Greek vibes: using video to rebrand a historic city

Greece's second largest city goes viral + 3 travel marketing takeaways

Author

Alex Jeffries
January 28, 2024

Vibing Thessaloniki: Greece’s 2nd largest city goes viral

Using video in travel marketing is a tricky subject. On one hand, you’re likely to hear about videos going viral, racking up hundreds of thousands or millions of views.

On the other hand, what do views even mean? If you’re running a channel, then you can make money off of views alone. If you’re running a tour company or doing destination marketing, how you think about views is going to be a little different.

For a tour company, views might not be the best metric. A million views without anyone reaching out to learn more about your tours could end up feeling pretty empty. While the data can be useful, your success as a company comes down to bookings.

For a destination, though, views might be worth considering, especially given how much data can come with them. It’ll give you a real sense of who’s considering your destination, including where they’re from and their age range, and you can see if your digital marketing lines up with your overall goals.

Which brings us to today’s marketing campaign, “Vibing Thessaloniki”, a small campaign featuring a few posts and videos that have done big numbers.

In total, 11 social media posts reached 1,757,848 users, and 21 Instagram stories gathered 848,325 views. Additionally, TikTok and YouTube views totaled 1,849,300 and 760,185, respectively.

For one, I love the idea of a city founded in 315 BC being on the cutting edge with a TikTok heavy travel marketing campaign. And that’s how the campaign has worked - by highlighting (in an easy-to-digest, vivid style) what’s happening now in the city: its food, its architecture, and its seaside.

Producing video (versus using user-generated content) is always going to be a little tricky. Still, Thessaloniki seems to have threaded the needle here with an engaging, enjoyable campaign.

⚡️ Travel Marketing Tips ⚡️

In Thessaloniki’s campaign, they highlighted three of the destination’s strong suits - street food, architecture, and the waterfront - and used them as the basis for stylish videos. Here’s how you can follow that same method for your own destination or company:

  1. Engage with Local Sites - Highlight local markets or surprising architecture in your area through short, engaging videos or photo stories on social media. This approach helps to create a connection that goes beyond the preconceived notions of your destination by showing off what’s near you.
    Ex: In Paris, instead of just highlighting the Eiffel Tour, a tour operator could post a video series featuring the small, secret passages that’s off the typical tourist path.

  2. Try Trending Styles or Video Formats - Utilize popular video formats and styles prevalent on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. This keeps your content fresh and relatable to a younger audience.
    Ex: You could create a short, fast-paced montage of ‘A Day in [Your City]’ using a trending music track, highlighting key attractions and experiences.

  3. Focus on Micro-Influencers - Partner with local influencers or guests with a modest but engaged following to showcase your offerings in a genuine and relatable way. This strategy can be more cost-effective than major influencer campaigns while still reaching a dedicated audience, and can be particularly useful for domestic and regional promotion.
    Ex: Collaborate with a food blogger who specializes in unearthing hidden restaurants to showcase your city’s culinary secrets.

To watch the videos from Thessaloniki’s campaign and read our full breakdown, click below.

Thanks for reading this issue of Travel Marketing Sunday, a weekly publication from Passport Creative. Our goal is to bring you the best travel marketing examples from around the globe to inspire your own travel and tourism marketing efforts.

Questions about this campaign? Need help with your own travel brand’s marketing? Reply back and let’s chat!

Sincerely,
Alex