Experience Egypt: Boosting Russian Outbound Tourism through TV Advertising and DOOH Strategies
Promote Egypt as the ideal destination for Russian high-income travellers via federal-TV advertising and premium DOOH in Moscow.
Background
In 2022, inbound tourism to Egypt increased significantly, reaching 11.7 million people (a 46% rise over 2021). The country undoubtedly attracted even more tourists in 2023, including from Russia.
Goal
Just before the summer vacation season, we were approached with a request for travel-destination marketing services for Egypt. The project’s main goal was to promote the region as the ideal holiday destination.
The client wanted to strengthen the positive image of Egypt through TV advertising on federal channels and DOOH, and asked for the most impressive options — the campaign was aimed at a high-income audience. The TV line-up had to include Channel One, and the out-of-home digital media had to be the leaders in reach in Moscow. In addition, we were to launch a DOOH campaign in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (direct flights to Egypt are operated through International Terminal C).
We took on the project after the client provided a video creative that showcased all the benefits of holidaying in Egypt with a top-notch video sequence. With the right mix of platforms, the campaign was set up for success.
The project was a joint effort with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and a Middle East marketing agency. RMAA used this opportunity to strengthen its position as a cross-border agency connecting brands with audiences around the world.
Solution
The DOOH roll-out had several stages. We offered the client the most impressive locations based on the initial requirements. At Sheremetyevo Airport we picked four zones in the international terminal with the highest footfall plus one VIP zone, since the campaign targeted high-income Russian travellers. We also shortlisted 20 digital outdoor sites in Moscow with the best viewability and the largest coverage areas.
RMAA moved quickly thanks to its own catalogues of outdoor-advertising sites in Russia and the CIS. The client was also shown successful DOOH case references. Two locations were selected in the end.
Sheremetyevo Airport — the check-in area for air passengers at terminals CD31–CD32. The location has two large digital screens, each 32.16 x 7.20 metres. They are positioned above the check-in desks, separated by a scoreboard with flight-departure schedules. Viewability is 100%, since every international-terminal passenger passes this spot; the sheer size of the screens makes them impossible to miss. The Experience Egypt creative ran in a rotation of 720 slots of 15 seconds per day for one month.
The Moscow Iconic Place — the facade of Russia’s largest state news agency, RIA Novosti. A 495-square-metre digital screen there delivers continuous visual contact with motorists and pedestrians, with a daily OTS of 542.78. The Experience Egypt spot ran for 45 seconds — longer than at Sheremetyevo. The commercial was broadcast on the RIA Novosti facade 96 times per day for 30 days.
Alongside the DOOH placements, we also produced a photo and video report. RMAA is committed to high-quality visual delivery for every project and keeps a network of professional photographers and videographers across Russia and the CIS, just as we do for our DOOH / OOH catalogues. That gives us and our clients immediate access to premium visual materials — a service clients often ask for.
TV Solution
The main challenge in launching TV advertising in Russia is working with the sales houses. These are major players with a significant footprint across the media landscape, owning multiple TV channels and other outlets. They rarely trust newcomers. From our experience, new brands and advertising suppliers in Russia are offered expensive placement terms so that the price can be dropped later if the advertiser starts to “haggle”. On top of that, working with a sales house does not necessarily mean a prompt proposal — priority typically goes to regular buyers.
Our client avoided those difficulties thanks to RMAA’s established reputation on the market. We got quick access to the channels’ placement grids and reasonable prices on airtime. We selected three top Russian TV channels for the campaign: Channel One (per the client’s initial request), RBC, and NTV.
The campaign budget was distributed so that Channel One received 45% of prime time, while RBC and NTV got 50% each. That wasn’t the end of the launch prep — it was only the beginning. Next, we had to agree on the visual side of the commercial, which presented some difficulties.
The original creative had third-party logos in the frames — for example, a logo on a glass and on water skis. The channels therefore set the following conditions: either make an additional payment for those logos (since their presence, even in a random frame, counts as an additional brand in the ad), or re-edit the video. The client chose the second option and supplied a 30-second video sequence featuring only their own logo at the end. We then adapted the slogan into Russian: “впечатления выше всяких ожиданий” (“impressions above expectations”).
In the final preparation stage we handled the documentation for transferring copyright ownership of the advertising creative to the chosen channels — cost calculations from the broadcaster (the channels), the agreed schedule for the ad’s airtime on each channel, transfer of rights to use the client’s logo and show their website on screen, music rights, and so on. Finally, the Experience Egypt TV campaign launched on 1 June 2023.
The video was broadcast on TV for one month and reached the top of airtime across all selected channels during that period. On Channel One, for example, it ran in the ad break of The Voice final (a Russian vocal talent show), during broadcasts of The Big Game talk show, and in the Let’s Go! travel programme. The spot also aired on NTV and RBC in the ad breaks of news programmes and popular TV series — boosting the odds that the ad would be seen by the target audience and get them thinking about a trip to Egypt.
Results
The Experience Egypt TV and DOOH campaigns in Russia ran simultaneously from 1–30 June 2023. This window is widely regarded as the strongest for promoting travel brands in the country, since audience interest in overseas summer trips peaks each year in May and June.
The client was very satisfied with the prompt, high-quality service from the RMAA team. According to the client, resolving issues with the TV channels and documentation in Russian would have been difficult without our help.
The main indicators of campaign success became clear at the end of 2023, when the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism published its annual report on tourist flow. Tourism to the region grew, reaching 14.9 million visitors (up from 11.7 million in 2022). The largest numbers of holidaymakers came from Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
Whereas the number of Russian travellers to Egypt was around 947,000 in 2022, in 2023 it grew to 1.5 million — putting Russia in second place for foreign tourists. Our work on image-led promotion of Egypt to a Russian-speaking audience through highly inclusive channels indirectly contributed to that result.
