05 Unit Reports 05 Unit Reports Chief Marketing Officer’s Report Arrivals to South Africa Marketing and advertising We signed three-year global media deals have continued to rise and with CNN, BBC World, Eurosport, National feedback from our trade Geographic and News Corporation, which enable us to reach over 600-million consumers partners and stakeholders via a combination of television commercials has indicated that South and websites and programme sponsorships. The My South Africa campaign on CNN Africa’s popularity has invited people to share their experiences of Roshene Singh Chief Marketing Officer been growing as a South Africa on a website. A vignette featuring Yvonne Chaka-Chaka motivated consumers world-class, sought-after to visit the site. It won a gold medal at the destination for leisure, International Innovation Media awards. The Journey campaign on BBC World business and events. featured eight South African experiences. Consumers were invited to interact and South African Tourism’s marketing strategy build an itinerary. They also voted for the is based on robust research into consumer best journey with a chance of winning behaviour and brand tracking. The leisure the most popular journey. The Journey platform is our main focus, but we also campaign was supported by our Odyssey market to the business tourism industry campaign, in which four renowned figures and we have an events unit that focuses on - Nelson Mandela, Sir Richard Branson, marketing around events, such as the 2010 Anna Trapido and Nelson Monfort (a French FIFA World Cup™. sports television presenter) – celebrated Having closed the 2008/09 year with 9.6-million South Africa. visitors to South Africa, we are confident that The National Geographic campaign featured we will reach our goal of 10-million visitors top photographers, who captured authentic, by 2010. The bulk of those visitors will come South African experiences “through the lens”. from Africa because of the effect of the global financial crisis on international arrivals. We are Our global television commercials were already marketing aggressively in the domestic shown across News Corporation’s media and Southern African markets in order to build spectrum, on Sky News, Sky Sports, ESPN a culture of holiday travel and to open the and Fox, allowing us to reach well beyond doors of travel to all. traditional markets. Our global brand strategy is designed around Our partnership with Eurosport featured word-of-mouth in order to capitalise on the South Africa in sports destination, golf power of personal recommendation. Our new destination and sports traveller programmes. big campaign idea is to use the real encounters The focus was on the country’s facilities and and experiences of people who have travelled capabilities and South African sports stars to South Africa to convey the depth and range Gcobani Bobo and Jonty Rhodes shared their of what the country has to offer. favourite places to spend leisure time. 60 05 Unit Reports 2008 Global Media Face-Off panellists at a press conference 61 05 Unit Reports Our global media campaign was reporters; a Tourism Month special feature eMarketing supported by a cinema campaign was published in the Financial Mail; a South African Tourism is increasingly in key markets, such as the USA, the conference with the Cape Town Press Club moving into the online space because it is UK, Australia, France, Germany, the was held; and a corporate spread was where the vast majority of consumers are Netherlands and India. featured in the Business Day newspaper. researching and purchasing their travel. Overall, we achieved 4,800 brand spots We also produced corporate messaging Towards the end of 2008, we consulted a and vignettes and just over 80-million documents that were used at events at number of leaders in the field, locally and online page impressions, reaching more home and abroad, and defined South globally, to properly define South African than 600-million consumers and creating African Tourism’s “green” tourism messaging. Tourism’s eMarketing strategy. The markets awareness of Brand South Africa ahead of In total, positive editorial publicity to are shifting rapidly towards Web 2.0, social the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. the value of more than R20.5-million networking and open-source platforms. was generated over the period for both We took a giant leap into this new Communications and the global destination brand and South environment and, as of 1 September 2008, Stakeholder Management African Tourism. the southafrica.net website showed that Our efforts in the first half of the year the new approach was paying off. The site focused on the Indaba tourism trade Global Channel and usage statistics, PR and call centre reports all show where we hosted more than 600 Customer Management pointed to increased user satisfaction levels. journalists from around the world, During the 2008/09 financial year, our two Our branded YouTube Channel, Expedia. managed all global messaging and news