Tourism has been the most affected sector worldwide, by the coronavirus crisis. Ireland, like so many other countries, placed this sector on hold, for almost two years. But in February of 2022, it will be ready to launch its new marketing campaign, with the help of Imax, but also through a mix of integrated marketing and data management.

March 2020: Ireland Tourism paid Advertising is put on Pause

Digital marketing is often the strategic center for companies, and it was the same for this great country, before the coronavirus arrived. Ireland had a good thing going with their paid media advertising online, until March 2020, when it decided to halt everything it was doing. It took the management team over a month to decide what they were going to do. They knew, however, that staying completely away from customers and partners is never good in the long term. When you visit a site like https://www.12handz.com/, you find many various ways to stay in in touch, through online marketing. And that’s what Tourism Ireland did, taking the decision to move on to social media, in order to keep a certain level of communication open.

As they aimed to remain connected with their industry partners, tourists and media, they delivered this social media campaign on their own accounts, but also on their partners platforms. Their messages could be seen as regular posts, but also through paid ones. The message was centered around nine different elements, that were meant to be fond reminders of the country. It focused on the things people knew and appreciated most about Ireland.

Preparing for Tourists to return, a Year Later

It is in May of 2021 that Tourism Ireland decided that it was time to start preparing for a return of tourists to their country. The goal was to reassure the potential visitors on the safety that they would find, once they arrived inside the country. They knew that travel restrictions were about to be eased-up, and they let everyone around the world, know about it.

However, it was still a delicate subject, and they wanted to make sure that they would not anger or aggravate anyone. Therefore, they chose to restrain themselves from taking a “book now” approach, preferring instead to aim for the near future, by announcing that the time had come to start planning a trip to Ireland.

Throughout those two years, they worked with Imax to prepare a documentary on Ireland, in order to be ready when the crisis would end, to acquire new visitors. The campaign was part of the “Green Button” global one, which calls upon culturally curious travelers.

Tourism Ireland: A Leader in Marketing Technology

Before everything went South, Tourism Ireland had already been investing in digital marketing technology for close to two years. They continued to do so, through the pandemic. Today, they consider themselves one of the leaders in the field, in their sector (tourism).They place the focus on having the best digital relationship with their customers, in the business. Their communication with travelers is highly personalized and provide the right content for each individual.