7 days for a change
Tunisair
Issue 23 | May 2012
Agency
Draftfcb Spain
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director: Beto Nahmad; Creative Director: Baldiri Ros; Head of Strategy: Manuel Lopez; Planner: Ana Alonso; Art Director: Luis Eduardo Garcia, Miguel Velacoracho; Digital Art Director: Luis Lopez; Copywriter: Emilio Holguin; Social Media Manager: Maria Diaz
Production Team
Production: Nephilim; Nephilim Realisation: Jorge Dorado
Other Credits
Account Director: Mar Ortega; Online Account Executive: Rosa Martinez
Date
June 2011
Background
In early 2011, the first manifestation of the Arab Spring, there was a revolution in Tunisia which became worldwide news. As a result, many tourists cancelled their flights and trips. Tunisair’s ticket sales dropped by 40% as people began to think that Tunisia was a dangerous country.
The challenge, then, was to convince Spaniards that this was not the case, that Tunis was safe, interesting and beautiful.
Idea
To change people’s minds about the country, the idea was to track down those people whose minds seemed most made up that Tunisia was unsafe and unwelcoming – the people who had cancelled their trips a year earlier.
70 people who had abandoned plans to visit Tunisia were invited to spend 7 days there and to record their thoughts.
Every one of them discovered that Tunisia was a beautiful country with friendly people.
Through them, Spain was invited to give Tunisia a second chance.
Results
The 70 people all came back with a different idea of Tunis and Tunisia. They were positive, unafraid and enthusiastic.
Their experiences provided content online as well as their own social media reaching out to hundreds of thousands across Spain.
In the end, over 2 million positive impressions on Facebook and with Twitter were registered as a result of the campaign.
Spain changed its mind.
Our Thoughts
Certainly a valid insight about what mainstream media does and doesn’t cover. Though we’ve also seen, in Egypt and elsewhere, that the toppling of a dictator doesn’t necessarily make for a safe travel destination. So sending tourists there to tell the real story worked wonders.