main global objectives were, firstly, to build com, TripAdvisor and WAYN.com, dissemination as well as interviews the travel trade’s knowledge of South Africa plus global deals with CNN, National between our principals and the world’s as a leisure destination and, secondly, to Geographic, BBC and Eurosport, gave press. Our Indaba work generated more jointly market and promote the destination South African Tourism increased exposure than R8-million in positive destination to consumers with key trade partners. and new ways to engage with consumers and corporate editorial coverage. Indaba 2008, familiarisation trips, in- through video and other online media. The unit also managed the public relations country workshops/roadshows, and sales We also started work on a new around the BBC World, CNN, Sky, Eurosport calls by our trade relations managers and southafrica.net website to be launched at and National Geographic campaigns. regional directors all helped to meet our Indaba 2009. A media conference at Euro 2008 was first objective. attended by more than 60 journalists Partnering with the travel trade through Business Tourism from international media and successfully joint marketing agreements (JMAs) Business Tourism performed better than conveyed South Africa’s readiness for the opened up multiple avenues to attract expected. According to South African FIFA 2010 World Cup™. consumers to learn about Brand South Tourism’s research over 600 000 tourists arrived in 2008 for the primary purpose On the corporate communication side, Africa and to book trips. They were of Business Tourism. This is an increase of we arranged and delivered two public also an opportunity to build our trade 20% from 2007. lectures during the period under review, databases in different markets. one at the University of Cape Town During the year, 8 598 trade representatives A milestone R64-million partnership and the other at the Nelson Mandela were trained through various familiarity- deal was signed in November 2008 by Metropole University; we also held a building initiatives, 72 JMAs were signed, South African Tourism, the Gauteng media round table where the tourism trade extranet registrations increased to Tourism Authority, the Johannesburg sector and the economy were discussed 9 437 and our foreign trade database Tourism Company and the Sandton by South African Tourism principals and increased to 34,502 active members. Convention Centre. 62 05 Unit Reports The five-year deal concerns Meetings IMEX in Frankfurt, EIBTM in Barcelona, to encourage people to visit South Africa Africa, a trade show that South African AIME in Melbourne, and IT&ME (The during and after the World Cup™. The event Tourism acquired in 2007, and will Motivation Show) in Chicago. At IT&ME was well attended by the German media. accelerate the growth of business tourism a lead for a 5,000-person incentive, The events unit was also involved in for South Africa in years to come. representing approximately $12.5-million the South African cricket tour to India. Meetings Africa 2009, held at the Sandton in revenue, was generated. A bring-and-braai media event with Convention Centre from 25 to 27 A business tourism toolkit was developed the South African players was arranged February, was a huge success. A hundred to equip the trade sector to better sell to promote South Africa as a travel international buyers from our key markets South Africa. destination. The event was well attended were hosted at the show in conjunction and received extensive coverage in India. with the Department of Trade and Events The Vodacom Soccer Challenge was Industry. Exhibitor numbers increased by The National Event Tourism Growth another key event. Through a partnership 15%, while visitor numbers were similar Strategy was developed in 2008 and with the sponsors, the events unit to 2008. defined South African Tourism’s objectives produced promotional footage with the in supporting events as: Attention was focused on attracting Manchester United players and Sir Alex association meetings to South Africa in • leveraging media awareness of South Ferguson, their coach. The DVD was sent to line with the Business Tourism Growth Africa as a tourist destination through all foreign missions and country offices to strategy, which has been in place since major events; promote South Africa for the World Cup™. 2007. Bids were made to host various • positioning South Africa as a major large international meetings. And the events destination; and Product Society of Incentive Travel Executives’ • leveraging brand awareness of More than 1,000 visitors from core and (SITE’s) decision to hold its 2010 South Africa. investment markets were hosted in South Africa in the past year. All the itineraries international conference in Cape Town The unit supported numerous major were designed to both showcase the has been a major boost to South Africa’s national and international events to country and strengthen the objectives status as an incentive and business achieve these objectives.