Work

Destination Marketing Campaign 2017: Buenos Aires City

Buenos Aires is globally recognized for its pulsating nightlife, European glamour and being the birthplace of tango. However, at Newlink, we sought to capture and showcase Buenos Aires’ shared purpose. 

Through our signature Orbital Strategy methodology, we concluded that the destination's people, known as porteños, represent the true essence of the Buenos Aires experience. With this in mind, Newlink developed a strategic communications plan integrating the porteños throughout key messages categorized under three major pillars to position Buenos Aires as the most passionate capital in Latin America recognized for its sophistication, originality and diversity. As the first agency of record for Buenos Aires tourism in the United States, Newlink’s mission has been to voice a coherent narrative that encapsulates everything the destination has to offer while targeting specific niche sectors that motivate Americans to travel.

Objectives

• Promote the city and its brand “City of Many Passions” as an attractive destination for U.S. travelers
• Position Buenos Aires among the 10 most attractive and competitive cities in the world
• Generate continuous coverage in high-profile media outlets
• Strengthen Buenos Aires’ distinguishing characteristics

insights

Buenos Aires has an undeniably heady variety of cultural wonders to enrapture and inspire tourists, yet in recent years it has lagged behind other destinations in growing its tourism sector; however, it’s a situation that is under change. In 2015, President Mauricio Macri became president of Argentina and has been since executing a comprehensive tourism plan to open up Argentina after decades of insularity and political turmoil.

According to Tourism Minister Gustavo Santos, in just four years, Argentina’s government aims to boost international tourist arrivals by 50 percent, and their spending by a massive 90 percent. The government is planning on achieving these goals by making it easier to get to Argentina, with revised visa requirements and better airline connectivity as well as bringing in financial incentives and bolstering its already huge and diversified tourism product.

For Buenos Aires, international tourism is on the upswing as an estimated 1.55 million international tourists arrived through the city’s major airports, Ezeiza and Newbery, from January to October 2017. This represents a 4.5 percent increase from the prior yeae. The expansion in tourist visits is part of a strong cycle, with 15 months of sustained growth, a pattern not seen since before 2012. The city has been meeting this demand and rising to the challenge with new hotel openings and inaugural high-profile events in 2018, such as Art Basel and the Summer Youth Olympic Games.

In 2016, Buenos Aires was recognized as the most popular destination in South America by TripAdvisor and one of the 25 best tourist destinations in the world. Likewise, in 2016 the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranked Buenos Aires as No. 1 in the Americas and No. 17 worldwide.

Transformation

A hundred years ago Buenos Aires was the richest city in one of the world’s richest countries. In the century that followed autocratic politics, military coups and hyperinflation took a heavy toll, resulting in a steep decline in Argentina’s (and Buenos Aires’) status in the world. As Buenos Aires Tourism Board’s communications agency, Newlink was tapped to ignite the legacy of its past through a strategic campaign aligned with the government’s objectives to increase tourism arrivals and establish its placement on the global tourism radar.

In late 2016, Newlink held a strategic Orbital Strategy session with the Buenos Aires Tourism Board, focused on highlighting what sets it apart. This session required a deep dive into Buenos Aires, including extensive research and analysis to discover its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, stakeholders and target audiences. The agency outlined desired outcomes from a communications standpoint and developed key messaging to reach the following audiences: LGBT, leisure, business and luxury travelers. This strategy was essential to a successful program, allowing Newlink to engage with media with tailored and consistent messaging.

As a result, our team humanized the destination’s reputation and image by bolstering their porteños as the core tourism product that was to be integrated within the key messages in the following brand strategic pillars: Intensity/Experience/Passion, Culture & Entertainment, and Contrasts.

That led to the execution of the Destination Marketing Program, where we developed media relations efforts that combined press visits and compelling story angles that achieved media coverage equivalent to more than $10 million in advertising value in 2017. Top-tier print and online media coverage included features in outlets such as Robb Report, Hemispheres, American Way, Travel + Leisure, Vogue , GQ, Architectural Digest and Fortune.

A key initiative was the expansive media tour that Newlink coordinated for the Argentinean city’s communications director in Miami and New York City in May 2017, Buenos Aires’ first ever media tour in the United States. In the past, without North American representation, journalists who had tried to liaise with the city’s tourism board found it difficult to establish a connection. By introducing the director to over 25 journalists from top-tier outlets such as Conde Nast Traveler, The New York Times, Saveur, CNN, Surface, Bloomberg Pursuits and more, Newlink helped Buenos Aires signal a new era of proactive media communication.

The tourism board also used the “We Are Porteños” manifesto Newlink developed in the Orbital Strategy to develop an audiovisual campaign, which was promoted through social media channels reaching 20K+ views.

Additionally, Newlink directed and produced a series of 12 “What is a Porteño” spots in Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to promote Buenos Aires in these target markets. These spots will be the digital campaign implemented in 2018.

Over the course of one year, Newlink successfully reintroduced Buenos Aires to the U.S. market. The diversified coverage supported the brand positioning defined in the Orbital Strategy, showcasing the city as being a lively cultural center, a foodie destination and architecturally stunning. Buenos Aires was also listed in eight publications as one of the top places to visit in 2018, including Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Robb Report, Architectural Digest, Fodor’s, Vogue, Town & Country and Mic.

Results