CNN launches South Africa promotion

by Tristan O'Carroll, Media Week 04-Jul-08, 10:40

LONDON - CNN International has joined with South African Tourism to produce its first user-generated content ad campaign.

The campaign is aimed at raising the profile of South Africa to CNN's audience. The three-year partnership launches this month and will feature tourists' experiences through a multimedia campaign, "My South Africa", driven via website www.mysouthafrica.tv. The campaign will also be executed on air and in print.

The campaign runs until the end of 2010, spanning the FIFA World Cup, which takes place in South Africa in June and July of that year.

The "My South Africa" campaign encourages CNN viewers worldwide to upload photographs, moving images and stories that encapsulate their experiences of South Africa - via the "My South Africa" website - for the chance to win a trip to South Africa.

CNN Ad Sales' in-house creative unit, Turner Commercial Productions (TCP) will produce a series of "call-to-action" TV spot ads, the first featuring South African "ambassador" and music artist Yvonne Chaka Chaka, to drive viewers to the website. A series of TCP-created advertorial vignettes showcasing the best submissions will air via CNN.

As well as the competition mechanism, the website will host a picture gallery where visitors can rate each other's entries and sign up for a monthly newsletter and quarterly online magazine. A SA Tourism banner campaign will run across the website. Print advertising will comprise a run of ad placements in CNN Traveller magazine, connecting with discerning travellers across the globe.

The "My South Africa" brand campaign will also be promoted via a viral push to blog sites and chat rooms as well as social networking sites Facebook and Flickr.