Kerala doesn’t need any introduction for its natural beauty. It has been attracting tourists from all over the world for peaceful beaches, beautiful landscapes and tea plantations. However, the recent monsoon floods are something that the whole Kerala is trying to forget. Especially the tourism industry has seen a major setback and people working in this industry are facing economic instability.
Every problem comes with an opportunity and brands which make the best use of such opportunities get the chance of connecting emotionally with their audience. Travel-based brand Samsonite has done the same by attempting to revive tourism in Kerala with its latest #KeralaIsOpen campaign.
Samsonite has produced a video advertisement that expresses what tourism means to Kerala and motivates tourists to explore the beautiful state. It features people involved in the tourism sector— taxi drivers, lodge managers, elephant mahouts who are eagerly waiting to welcome their guests. The campaign’s mission is to remind travelers about the beauty of Kerala and to inspire them to come together and revive tourism in Kerala.
Directed by Deepti Nagia and conceptualised by the agency Autumn Worldwide the advertisement has already gone viral on social media and is delivering a sense of unity among people for helping the state to rebuild its economy. You can watch the complete video ad below:
Talking about the campaign, Anushree Tainwala– Executive Director-Marketing, Samsonite South Asia, said,
“Through this campaign, we hope more and more people travel to Kerala. We want people to recognise that the only thing more unique than Neelakurinji is the heart of the people in Kerala. So let’s now embrace the spirits of the people and travel to Kerala because #KeralaIsOpen.”
P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism, Government of Kerala, said:
“Thanks to the support of all our brothers and sisters from all over India, Kerala has made it through the last few difficult months. Now that we are rebuilding, we need to revive our tourism industry as a quarter of our employment comes from it. I welcome the people of India and tourists all over the world to visit the beautiful city of Kerala and show their support and love for the people of Kerala. It’s absolutely safe to travel to Kerala now and the loving people of Kerala are waiting for its beautiful tourists.”
On the insight and the creative idea, Bodh, Vice President and Branch Head, Autumn Worldwide Mumbai said,
“Was reading headlines like – Kerala Floods 2018: Tourism Comes To Grinding Halt In Flood-Hit State.… and many more such news articles and instantly felt that as a socially aware and responsible digital agency we needed to do something about it. Luckily we already had a World Tourism Day brief with us for over a month from our Client Samsonite which we were not being able to crack. We decided to pitch this thought to Samsonite. They were apprehensive in the beginning knowing that it could easily backfire but eventually decided to green signal the campaign. I think what worked for all of us was the intent. It was all heart. And everybody who got associated with this campaign from our Client to our Copy Writer Nishanth Ananthram, who wrote the script and the entire team at Autumn Worldwide to the Director of the film Deepti Nagia, the Editor, the DOP, the Music Director, the Sound Engineer, the VO artist, the Violin artist…the entire team just protected that intent all the way till the end. That this campaign is for Kerala…for all the beautiful people of Kerala and for Kerala tourism. Kudos to the Samsonite team for believing in this idea and supporting it.”
Full Agency credits
Client: Samsonite South Asia Pvt. Ltd.
Agency: Autumn Worldwide
Vice President & Branch Head: Bodh Deb
Creative Director: Nishant Ananthram
Brand Manager: Eram Khan
Production House: Momomoto Studios
Director: Deepti Nagia
