CAPE TOWN TOURISM | SEND YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE TO CAPE TOWN | 2013
An Invention Called Sending Your Facebook Profile / CAPE TOWN TOURISM "SEND YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE TO CAPE TOWN"
"If we can't send everyone to Cape Town, let's send their Facebook profiles instead." In 2013, someone actually turned that idea into an app.
The problem
The campaign grew out of a brief asking for a way to show off the unexpected side of Cape Town—the side you won't find on Trip Advisor or Lonely Planet. It was also a time when word of mouth on social media was starting to shape how people chose travel destinations.
The insight
Even if you can't take someone there in person, you can still deliver the experience. The idea was for a user's Facebook profile to travel to Cape Town on their behalf, receiving a boarding pass in that person's name. The CEO called it a world first, and it became the starting point for everything that followed.
The idea
Once you send in your profile, a five-day virtual vacation begins. The content adjusts to match what's in your profile—sports experiences for adventure types, relaxed itineraries for families. Photos of where you ate, where you went, and where you stayed update every day, and you can invite friends to send in their own profiles too. In the end, a handful of selected people actually got to take the trip for real.
What happened
Over four months, 8,212 people played, with participants coming from South Africa, the UK, the US, India, and Germany, in that order. Bookings rose by 118%, and the campaign won multiple awards, including a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
Tourism marketing usually leans on scenery and food to sell a destination, but this campaign used the very structure of the platform itself to create the feeling that "you are going to Cape Town." It's an invention from 2013, back when Facebook still reigned as the king of social media.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2013
