2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

*Challenges: 1.Counter the negative effects on tourism post 25th Jan (80% decrease) 2.Manage country reputation&restore trust in Egypt. *Objectives: To build a solidarity initiative to counter the negative effects, manage the brand's (Egypt) reputation, restore trust in Egypt and increase future travel consideration. Moreover, empowering Egyptians to become the brand's ambassadors inviting travelers' to come back. *Strategy: 1. Reputation management: Call for global support and encouragement. Open a channel for global supporters to stand in solidarity with Egyptians.Hammer on Egypt's slogan "Egypt where it all begins"and highlight the benefits and the influence of the Egyptian revolution on the world 2. Travel consideration:Attract activists who want to witness change and build consideration for future travel *Outcome: 17,000 facebook fans with 0$ in media and a very strong Twitter Klout score (42) Average monthly post views 380,000! Average monthly posts feedback 2800! 2,000 monthly unique visitors for the blog.

The Brief

*Objectives: 1.Encourage the commitment of the global community to the Egypt 2.Maintain their consideration for Egypt as a future destination 3.Capitalize on the values that the Egyptian Revolution *Target audience: Locals: Recruit Egyptians with a strong nationalistic feeling to become the voice of the brand and invite global community to come back . Global audiences: Target international travelers with an invitation to come back to Egypt in support to its people and tourism.

Results

18,000 fans with 0$ media budget! Our posts get shared on average 71 times! Despite Egypt's political turmoil and string of violent confrontations the country welcomed 10 million tourists reporting only 33% decrease YOY (vs.14.8 million tourists in 2010). Tourism has made a partial come-back in the large Red Sea resorts, such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh. Mounir F.Abdel Nour, minister of tourism said "the year-end figures represented a strong achievement".Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism’s undersecretary Samy Mahmoud "by the end of 2012,we expect between 12 to 13 million tourists. The contribution to the economy will be around $11 bn."

Execution

We had built a solidarity initiative to counter the negative effects of the Egyptian uprising on the tourism industry, restore trust in Egypt and manage “Egypt” brand reputation: I AM Egypt or the voice of Egypt by Egyptians (March-ongoing). Then we ensured the strategic shift from “solidarity” to “hospitality”, where Egyptians became the ambassadors of their country inviting travelers from all over the world to visit their country. We have created a blog, we set up a twitter account and a facebook page. We have developed a content strategy/calendar for the community where a minimum of 80 posts per month were created and aggregated. We have used different platforms and social bookmarking tools to seed our content and create the desired buzz around brand "Egypt". We have conducted ongoing listening to adjust our content strategy based on tangible insights. On a monthly basis results were analyzed and recommendations given.

The Situation

Egypt post 25th Jan has temporarily come to an economic and touristic halt. We have witnessed several weeks of productive standstil. Out of all affected economic sectors , tourism suffered the most On the positive note, there was a growing sense of nationalism among Egyptians –people back then more than ever wanted to see their country flourish. Global audiences were more supportive to Egypt because of the will to fight corruption and injustice.Egyptians were perceived as the serious seekers of democracy.Thus we built a solidarity initiative to counter the negative effects, manage country reputation&restore trust in Egypt.

The Strategy

1. Develop the Brand Presence: Build and manage Egypt’s social media community and rules of engagement 2. Push the fans to become the voice of the brand: Build awareness about Egypt’s destinations and activities Get involved with ‘influencers' to make testimonials 3. Engage with fans: Participate in online discussions Ongoing conversation with consumers (polls and questionnaires) for real time feedback and in depth insights 4. Maintain the relationship : Push Interesting Updates Responding to customer feedback & resolving issues Through the below deliverables: 1. Twitter and Blog setup 2. Research & Analytics setup: configured necessary social media insights/tools for ongoing listening and performance analysis. 3. Community Management copy-writing: the writing of standard copy required to maintain community conversation and announcements through the Youtube, twitter, blog and Facebook channels during the course of the campaign. 4. Facebook page development:developed necessary parts for the Facebook page channels required to support the social media activities.