This is a key brand extension/campaign that is built to run as the key subsidiary of the 'Gauteng - it starts here' mother brand and ID.
The campaign encourages the people of Gauteng to become tourists in their own province and, with the launch of a loyalty "I'm a GeePee" card, card-holders will receive discounts including free admission at selected destinations at various tourism attractions in the province. Group-buying website Wicount has been selected as Gauteng Tourism's only social-buying partner.
The campaign will make strong use of social media as people are encouraged to share their favourite destinations and promote the city region via their experiences.
The target audience is the 'young and upcoming' market segment because of its size and prospect of long-term returns, with 5.1 million people contributing R1.6 billion to travel revenue. This segment represents emerging travellers' (2.3 million holiday trips and average spend of R1300 per trip) who do travel but can be convinced to travel more. They are 18-35 years in age and have a lifetime to help create a culture of holiday travel in South Africa.
The GeePees, amaGeePees and babyGeePees are the physical embodiment of the campaign. The GeePees are iconic citizens, well known celebrities from a range of industries, who are passionate about their city region. These include Kaya FM DJ Georgie, musicians Kwela Tebza, Pops Mohammed, Sipho Mabuse, Danny K, HHP and Wouter Kellerman. Also committed to being GeePee ambassadors are presenter Penny Lebyane, fashionista Craig Jacobs, dancer Thabiso Lekuba, and businesswoman Rose Francis.
The amaGeePees are youth ambassadors who will be chosen through a competition to be run later in the year and they will make strong use of social media to actively promote the destinations of Gauteng to young people. BabaGeePees is, at this stage, a kids clothing range aimed at young mothers, who are often the key travel decision makers in the household.
GeePee visitor centres will be set up in a number of key shopping malls during September, where locals can sign up for their free GeePee card or go online to submit their mobile number and receive a mobile SMS version.
Some other GeePee activations are the hosting of a Deal-A-Day offer on Kaya FM, whereby listeners will get great discounts on exciting destinations and experiences in Gauteng. Each day until the end of September, Kaya will be giving away free tickets to Gauteng tourist attractions and events.
MyStreet, an initiative created by Ravi Naidoo of Design Indaba, will aim to get Gauteng residents making their street more tourist-friendly.
The launch took place on on Tuesday, 6 September 2011.
For more, go to www.gauteng.net.
Updated at 10.21am on 9 September 2011.
