Canadian Tourism Commission partners with Dragon Trail to execute innovative social media driven brand awareness campaign in China

Beijing, September 5, 2011: The “Hello Canada Campaign” executed in collaboration with the Canadian Tourism Commission (www.Canada.travel/china) and Dragon Trail (www.DragonTrail.com) was recognized as best e-marketing campaign in China by the prestigious trade publication Travel Weekly China in its 10th annual awards ceremony at the Shangri-la Hotel Beijing. The other two finalists included Tourism Australia and Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

The annual TravelWeekly China Awards recognize the most outstanding performers in China’s travel industry. Since its debut in 2002, this event, organized by TravelWeekly China (http://www.travelweekly-china.com/) - a leading trade publication of the travel industry in China, has won recognition from the industry for its fairness, transparency and creativity. The award selection process starts with nominations by Travelweekly China’s panel of judges from the tourism industry. The winners from each category are then selected based on the total number of votes garnered by the readers.

After receiving Approved Destination Status (ADS) from the Chinese Government in June 2010, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) set out to launch its first major marketing campaign in China, leveraging digital marketing and social media to influence Chinese consumers to choose Canada as one of their next vacation destinations. Utilizing the Internet and social media to influence and educate consumers about Canada as a tourism destination is incredibly powerful in the Chinese market. With over 485 million Internet users in China (Source: CNNIC, June 2011), more than in any other country, of which 92% engage in social media channels not including blocked sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Foursquare, more than 80% of Chinese travelers research and educate themselves about destinations and brands online. According to the Digital Influence Index 2010, social media is the most influential medium in modern China, more than travel agents, newspapers, magazines, or TV. 95% of Chinese Internet users believe that a company that is engaged on micro-blogging is more trustworthy.
On the other hand, FIT Travel in China is increasing due to a growing trend for individualism and not wanting to be part of traditional tour groups. According to the Boston Consulting Group report (“Taking Off, Travel and Tourism in China and Beyond”, March 2011), a huge portion of the market has been underserved. As a result, customized travel experiences are becoming more important due to increased affluence.
The “Hello Canada” campaign (http://hello.canada.travel/) was the first of a multi-phase campaign execution in China by the Canadian Tourism Commission, followed by the second phase of the overall strategy, Explore Canada (http://explore.canada.travel/). The campaigns leverage the very active and engaged social media landscape, featured a highly interactive and engaging, social media driven online game, built on Dragon Trail’s proprietary TripShow platform. Chinese consumers virtually traveled to Canada by literally flying from Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou to Vancouver or Toronto to complete one of three virtual itineraries in Canada to either explore Canada’s west or east coasts or complete a coast to coast trip. Each completed virtual trip was eligible to win one of three ‘real’ Canada trips. Various components in the game were designed to increase viral spread, and social media engagement on China’s social media sites including SNS, micro-blogging, video and photo sharing websites.

The goal was to increase brand awareness and to capture consumer data (including email addresses and cell phone numbers) to execute future marketing campaigns with reduced advertising spend, as well as to increase the following on China’s major micro-blogging platform and Twitter equivalent in China, Sina Weibo.  In the six-week campaign period, over 1.2 billion overall media impressions resulted in over 3.3 million visitors to the campaign website, which was integrated with the Chinese version of Canada.travel, driven by a combination of media spend executed by advertising agency DDB, search engine marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and viral spread, where participants invite friends or spread the message on social media sites.  Over 230,000 clean consumer data records were captured, and the followers on Sina Weibo increased to almost 40,000 from 0. Due to internet hackers that become active when contests promise prizes, technology resources are essential in order to deliver clean data, resulting in high open rates of future email campaigns. Last year, Dragon Trail developed the Chinese website CanadianRockies.cn in partnership with Banff Lake Louise Tourism in Alberta/Canada, followed by a social media driven launch campaign that was able to capture almost 100,000 consumer records with no media and advertising spend. The Canadian Tourism Commission and industry partners are now starting to leverage these valuable permission based consumer databases to lure Chinese consumers, especially the higher-yielding affluent FIT and Semi-FIT travelers to Canada.
The growth of China market could generate additional $300 million a year in tourism revenues for Canada by 2015.

According to Derek Galpin, China/India Managing Director for the Canadian Tourism Commission based in Beijing: “We are aiming primarily at affluent, high-spend and well-educated 25- to 34-year-olds in this initial campaign. Our research shows that they are the most inclined to long-haul travel, and then to get out and explore Canada once they arrive. The importance of leveraging the Internet and social media in China is critical for a destination such as Canada in order to influence consumer in this complex and competitive market.”

“In order to reach the target audience identified by the Canadian Tourism Commission, we leveraged our deep understanding of the Chinese consumer behaviour to make use of the inborn competitiveness of people born in the 1980s, which is the perfect basis for all sorts of consumer competitions such as online campaigns and contests, which made this group engage in the virtual trip game – and therefore also with the Canada brand”, says Jens Thraenhart, President of Dragon Trail.

About Dragon Trail:
Dragon Trail is a travel technology and digital marketing company focused on helping travel, tourism, and hotel companies to reach and connect with affluent consumers in China by leveraging technology, digital marketing, and social media, and focusing on the trends of the growing importance of the Internet, and changing consumer behaviour trends, as well as the shift of traditional group travel to more individual and experiential travel, both domestic and outbound China.  With offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi’an, and started by an expert team of Chinese and international online travel professionals, Dragon Trail has been recognized with various awards for its innovative approach, as well as for relevant Chinese websites and viral digital campaigns for its growing client list, ranging from tourist boards to hotel companies from all over the world. As a technology-driven marketing company, Dragon Trail leverages its proprietary technology applications and platforms for clients, which are also licensed to travel companies, including Chinese tour operators, such as CITS. Dragon Trail, in collaboration with the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) manages the resource website and community ChinaTravelTrends.com, and publishes the bi-annual Essential China Travel Trends handbook, as well as hosts its China Travel Social Media forums.
More information can be found at www.DragonTrail.com.

About Canadian Tourism Commission:
The CTC is Canada’s national tourism marketing organization. Our vision is inspiring the world to explore Canada. With our partners in the tourism industry and the governments of Canada, the provinces and the territories, we advertise and market Canada in 11 countries around the world, conduct industry research and studies, and promote product and industry development.
Visit www.canada.travel for more information.

Hello Canada Campaign screenshot (www.hello.canada.travel)