ENIT Italy Campaign: Travellers encouraged to ‘Live the Beauty’

Art. Music. Architecture. Fashion. History. Wine. And food. Oh, the food. Whether you’ve travelled to Italy before, or have yet to plan your first visit, some images of Italy are likely already fixed in your imagination. So when ENIT, the Italian Tourism Board, designed its new three-year branding campaign to encourage tourism, only one word could accurately capture the experience: beauty. In all its forms.

ENIT brought its ‘Live the Beauty’ campaign to the 25 busiest hub airports across the world – including Schiphol – to reach its target audience: active travellers with a taste for adventure, exploration and appreciation for the most beautiful things that life has to offer. We spoke to Maria Elena Rossi from ENIT about the goals of the campaign and the power of beauty.

Targeting with purpose

The ‘Live the Beauty’ campaign utilises a variety of on- and offline media, as well as campaigns targeted at tour operators and travel agents, to bring the message of beauty to the forefront. The airport campaigns are a way to present the campaign to the largest groups of target travellers. Colourful, vibrant digital media can reach the highest audience numbers with the most convenience. Which is why in October, travellers at Schiphol were encouraged to ‘Live the Beauty’ of Italy throughout the airport: from departure halls to baggage claim areas, from the Schengen gates to departure halls for the Asia-Pacific region.

‘We wanted to reach individual travellers and families from across the world, including the emerging travel markets in Asia,’ Maria Elena explains. ‘And the best way to do that is to be where they are: in major airports like Schiphol.’ The digital media offered at Schiphol provide a more dynamic and exciting way to present Italy’s rolling countryside, bustling cities and iconic architecture. And given recent eye-tracking statistics, they are the best way to capture travellers’ attention as they move throughout the airport.

Message with meaning

But there’s more to the campaign than just an invitation to experience all that Italy has to offer. By focusing the campaign on beauty, ENIT aims to increase awareness and respect for all of the iconic aspects of Italian life. The goal? Long-term sustainability.

‘Italy wants to continue to welcome travellers, families and adventurers from around the world,’ Maria Elena explains. ‘But we also want to ensure that tourists appreciate the beauty they experience, and help preserve it by behaving in ways that don’t cause destruction. In the second phase of our campaign, we’ll add the message “Italy. A beauty to treasure”, to remind travellers that we all have a role to play in more sustainable travel. The campaign also targets Italian tourists travelling within their own country.’ The campaign not only focuses on environmental sustainability, but social and economic sustainability as well.

Connecting for closeness

Campaigns in the hub airports are targeted to world-wise travellers in search of their next destination, and emerging travellers with a taste for adventure. And to get even closer to target audiences, ENIT prepared media objects in both local languages and in English. ‘We want to ensure that travellers feel welcome and close to the brand experience of Italy, and to the beauty of exploring new and exciting places. So, even for those who’ve visited Italy before, we have prepared ways to expose them to things and places they’ve likely not seen before.’ The key, she says, is to awaken the explorer in every traveller, and show how Italy can be the best backdrop for a next adventure. And above all, the best place to embrace beauty in all its forms.

Measuring the motivation

The three-year campaign’s impact will be measured periodically with two key indicators. First, the 28 Italian Tourism Offices around the world will conduct regular surveys to measure brand awareness and message penetration. Second, the Bank of Italy will provide annual reports of the motivation, country of origin, and tourism spend per country. In this way, ENIT will monitor the impact of the campaign, and will adjust messaging along the way to ensure that tourism flow remains smooth and steady among all target groups.

‘Our world grows more and more connected every day,’ Maria Elena says. ‘Countries that want to target well-travelled passengers know that airports like Schiphol are essential for brand awareness. The sheer number of passengers who pass through Schiphol every year, and the type of passengers that travel through this major European hub, mean that we can ensure our message and brand positioning are as effective and efficient as possible.’ And, once on the ground in Italy, travellers will only have one word for all they see, touch and taste: ‘Bellissima!’