Experience Egypt: Boosting Russian Outbound Tourism through TV Advertising and DOOH Strategies

Background

In 2022, the inbound flow of tourists to Egypt increased significantly and amounted to 11.7 million people (a 46% increase 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 vacation place.

The client wanted to increase the positive image of Egypt through TV advertising on federal channels and DOOH. He immediately asked for the most impressive options, as the main promotion is aimed at a high-income audience. The TV offering had to include Channel One and out-of-home digital media should have been leading in terms of reach in Moscow. Furthermore, we were supposed to launch a DOOH campaign in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport (direct flights to Egypt are operated through International Terminal C).

We took on this project after the client provided us with a video creative as it showcased all the benefits of vacationing in Egypt and featured a top-notch video sequence. With a well-chosen combination of platforms, the campaign was bound for success.

This 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.

DOOH Solution

DOOH promotion had several stages. We offered the client the most impressive locations based on his initial requirements. At Sheremetyevo Airport, we chose four zones of the international terminal with the most traffic and one VIP zone as the campaign was aimed at high-income Russian travelers. We also chose 20 digital outdoor sites in Moscow with the best viewability and largest coverage areas.

RMAA solved the task quickly thanks to its outdoor advertising site catalogs in Russia and the CIS. The client was also shown successful DOOH projects. Two locations were selected at the end.

Sheremetyevo Airport - check-in area for air passengers of terminals CD31-CD32. The location has two large digital screens. Each screen is 32.16 x 7.20 meters in size. They are located above the check-in desks and are separated by a scoreboard with flight departure schedules. The viewability of advertising creatives is 100%, as all air passengers of the international terminal pass through this location. The screens' impressive size makes them impossible to miss. The Experience Egypt campaign advertising creative was broadcast in a mode of 720 slots of 15 seconds per day for 1 month.

The Moscow Iconic Place is the facade of the largest state news agency, the RIA Novosti. A 495-square-meter digital screen is located there, providing constant visual contact with motorists and pedestrians with a daily OTS of 542.78. The Experience Egypt advertising creative was run for 45 seconds, which was longer than in Sheremetyevo. The commercial was broadcast on the RIA Novosti facade 96 times a day over 30 days.

In addition to DOOH placements, we also produced a photo/video report. RMAA is committed to excellence in visual presentation for all its projects. Similarly, we interact with a network of professional photographers and videographers across Russia and the CIS, just as we do with our DOOH/OOH catalogs. This guarantees immediate access to premium visual materials for us and our clients, who frequently require such a service.

TV Solution

The main challenge in launching TV advertising in Russia is working with sales houses. These are major players with a significant presence in the media landscape, owning multiple TV channels and other media outlets. They rarely trust newcomers. From our experience, new brands and advertising suppliers in Russia are given expensive placement terms. This is done to be able to lower the price in the future if the advertiser starts "haggling". Furthermore, working with a sales house does not necessarily ensure a prompt offer. As a general rule, priority is given to regular buyers.

Our client had no such difficulties because RMAA has a reliable reputation in the market. We got quick access to the TV channels' placement grid and reasonable prices for airtime purchases. We selected three top Russian TV channels for the campaign: Channel One (as per the client's initial request), RBC, and NTV.

We distributed the campaign budget in a way that gave Channel One 45% of prime time, while RBC and NTV each had 50%. This wasn't the end of the preparation for the launch. In fact, it was only the beginning. Next, we had to agree on the visual part of the commercial, which presented some difficulties.

The original creative had third-party logos in the frames. For example, there was a logo on a glass and on water skis. As a result, the channels have set the following conditions: either make an additional payment for these logos, since their presence, even in a random frame, counts as an additional brand in the advertisement, or “re-edit” the video. The client selected the second option, providing us with a 30-second video sequence featuring its single logo at the end. We then adapted the slogan into Russian: ‘впечатления выше всяких ожиданий’ (‘impressions above expectations’).

In the final stage of preparation, we handled the documentation for transferring copyright ownership of the advertising creative to the selected channels. This included documents such as cost calculations from the broadcaster (i.e., the channels), an agreed schedule for the ad's airtime on each channel, the transfer of rights to use the client’s logo and display their website on screen, music rights, etc. Finally, the Experience Egypt TV campaign was launched on June 1, 2023.

The video was broadcast on TV for one month. It reached the top of the airtime on all selected channels during this period. For example, it was shown on Channel One during the advertising block of The Voice show’s final (a Russian entertainment vocal talent show), during the broadcast of The Big Game talk show, and the Let's Go! travel program. The spot was also shown on NTV and RBC during the advertising blocks of news programs and popular TV series. This undoubtedly increased the chances that the ad would be seen by the potential audience and they would think about traveling to Egypt.

Results

The Experience Egypt TV and DOOH campaigns in Russia were launched simultaneously from June 1 to June 30, 2023. This period is widely regarded as the most favorable for promoting travel brands in the country, as audience interest in overseas summer trips peaks annually in May and June.

The client was very satisfied with the prompt and quality service from the RMAA team. According to him, it would have been problematic to solve issues with TV channels and documentation in Russian without our help.

We saw the main indicators of the campaign's success by the end of 2023 when the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism published an annual report on the tourist flow in the country. Indeed, the number of tourists to the region increased and reached the level of 14.9 million tourists (in 2022 there were 11.7 million people). The largest number of vacationers came from Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

If in 2022 the number of Russian travelers to Egypt was about 947 thousand, in 2023 it increased to 1.5 million. Thus, Russia took second place in the number of foreign tourists. Our work on image promotion of Egypt in the eyes of the Russian-speaking audience by choosing highly inclusive channels indirectly contributed to this.