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Forum Group Events tel (02) 9212 6125 | email [email protected] | web www.forumgroupevents.com.au South African Tourism Case Study: Creating a unique industry event experience that stands out from the crowd.
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Creating Unique Event Experiences

Jun 19, 2015

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South African Tourism Case Study: Creating a unique industry event experience that stands out from the
crowd.

Today, businesses are fiercely competing for customers’ top of mind awareness. Consequently, it’s important to stand out from the crowd and cut-through the barrage of messages. Learn how we've helped South African Tourism deliver an award-winning event that got the
travel industry talking.
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Page 1: Creating Unique Event Experiences

Forum Group Eventstel (02) 9212 6125 | email [email protected] | web www.forumgroupevents.com.au

South African Tourism Case Study:Creating a unique industry event experience that stands out from the crowd.

Page 2: Creating Unique Event Experiences

Forum Group Eventstel (02) 9212 6125 | email [email protected] | web www.forumgroupevents.com.au

South African Tourism Case Study

Creating a unique industry event experience that stands out from the crowd.

Today, businesses are fiercely competing for customers’ top of mind awareness. Consequently, it’s important to stand out from the crowd and cut-through the barrage of messages. Learn how we’ve helped South African Tourism deliver an award-winning event that got the travel industry talking.

The challengeThe fast pace and competitive environment of the travel industry forces internal marketing departments in the tourism and destination bureaus’ to compete for the attention of the same travel agent market. Travel agents are already hosted by and invited to multiple engagements throughout the year, so when South African Tourism wanted an event with a difference - we knew we had to create one that stood out from all other events in the travel industry. How we made it happenEven with budget limitations, we found creative (yet cost effective) ways to ensure the true essence of South Africa was present. We created an experiential series of events that would spread across Australia and New Zealand travelling to 5 cities, highlighting the magnificent atmosphere and the experiences of South Africa. Each location showcased the sights, sounds, smells, flavours and textures to give each attendee a taste of what it is like to travel to South Africa. We included elements such as:• The MC’s costumes included a South African flag inspired sequined

dress and jacket and a leopard print gown• The couch style stage set was surrounded by South African native

plants and flowers

“I was just amazed on how you truly transformed the space into something more South African than South Africa! You truly brought the rainbow nation alive.” Deborah Binder, Marketing Manager, South African Tourism

Page 3: Creating Unique Event Experiences

Forum Group Eventstel (02) 9212 6125 | email [email protected] | web www.forumgroupevents.com.au

• Celebrity guests included George Gregan and Frankie J Holden who have both visited South Africa and are advocates

• South African born musician Barry Southgate (Australian Idol finalist) for entertainment

• South African food and wines were also infused into the menu with guests sampling traditional items such as Biltong and peri peri sauce

A strong MC is critical and can often make or break an event. We needed to engage a unique MC to host the event, one that was as colourful as the destination and appealed to the target audience: predominantly females aged between 25-45. We came up with vibrant and daring transgender Verushka Darling. The outlandish character of Verushka was an incentive that had never been incorporated before, however it tied together the roadshows colourful and energetic personality.

South African Tourism have been conducting their travel agent roadshow for 6 years. The previous events’ have included concepts such as a custom movie night and a night at the Zoo. South African Tourism challenged us to come up with something new, exciting and novel...something not yet experienced before in the travel industry in Australia. We came up with a live talk show style concept with Verushka who provided each travel vendor an opportunity to showcase their products, in a way that directly engaged guests about travel options in South Africa throughout the evening, much more entertaining than the average PowerPoint presentation!

South African Tourism conducts a multitude of marketing activity throughout the year, as their internal resources became stretched Forum Group Events stepped in to assist with the preparation and execution of the roadshow. There were a number of key stakeholders involved in the event including 10 South African operators, two celebrity ambassadors and a Fair Trade representative who were critical to the overall execution of the event. We collaborated with South African Tourism and acted as an extension of their marketing team to ensure that clear and consistent messaging was delivered. We interviewed each of the 10 South African operators who were participating in the live show to obtain their points of difference. We created a script for the two hour evening production, conducted full day rehearsals with the MC and operators and executed the live event with our national network of alliances across the five cities.

What was involved? • Event management• Event marketing and registration portal• Entertainment management, speaker rehearsals and production

management• Theming and event styling• Audiovisual management

We’re a team of event marketing and management experts who help drive business results through connected event campaigns.

To learn more about how we can help deliver a unique event experience contact us at [email protected] or call (02) 9212 6125.

“One of the finest events the industry has seen in a long time. For Africareps all 5 events were incredibly valuable and I know my South African principals will reap the benefits of our exposure. The positive profile which the show’s created for South Africa will unquestionably generate incremental traffic to the country.” Herbie Rosenberg Africareps