South African Tourism woos Indian travellers with OOH campaign

If you see giraffes, elephants, as well as footballers looking at you from hoardings and kiosks, don't be surprised. The South African Tourism Board has rolled out an extensive national outdoor advertising campaign to woo the Indian traveller this summer.

The campaign focuses on four aspects about holidaying in South Africa, namely, wildlife safari, scenic beauty, outdoor adventure and world-class shopping.

Realizing the potential for growth from smaller regional markets, South African Tourism has chosen to include cities such as Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Panchkula, Jaipur, Pune, Baroda, Surat and Mohali, in addition to the metros of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and the NCR -- Delhi, Gurgaon and NOIDA.

Medha Sampat, country head - India, South African Tourism, says, "India is an important and growing market for South Africa. Tourist arrivals from India have been growing steadily with a year-on-year growth at 18.1 per cent till October 2009."

She informs that this growth is strongly aided by the successful hosting of large international sporting events, such as IPL 2009, as well as many international and Bollywood films that continue to be shot in South Africa's scenic locales. Added to this is one of the biggest sports extravaganzas in the world, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in June-July this year.

In the key markets of Mumbai and Delhi, South African Tourism has launched eye-catching cut-outs at important, high-traffic locations on bus shelters, lamp posts and building facades.

One of the creatives in the campaign consists of a cut-out of a giraffe on a road median. Above it, the South Africa Tourism ad says, 'It's Possible'. Other creatives include cut-outs of footballers, elephants, and a jet skier diving into the water; all of these have been mounted onto light pole kiosks on streets, with the copy reading, 'Excitement like you've never felt before'.

Sampat informs that the images used in the outdoor advertising have been taken from their global campaign and photo-bank. "These have been adapted to suit the formats/layout for the Indian market, in line with our corporate identity guidelines, as laid down by the global creative agency, Ogilvy based in Johannesburg."

Discussing trends and projections, Sampat adds, "Research has shown that, overall, Indian travellers are more than satisfied with their South African experience and a good percentage of them plan to return for a second holiday. South Africa has established itself as a preferred holiday destination for Indians. We are confident of riding the growth curve, with an aim to achieve 100,000 tourists by 2012."