Abu Dhabi is one of the world's leading travel destinations, known for its unparalleled leisure attractions and top-level hospitality. The bursting energy of the region attracts millions of tourists yearly.
The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) successfully cultivates the Emirates' image as an authentic, distinctive destination for any travel enthusiast. In collaboration with multiple stakeholders, they continuously nurture a global community, preserving local heritage and values, attracting investment in key tourism segments, and implementing a holistic strategy that benefits visitors and residents alike.
The spring to summer 2020 season was certainly challenging for the travel and hospitality industries as a result of the pandemic that hit across the globe. In response, DCT Abu Dhabi rose to the challenge, meeting audiences online with an inventive content approach and a clear focus on what's engaging and, at this time, incredibly relevant.
"#StayCurious allows travelers to explore the heart of our city and culture through an innovative online experience. It offers virtual visitors the opportunity to dream, imagine, and reaffirm a shared love of exploration, regardless of where we are in the world. Bringing this campaign to life across our social channels was a way to support the travel community during a difficult time, opening the door to the wonders of Abu Dhabi. Once the time is right, travel enthusiasts can re-experience the unforgettable moments from #StayCurious - in person," said Saeed Rashed Al Saeed, Destination Marketing Director at DCT Abu Dhabi.
"It's part of our digital strategy to drive awareness and position Abu Dhabi as a leading global destination. During the spring and summer of 2020, we utilized our social channels to build a two-way conversation, channeling the unprecedented situation with inspiration. We wanted to convey the message to the world that we are waiting for visitors, once the time is right," said Yasmine Al Sakka, Sr. Social Media Executive
DCT Abu Dhabi launched their #StayCurious digital campaign with an aim to remind people of the wonders of Abu Dhabi - by inspiring them to experience the city virtually. The online hub they developed hosts a staggering variety of content from 360° inspirational videos to cooking tutorials, driving traffic to the web through cross-channel promotions.
To finetune the campaign and ensure that the promotion budget drove real results, DCT Abu Dhabi relied on Emplifi Social Marketing Cloud to streamline the entire process. The results were impressive:
The outstanding results of the #StayCurious campaign prove that great content makes the promotion costs go down.
With the right strategy in place, the #StayCurious campaign on social media saw compelling results. This is how DCT Abu Dhabi was able to achieve that:
Step 1: Access deep audience insights to reveal the most engaging target personas and their interests, allowing the brand to shape the right content.
Step 2: Create a personalized performance dashboard focusing on main KPIs to track the performance of the campaign in real-time.
Step 3: Utilize the speed and agility offered by automated labeling for smart data aggregation and analysis.
Step 4: Post all content based on Emplifi's primetime scheduling recommendations for optimal organic exposure.
Step 5: Boost A/A+ graded content on top of its organic performance to reach lower CPM and CPE.
Step 6: Manage all community feedback from one centralized platform, amplifying the impact of every piece of content.
Step 7: Learn from the data and adjust the campaign on the go to reach the highest results.
"With Emplifi Social Marketing Cloud, we achieved the desired level of campaign governance. We created a unified place to continuously monitor the performance of the #StayCurious campaign, report on it in real-time through a custom dashboard, and optimize the results through AI recommendations," said Ahmad Dohjoka, Media Planner.
