Your Local Love
Entered by: VisitAarhus
In short, the goal of the campaign was to boost the desire to travel to the Aarhus region. After the COVID-19 pandemic, VisitAarhus noticed that the competition for visitors had intensified, and at the same time, inflation and uncertainty had affected the tourism industry. Therefore, there was a need to stand out and strengthen the international marketing of the Aarhus region as a tourist destination.
As part of the campaign, it was also essential to incorporate the local ambassadors, whom VisitAarhus had previously used in a national context, into creating value in an international context. With the 'Your Local Love' campaign, VisitAarhus created a universe of love that introduced tourists to their next holiday romance – the Aarhus region.
With playful wording, innovative media choices, and a rethinking of the role of local ambassadors, VisitAarhus cracked the code, acting as the perfect matchmaker. For example, the region found its voice and personality on Tinder and in old-school newspaper classified ads, and the local ambassadors were utilized as matchmakers for their "friend" – the region.
All these initiatives were rooted in a deep understanding of the target audience because knowing both sides well is essential when love is in the air.
The team set out to create a universe of love, where they leveraged the connection between dating and finding your next holiday destination. Senses and creativity were to play a significant role in seducing VisitAarhus' target audience and thereby increasing the desire to travel to the Aarhus region. With loving KPIs in mind, they aimed Cupid's arrow at a campaign budget that, with carefully selected media and formats, could make a good first impression on the target audience and, at the same time, give them the opportunity to showcase the Aarhus region in the best possible way.
By sprinkling a little love and cheeky wording over VisitAarhus' many inviting images and videos of the region, the material was dressed up and ready to meet its next match. The interaction between content, media, and the target audience was a major strategic initiative in the campaign. The team adapted the tone to each medium - cheeky on Tinder and a more innocent tone in newspaper classified ads. On Facebook and Instagram, they engaged locals as matchmakers with direct recommendations - 'I got this friend, I think you will hit it off.'
The central element of the media strategy was the development of a Tinder-branded profile for VisitAarhus, allowing the team to engage with the audience on an equal footing with flirtatious communication in the pursuit of the perfect match. For those who preferred to find love in a more traditional way, the team also placed a full-page classified ad in local newspapers.
Launch day turned into one big love fest. In national newspapers, readers could feel the warmth with playful classified ads from selected tourist attractions in the Aarhus region, and VisitAarhus' Tinder profile and ads on the dating app went live, while social media was filled with content that ‘tickled all the right spots.'
The following two months were filled with love across all platforms, and the rest of the campaign period was planned to ensure the love universe could continue to thrive!
Imagine your dream vacation destination. Is it the culture that makes your heart beat faster? Or does the path to your heart lead through your stomach? Tourists' tastes and preferences are as diverse as the countless attractions in the Aarhus region. Therefore, in the campaign, the team worked with five types of experiences that VisitAarhus had identified through in-depth research: the culture explorer, the epicurean, the outdoor enthusiast, the mood chaser, and the nature lover.
These experience types allowed the team to segment the broad target audience (tourists in general) into specific categories tailored to the Aarhus region. Their knowledge of these experience types was the key to differentiating the message and media across the target audience.
Shortly after the campaign's launch, 'Your Local Love' garnered a lot of attention, and the media quickly embraced the love story. In a short amount of time, the campaign delivered impressive results with high user engagement, and the presence on Tinder and classified ads, in particular, captured attention.
After nearly six weeks of advertising on Tinder, there were 23,000 people who swiped right (i.e., yes) to VisitAarhus, resulting in a match rate of over 4%. These 23,000 individuals collectively opened 30,000 messages, indicating that many users returned to the chat to open messages from VisitAarhus (1.5 times the benchmark).
During the same period, advertising on Meta generated 16,000 likes and over 550,000 engagements (10 times the benchmark), and the campaign's video content received over 1 million completed views across various media platforms, including YouTube.
Boldness pays off. With this campaign, VisitAarhus challenged the traditional approach, pushing the boundaries of communication and media choices both internally and externally within the tourism industry. This courage instilled a sense of pride and, most importantly, delivered tangible results that can be seen and felt deep in the heart – locally, nationally, and internationally.
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