This is Athens Case Study

INTEGRATED MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Client: Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau

BACKGROUND

Back in 2010, City of Athens Convention & Visitor Bureau launched an online initiative titled ‘This is MY Athens’. The campaign's objective was to create the largest photostream ever made for Athens, inviting the city's residents and visitors to upload their own photos online and show the whole world what Athens was all about.

The campaign rolled out at a time when the city's and the entire country's image was put to test due to intense but short lived public unrest incidents. The blow on the city's image due to intense and one-sided media coverage was fierce and at the same time local residents needed an opportunity to revamp their pride for the city. The most effective way to achieve both and fight back was to show the world what was really happening in the city. In continuation of the online marketing campaign, in July 2011 launched the second phase of ‘This is MY Athens’, a visitor greeter program designed to give visitors the insider's edge of the city through a walk with an Athens local

The initiative was promoted through online and offline media and received extensive coverage mainly due to its voluntary nature and the fact that there was already a public desire building up for corrective actions. The campaign cleverly employed the public's motivation to help promote their city and show a positive and alternative side of Athens by actually giving them the opportunity to become the city's brand ambassadors. More than 300 Athens Locals have registered as volunteers making this one of the most successful visitor greeters programs available, while thousands of tours have already been booked so far.

OBJECTIVES

Understanding the changing expectations of travelers and the processes which transform the nature of visitor experience, City of Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau asked us to:

01 REFRESH ‘ THIS IS ATHENS’ BRAND IDENTITY
02 UPGRADE THE CITY’S OFFICIAL VISITORS WEBSITE
03 ENHANCE THE THIS IS MY ATHENS ONLINE PLATFORM
04 RUN AN INTEGRATED DESTINATION MARKETING CAMPAIGN TARGETING BOTH LOCALS & VISITORS

THE APPROACH

MASSIVE REVAMP OF THE CITY OF ATHENS' OFFICIAL VISITORS WEBSITE

DAY & NIGHT CONCEPT

SHOWCASED THROUGH A CUSTOM

TIME LAPSE VIDEO

Watch the video

STUNNING VISUALS & STORYTELLING

CREATIVE COPY WRITING

HIGH-QUALITY DESIGN

SHOWCASING ATHENS TOP VISITOR ATTRACTIONS

AND HIDDEN GEMS

TRIP ADVISOR CONTENT INTEGRATION

TRAVEL TRADE & MEDIA SECTIONS

FOR PROMOTING ACVB B2B SERVICES

THIS IS MY ATHENS GREETERS PROGRAM UPGRADE & PROMOTION

TRIP PLANNING & GAMIFICATION

ELEMENTS

FRESHMAN

TRENDSTER

CITY GURU

PERSONALIZED LOCAL

PROFILES & REWARD SYSTEM

REVIEWS / TESTIMONIALS INTEGRATION

STAKEHOLDERS EXPERIENCE DESIGN WORKSHOP & ATHENS LOCALS COMMUNITY TRAINING

An inspiring event took place where Key Tourism Stakeholders got together in working groups to create perfect visitors moments in Athens via experience design tools & role-playing games.

SERVICE DESIGN BLUEPRINT REPORT

The bloggers used a special experience design & service evaluation tool to provide their assessment on several touchpoints (e.g. public transportation, visitor information services etc.) throughout their journey in Athens.

WHO DO YOU THING YOU ARE? PERSONA-BASED BLOGGERS CAMPAIGN

A persona-based bloggers campaign was launched to promote Athens as a world-class city-break destination. Following a storytelling approach, we designed and developed a colorful, vivid, responsive website with striking illustrations that informs its visitors in the most user friendly way about the campaign’s schedule, the bloggers’ personal information while enabling them to book a tour with a local that matches their favorite persona and shares the same hobbies and interests with them.