DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital Marketing 12 September
12-09-2005
by Ciara O'Brien
Tourism Ireland turns to on-line marketing | Walkers offers digital music promotion
Tourism Ireland turns to on-line marketing: Tourism Ireland is turning its hand to online marketing in a bid to attract more visitors to the country.
The tourism body has begun what it says is the world's first online "travelmentary", a 10-day road trip around the country that will be broadcast live on the web. The promotion is aimed at increasing tourist numbers from the UK.
"Taxi" follows two tourists, Ken Macarthur from Edinburgh and Shamilla Nandlal from London, as they travel around the country on an all expenses paid tour. Each day, they have the chance to complete a "tourism task", which can add STG1,000 to their prize once completed. Daily activities, which are filmed as part of the travelmentary, are designed to highlight what Ireland has to offer holidaymakers. The duo are also recording a video diary for the duration of the trip. The trip began on September 3rd, with the pair travelling in a Tourism Ireland-branded luxury "taxi".
The friends won the chance to take part in the promotion in the Tourism Ireland "Taxi" competition, which took place in Britain over the summer. Hundreds of people submitted videotapes as part of the competition.
The project was devised in conjunction with the online arm of Dublin-based advertising agency McCann Erickson, and is part of Tourism Ireland's continuing commitment to new media marketing.
"TAXI is an exciting new concept in internet marketing and comes at a time when online advertising is the fastest growing advertising medium in the developed world," said Laughlin Rigby, brand manager with Tourism Ireland. According to Rigby, the trip has a budget of EUR20,000, plus incidental expenses.
Walkers offers digital music promotion: Walkers is enticing music fans to buy its products by offering them the chance to win an iPod Mini every five minutes during the month of September.
The Win With Walkers on-pack promotion, which is being run by The Big Kick agency, is supported by SMS, online and WAP marketing supported by technology agency Sponge and web development team Graphico. It allows customers to send in the codes printed on crisp packets by text or through the promotion's websites. The draws take place every five minutes, and prospective entrants can time their entries to maximise their chances of winning by accessing Walker's site, which contains graphs showing the most popular entry times available on the site.
The iPod Mini competition is also being supported with a TV advertising campaign.
A spokeswoman for the company said Walkers had chosen the iPod for the promotion because it is the "music player of the moment".
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