Tourism Partnerships for Extended Marketing Reach

They are new, fresh and big and they are all partnerships with a cause.

Scotland is set to maximize its exposure to a global audience, through a joint marketing campaign with Disney for a new animated film set in the Highlands; Iceland Inspires and engages its audience through the spread of its marketing efforts and content to a multi platform level in cooperation with AOL; and Japan launches a joint marketing initiative with Taiwan to promote rail travel in both countries.

VisitScotland Teams up with Disney/Pixar

VisitScotland is to launch its largest global marketing campaign to date, based around the launch of Disney/Pixar's forthcoming animated film, Brave. The partnership is a tourism first, since this is the first time that Disney has linked up with a country's tourism organisation on such a scale.

Set in the Scottish Highlands, Brave is to be released in August 2012 and has characters voiced by Billy Connolly and Kelly Macdonald and a song by Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis.

Increasing the promotion of the typical Scottish landscapes and culture which are the background of the film through this partnership is quite fitting for both sides.

This will include multi-media activities such as joint TV and cinema advertising across the UK, North America and Europe, PR opportunities, digital marketing and events including premieres and screenings that will continue through the film’s home entertainment release.The campaign will see Scotland’s scenery, humour and culture showcased on an unprecedented scale and will position Scotland on the world stage in a way not seen since “Braveheart”.

As VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said: "This is an incredible opportunity to extend the reach of VisitScotland's marketing activity across the world. This film will be shown in more than 70 countries across the world and will give us the opportunity to convert cinema goers into visitors in the biggest campaign VisitScotland has ever launched.

"There are very few tourism destinations that get to work so closely with the world's largest entertainment companies - and this gives us an unprecedented opportunity to put Scotland on the worldwide stage with a whole new audience."

Source: www.visitscotland.org

Promote Iceland Cross-Platform Marketing

A cross-platform pan-European marketing campaign that aims to raise awareness of Iceland as a year-round holiday destination has just been launched by AOL in partnership with Promote Iceland.

The Inspired by Iceland campaign has marked the introduction of the Huffington Post UK’s ‘Inspiration’ section, which allows brands to communicate with consumers through video, blogs and social media. AOL claims this is the first pan-European marketing effort that integrates "a comprehensive suite of AOL advertising products, content and platforms".

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/37304258]

This is the third part of the Inspired by Iceland campaign, with the second phase featuring Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson calling on his Islanders to open up the doors of their homes and invite tourists in for a unique Icelandic experience.

The campaign is the first to feature a Project Devil ad with a live camera feed, and will span The Huffington Post, MyDaily, AOL Travel and AOL advertising platforms Advertising.com and goviral.

The campaign includes a 12-minute exclusive documentary on Iceland, ‘Islander,’ hosted on HuffPost UK Inspiration; a 60-second video trailer for the documentary distributed across goviral’s network in key European markets; sponsored content with the theme, ‘Inspired by Iceland,’ across The Huffington Post UK Lifestyle and additional content on MyDaily and AOL Travel; and Inspired by Iceland ads distributed across the Advertising.com network of premium publishers.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Japan & Taiwan Joint Rail Marketing Campaign

Taiwan and Japan plan to launch a joint rail tourism campaign as part of expanding links between the two countries since the massive earthquake which struck Japan.

As part of the tourism campaign titled “Train Travel: Winter in Hokkaido and Summer in Taiwan” a special steam train, dubbed “Doraemon” after the Japanese comic book character, will whistle its way through a mountainous area of northern Taiwan on March 12 to celebrate the sisterhood tie between the two countries.

For this joint marketing initiative, one train from each country will be used, Taiwan’s CK124 steam engine and a similar Japanese train called the Hokkaido SL Fuyu-no-Shitsugen, to promote railway travel in both countries.

The partnership idea came about during a visit to Taiwan by Japanese officials in April last year to promote tourism as part of Japan’s disaster recovery efforts and is expected to be formalized on March 12 in a letter of intent signed by the Japan Hokkaido Railway Co (JR Hokkaido) and the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).

The promotional campaign is expected to help revive the economy in northeast Japan, an area that was hit hard by the powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11 last year. The partnership is also a means to express Japan’s gratitude for Taiwan’s tremendous humanitarian aid in the wake of the disaster, according to JR Hokkaido.

Source: www.taipeitimes.com