Ticino Turismo worked with the Pantone Institute to develop a range of colour schemes that represent the destination's touristic assets.
Ticino Turismo worked with the Pantone Institute to develop a range of colour schemes that match the characteristics of the destination and the main touristic assets. For this campaign, social media images of Ticino were analysed using artificial intelligence to determine which colours are most representative of the region. These colours were named after specific locations in Ticino helping to raise awareness of the destination through creative marketing approaches.
Ticino Turismo worked with the Pantone Institute to develop a range of colour schemes that match the characteristics of the destination and the main touristic assets. For this campaign, social media images of Ticino were analysed using artificial intelligence to determine which colours are most representative of the region. These colours were named after specific locations in Ticino helping to raise awareness of the destination through creative marketing approaches.
Ticino Turismo worked with the Pantone Institute to develop a range of colour schemes that match the characteristics of the destination and the main touristic assets. Colour is essential for destination marketing to inspire interest in visiting the destination and also help reminisce about memories of previous holidays. For this campaign, social media images of Ticino were analysed using artificial intelligence to determine which colours are most representative of the region.
For summer 2023, the following colours were selected to represent Ticino:
Other colours have also been created by Pantone that represent the destination, with a range of stories linked to natural and heritage assets:
Having a large range of colours makes it very simple to interchange different elements of the destination within marketing campaigns. Similarly, highlighting specific places within the names of the colours makes it easy to raise awareness about Ticino and the vast diversity of tourism assets in the destination. This helps encourage the equitable distribution of tourists around the destination.
Partnerships can be of strong value to destinations, even with partners from outside the industry. Pantone as a long-established and respected brand name holds a lot of brand equity, which Ticino has been able to leverage for its own destination promotion through licensing the Pantone name and assets. Ticino has successfully utilised Pantone's reputation, whilst creating a distinctive campaign that helps it to stand out in its own right.
Some other successful examples of strong partnerships between destinations and companies include:
On Ticino Turismo's website, each Color of Ticino has its own dedicated page sharing relevant information about each of the locations and themes. At the top of the webpage is a short embedded video of approximately 20 seconds in duration, neatly connecting to the rise of short-form video as a key marketing opportunity for destinations. In this video, short clips of the highlighted colour are combined into a collage that vividly represents the key destination attribute, before showcasing the colour name and Ticino Turismo's logo.
After the video is an explanation of what the colour represents and the senses that are evoked by it. This provides further encouragement to imagine being at the destination and elicits interest to book a trip. A large amount of information about the theme and the various activities that can be done in Ticino is provided along with additional video content. Ticino Turismo has also developed a Spotify playlist for each of the Colors of Ticino to set the vibes and expectations for experiencing the different elements of the destination.
The website even directs visitors to special offers, namely a 20% discount on the nightly rate at specific hotels and on public transport. This helps to drive conversion from an interest in visiting into actual bookings and is especially attractive to cost-conscious travellers who are looking for bargains during the global cost of living crisis. Additionally, it also helps to build a rapport with potential visitors who value the transparency of Ticino to direct visitors towards identifying the best value for money when purchasing a holiday.
Through this campaign, Ticino Turismo helps to get people in the mood for travel by stimulating various senses, including visual aesthetics and sounds. This helps people to get a much more detailed picture of the character of the destination and acts as an effective way to implement a try-before-you-buy approach to help visitors, showing that VR is not the only tool DMOs can use to reassure potential visitors about their destination's offering.
As part of the campaign, Ticino Turismo launched a memory game where visitors on their website match the Colors of Ticino to pictures of the destination to enter a competition for the chance to win hotel stays or visitor attractions in the region. The game is extremely simple and easy to understand, making it easily accessible for a range of different nationalities. Following the successful completion of the game, competitors complete a Jotform to enter their personal details, travel expectations and select the colour that best represents their personality. This also serves the purpose of obtaining additional subscribers for newsletters and boosting the reach of this marketing tool into the future to encourage repeat visitation and help to push prospective visitors through the conversion channel.
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