The Western Cape’s new #NowhereBetter global marketing campaign should be the catalyst for a long-overdue national repositioning of the South African brand, says SATSA CEO, David Frost.
Speaking in Cape Town on Monday at the formal launch of the R13m (€808 885+) #NowhereBetter campaign aimed at repositioning Cape Town and the Western Cape following last year’s drought, he said: “This is precisely the sort of campaign that we need to replicate at national level. We are going to be agitating for a far more national repositioning. As South Africans we know that we have an internal renaissance with new political leadership, but the rest of the world doesn’t. They still remember the Zuma corruption, so we have to reposition South Africa quite fundamentally as a cool place to come on holiday.”
Frost called the new #NowhereBetter campaign “innovative, ingenious, a little edgy and a breath of fresh air”. Asked if it adequately addressed the negative messaging around water scarcity, he thought it did so in an “incredibly positive way”. “There are elements in the campaign that speak specifically to the water issue, but it is getting the positive message across that Cape Town and the Western Cape are open and cool and attractive. The message is simple.”
The new campaign aims to stem declining international arrivals in 2018 compared to 2017, following negative messaging abroad during the drought. Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris, said it was funded from a “war chest” ring-fenced from the TOMSA levy. He said it was a collaborative effort by industry, national, provincial and local government to put the province back on the international bucket list.
Comprised of a short video showcasing the province’s diverse attractions and experiences, coupled with phrases such as “where the French come to fall in love” and “the English come to drink tea,” the campaign cheekily invites visitors to experience activities normally associated with other countries, because “we just do it better”. Starting immediately and running over the next couple of months and into the New Year, the video will be marketed in the UK, USA and Germany, the province’s top three source markets, via Facebook, Instagram, Google, programmatic marketing and re-marketing. What was important, said Harris, was that Table Mountain would be seen on all marketing material as the instantly recognisable icon of the province.
The campaign also includes two micro-websites: one for trade and the other for the consumer. On the trade website, www.nowherebetter-campaign.com launching on Friday, tourism stakeholders can download complimentary marketing material for their own marketing purposes. Being a “white label” campaign, the marketing material has been specifically designed to include a white space at the bottom where companies can insert their own logos and so adopt the campaign as their own.
The consumer website, www.nowherebetter.co.za, gives interested visitors an overview of the scenic, cultural and outdoor experiences on offer in the destination. The websites also deal with questions of water head-on through updated information on dam levels and infographics.
Newly-appointed Economic Opportunities MEC, Beverly Schäfer, said tourism in the Western Cape could not be allowed to fail as it sustained 320 000 direct and indirect jobs and contributed R38.6bn (€2.4bn) to the province’s GDP in 2017. “In the same way this industry came together during the worst of the water crisis, it's come together again as we find solutions. This campaign, funded from across the various spheres of the industry, is a reminder of everything the Western Cape and Cape Town have to offer."
