Cape Town is now a virtual playground for millennials - or anybody really - who is up for something fun and different when planning their holiday escapes in a gamified, interactive way.
The new destination campaign for the Mother City, geared towards enticing its key international source markets sees players selecting one of three avatars most suited to their preferred holiday style in an interactive Travel Adventure.
Potential visitors to Cape Town can choose their itinerary first hand - centred on three characters that aptly dig into the best that Cape Town has to offer.
Freedom is a choice, and this comes in the form of the Fearless Foodie, The Eco Warrior or the Urban Adventurer. Click here to play or watch the campaign's launch trailer below.
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Speaking at the launch event held at the Zeitz MOCAA Museum on Monday 28 February, Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy says he is confident in the power of this campaign, aimed specifically at experience-hungry and adventure-driven millennials.
He says industry data shows that this age-group is 1.8 billion strong across the globe, with millennials most likely to drop anything from R80k to R100k on planning any single trip.
"What they're craving is authentic, enriching experiences, and holiday styles that allow them to connect with the destinations they visit in a real and meaningful ways.
Duminy says this is where the Find Your Freedom interactive Travel Adventure, conceptualised by the Cape Town Tourism inhouse team not an agency, speaks to them in their own language and on their preferred formats and platforms.
This gamification type campaign is also a "first for any city-based tourism board", according to Duminy.
"Find Your Freedom is a choice-driven entertainment experience that will allow you to choose your own adventure."
And while this campaign shows clear intention by Cape Town Tourism to own its space within the Meta-Verse, Duminy believes that as a marketing platform the Meta-Versa as a concept still needs to be fully understood and expanded on before wider adoption can take place.
Duminy believes its time and place will come, citing examples of how the industry first needed to cotton on to the niche importance of Halaal tourism as an opportunity to hyper-personalise a visitor's experience and itineraries to this city with its rich Cape-Malay heritage.
"Gamification in this instance is critically important to speak to millennials, to take Cape Town's story to the next level.
When asked about possible partners on the cards who could further amplify the meta-verse and gamification aspects of the slick campaign like Epic or Electronic Arts, Duminy does not fully rule out a mobile partnership to further amplify the campaign.
He acknowledges that cross-collaboration in a post-covid world remains vital and it was not out of the question.
For now, the tourism body has partnered with the ever-popular Gopro who they believe is the perfect fit and will be running the #FindYourFreedomCPT with a host of influencers set to unleash their storytelling abilities on all that the Mother City has to offer.
Travellers can also follow the #LoveCapeTown to keep up to date.
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