NMBT ‘Tag campaign’ shifts gears for winter

WITH six weeks to go in Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism’s (NMBT) Tag-and-Win competition, the stakes are being raised for the winter phase which is set to ensure more happy winners stand the chance of winning a terrific tourist experience.

The remainder of the competition will see a number of winter-warming prizes; a weekend away at a 4-star hotel, a romantic couples lunch and spa treatment, breakfasts, Sunday lunches, mp3 players, digital cameras and more.

“Drawing from NMBT’s overarching campaign, the 101 Reasons to Love Nelson Mandela Bay – which aims to highlight the fact that the city has a lot more to offer than meets the eye, the Tag-and-Win competition take the ‘I love NMB’ campaign, which we ran from September to January, and integrates the findings of that campaign into an exciting new way of presenting tourism attractions,” said Titus Chuene, NMBT marketing manager. 

The campaign by the city’s tourism agency has revealed some of the city gems to a national and local audience by getting them to interact with NMBT and the city on a digital platform, via Facebook and Twitter.

Halfway through the competition, many winners from across the country have snapped up prizes, big and small, with winnings ranging from weekend getaways and breakfasts to watches and cameras – all carefully selected prizes aimed at enhancing winners travelling experience.

Recently Roel van Oudheusden won a breakfast for two at an up-market guest house, 39th on Church, in the competition. He also won a two Nelson Mandela Bay passes – handy for exploring the city at a discounted rate.

“I actually read about the competition in the Imvaba newsletter which directed me to the Facebook site. I do not really go onto Facebook much, but I thought I’d give this competition a try – now look, I’ve actually won,” said a pleased van Oudheusden.

Thus far the grand prize winner stands out. Sonja Willemse, saw both her family and family friends whisked out to sea in an amazing yacht experience on board luxury The Warrior. Willemse said the prize trip was a culmination of great encounters she had had in the city since she moved to Nelson Mandela Bay in January a year ago.

The competition largely runs on-line drawing on the power of social media and networks. People are encouraged to “like” the Nelson Mandela Bay – South Africa Facebook page after which they will be led to a graphic image featuring a montage of the top ten icons.

The image is gridded so participants can choose a square, tag where they believe the hidden prizes to be and thereby enter themselves into a draw. A single entry is all that is needed to be remain in the draw for the duration of the competition – only weekly winners’ names are removed. There are 101 prizes in total, linking again with the overarching campaign. “The idea is to click on a part of the image you think could hold a prize, a kind of treasures within treasures approach. So basically you are hunting for a prize,” added Chuene. 

 “As the power of instant media and communications grows, it is critical that all sectors, especially tourism, keep up with the technological Joneses. This campaign aims to do just that, but still achieves its mandate of marketing the city, creating hype about what’s on and will literally put bums in beds as prize winners are drawn from around the country.”
Chuene said that the main target market for the campaign was Eastern Cape residents and also those in the city’s “feeder markets” like Gauteng and the Free State.

“We encourage everyone to keep on liking, tagging, tweeting and treasuring,” he quipped.