advertising awards | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Cape Town will be buzzing with energy and excitement this week, as the country’s advertising industry descends on the city for the annual industry Loerie Awards, the top local recognition of the best advertising agencies and campaigns. The Loeries run from 24 – 27 September.

The advertising award functions will take place in the Good Hope Center in the city centre over two evenings, and will be hosted in Cape Town for the first time ever. Previously, the Loeries were held at Sun City for many years, and in Margate for the past three years. Ticket sales are up 20 % relative to last year, reports the Weekend Argus, yet award entries decreased by 5 %.

The Loeries are an excellent tourism and conference marketing opportunity and platform for the city, and Cape Town Tourism and the City of Cape Town were involved in the bid to attract the Awards to Cape Town. Many restaurants in Camps Bay have been booked for lunches over the Loeries weekend, and the evening entertainment will take place in Long Street. The top Loeries Awards executive team will stay in the Grand Daddy Hotel on Long Street, and all registrations will take place there.

Camps Bay is an important daytime location over the Loeries weekend, with Brunches and Lunches taking place at various restaurants on the Camps Bay beachfront on Friday and Saturday, a Very Important Ego Lounge taking place at Caprice over midday on both these days, and a Velocity Party being held at Summerville at midday on Friday. On Saturday a Beach Soccer challenge will take place on Camps Bay beach, while the media will be hosted at a lunch at Blues.

Follow The Loeries on Twitter: http://twitter.com/loeries2009

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

S A Tourism and Cape Town Tourism worked hard in marketing the country at the ITB travel and tourism expo in Berlin, which was held earlier this month.

According to TravelHub, S A Tourism launched the new ‘Voices’ advertising campaign, which sees Germans being asked to relate their positive experiences of South Africa. It is planned to have over a million Germans talking positively about South Africa by June 2010.

FIFA and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 World Cup used ITB as a platform to encourage and inform the German market about the event, reassuring them about the country’s readiness, infrastructure and sustainability, the report says.

S A Tourism won third prize for its ‘Numbers’ ad in the Golden Gate international film advertising awards competition at ITB.

Cape Town Tourism too was active at ITB, and its CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold reported back on the successes her association achieved: Cape Town Tourism was invited to present its visitor services and marketing innovation to the World Tourism Organisation International Destination Council; the 2010 World Cup mascot Zakumi was used in a competition, in which ITB attendees could be photographed with Zakumi, post it on the Cape Town Tourism website with a creative comment about Cape Town, to win two tickets for the 2010 World Cup, resulting in 200 images being received; via a German PR company, Cape Town Tourism’s PR and Communications Manager met 15 journalists individually, presented its marketing toolkit to Dr Michael Kaiser from News Corporation Germany, who will do a presentation on Cape Town to the German Press Club, Suedafrika magazine will do a free two-page spread on Cape Town, and a free feature on Cape Town will appear in the bi-annual German 1 Golf publication.

In addition, Cape Town Tourism will be running a winter promotion on Expedia; an educational campaign with FTI, Germany’s third largest tour operator, was concluded; joint marketing agreements were concluded with Tripadvisor, Google, and BBC News on-line; an agreement was reached with Petit Fute to develop a French guide book for Cape Town; and assistance will be provided in the production of the official 2010 FIFA World Cup documentary.

However, Cape Town Routes Unlimited Marketing executive David Frandsen, on his return from ITB, has predicted that leisure tourism from Germany will decline by 20 % in the coming season. He based his forecast on the 30 % drop in bookings received by the top five German tour operators making bookings in South Africa, in January and February this year. He said however that 200 smaller special tour operators are making up for the decline in bookings received from the big tour operators. Namibia is attracting bookings from the German market, and has become a trendy destination for Germans.