“We touch down at Abu Dhabi Airport in the late afternoon. Our driver is waiting to take us to the Emirates Palace Hotel in a white Rolls Royce.”
A storytelling expedition through the Middle East and Africa I’ve spent the last week in Cannes at the Lions Festival, first to connect with our global network of creatives at agencies and brands, and secondly, to get an idea of the new trends and which innovative ideas will receive a Lion this year.
“Here’s a picture taken from the highest tower in the world, Burj Kalifa in Dubai. If you have good pictures, please upload them. “
One of the top trends identified by the jury is ‘Branded Content’, or even better ‘Meaningful Branded Content’. ‘Branded content’ is content with a high entertainment value, subtly connected to a brand. This content is strongly aligned to the brand’s values. ‘Meaningful branded content’ should allow people to connect to a subject that matters to them and can even have a social purpose. In this case, the content should be connected to the brand purpose. The book project we did for Kempinski Hotels, A Storytelling Expedition into the Middle East and Africa, is a good example of branded content, and a project I thoroughly enjoyed. Kempinski Hotels commissioned us to create a unique benefit point: A friend with local knowledge.
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We organised a road trip through the Middle East and Africa and were guests at the Kempinski Hotels at different destinations throughout the trip. We wrote stories about our experiences, took pictures and shot videos. The stories were shared on the Kempinski Facebook pages, creating interaction with guests, fans and followers.
“Wow, we just swam with a whale shark in Djibouti. Have you ever done that? Do you have pics? Upload them to the online album!”
- Create ‘talk value’ to stimulate word-of-mouth - Activate guests by interacting on social media - Turn guests into brand loyals by involving them - Position Kempinski as a friend with local knowledge
[Deliverables] cooltravel.org
“We just landed in Cairo. Where would you like us to go first: the old town or the pyramids at Giza?”
[Our mission]
- Interaction on the Kempinski social media pages - 40 stories with pictures and video, seeded online - 6 stories published in the Kempinski Magazine - Coffee table book as a cross-selling tool