch.

Further reading: