Exposed to
the vibrant street art, design, fashion, theatre and culture of Soweto, the
#72hrsSoweto digital campaign aimed to position Soweto as a must-experience
destination, right on your doorstep; and worth visiting for a few days.
The expectations
of the hosted influencers were not only met, but far exceeded. Everyone agreed,
Soweto is Africa’s most happening place.
This year,
the festival secured a strategic partnership with Destinate, a destination
marketing agency owned by Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, well known for its
innovative work in destination marketing, digital campaigns and wine tourism.
Du Toit-Helmbold says; “This year the Soweto Wine Festival and Gauteng Tourism
partnered with us on an innovative new digital campaign that saw wine tourism
and destination marketing come together in the most effective way. A fun-filled
and educational weekend was had by all and this came across in the multitude of
Facebook posts, Tweets and Instagram posts shared by our influencers and their followers.”
According
to BrandsEye the #72hrsSoweto hashtag reached more than 9.9 million people and
generated an AVE of R2.2million on social media alone. There were 447 unique
accounts that posted content using the #72hrsSoweto hashtag, while 986 people
shared content that contained the hashtag. On Twitter, more than 1 800
Tweets were posted during the #72hrsSoweto campaign.
Influencers
for the #72hrsSoweto campaign were:
Natalie
Roos for Tails of a Mermaid, @tailsofamermaid
Mariette du
Toit-Helmbold for Destinate, @mariettedth and Destinate_co
Sfiso
Dlangamandla @LocrateMarket
Kate Els
for IndiKate @kate_els
Innocent
Mukheli @ISeeADifferentYou
Husain van
Roos @FixinDiaries
Heather
Mason for @2summers
commented; “Before this trip I thought I knew Soweto, kind of. I’d been there a
lot, doing a lot of different things. But #72hrsSoweto held many surprises.
Almost everything we did over the course of the weekend was new (or at least
partially new) to me.”
Andy
Carrie, @AndyCarrie,
added; “#72hrsSoweto definitely changed my perspective of how incredible our
country is. I had one of the best nights of my life in Soweto, and I am South
African! The campaign was amazing. Every activity was so special and allowed me
to take something away that was personal. I was blown away by the friendliness
and acceptance that we felt from the locals. In short, Soweto stole a piece of
my heart.” Andy then went on to use the #72hrsSoweto campaign as an example of
“a great campaign to create visual content” in a presentation he did for the
E-Tourism Africa Summit 2015 and has posted this lovely #72hrsSoweto video on Youtube.
Mnikelo
Mangciphu, festival co-founder and owner of Morara Wine and Spirits Emporium in
Mofolo, Soweto, concludes; “This year we introduced a new format to the
festival that went down very well and we launched the #72hrsSoweto campaign
that far exceeded our expectations in terms of reach. South Africa’s wine
industry and Soweto are undergoing exciting changes, so the timing to bring
together wine and tourism in one campaign was perfect. The stage has been set
for a new era in the Soweto Wine Festival’s future. There’s just so much to
showcase about South Africa’s wine industry, and many different layers to share
about destination Soweto, that 2016 promises to be bigger and better. We hope
to invite many more influencers – some from around the world – to come and
experience Africa’s leading wine, food and lifestyle festival and the warmth,
generosity and culture of Soweto.”
The Soweto
Wine and Lifestyle Festival 2016 will take place from 2 – 4 September.