Titled “Your Moment Is Waiting,” the new global ad campaign showcasing Kerala, will debut on Tuesday at the Saatchi Gallery in London to a select audience.
The event is being organised in London with a view to catching the eye of the global travel industry to the maximum possible extent and to further cash in on Kerala’s already popular image as a tourism destination amid global tourists.
Directed by Prakash Varma, whose Vodafone Zoo Zoo ad campaign made waves, Tourism Ministry officials are keeping their fingers crossed for another similar success. “The film is cinematic in style, is sophisticated and highly emotive. It is not the traditional slide-show of pretty pictures of places and people,” said Dr Venu, Kerala Tourism secretary.
The screening will be done in the presence of top celebrities and the who’s who of the UK. Kerala Tourism is also targeting iPad users with an in-application advertising campaign.
Following the premiere in London, the campaign will hit cinemas in the UK screening Julia Roberts-starrer “Eat, Pray, Love”, parts of which were shot in India. The Kerala Tourism campaign will then roll out to other major markets in Europe, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.
The latest move follows an innovative campaign by Kerala Tourism in which 120 taxis in the UK were wrapped with images from Kerala some months back. The campaign was a huge hit with the British, who account for one-third of the 6,50,000 foreigners who visit the state every year, the officials said.
Kerala’s growth in tourism has been phenomenal and dramatic. A decade ago, this small southern state, though awash with scenic grandeur, was virtually unknown in the international tourism scene.
Today, it is a globally acclaimed tourist destination voted “One of the Ten Paradises in the World” by the “National Geographic Traveller” in 2000.
Last month, subscribers of the online travel portal SmartTravelAsia.com voted Kerala ahead of Phuket and Bali as Asia’s best destination.
Last year, The National Geographic Traveller had listed the placid backwaters of Kerala as one of the 133 “World’s Greatest Places,” above the iconic Taj Mahal.
DH News Service
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