Interactive video campaign attracts tourists to Charleston
Charleston, the charming city located in South Carolina founded in 1670, is known for its picturesque beauty, with cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and pastel-coloured houses. Now, for the eighth year in a row, the city of Charleston has been announced as Condé Nast Traveller’s No. 1 ‘Small US City.’
To coincide with this announcement, Explore Charleston, the convention and tourism company that provides visitors with information about the city, has just released an interactive video campaign, named ‘Local Legends,’ led by content and marketing agency Studio Black Tomato.
Catherine Dority, director of marketing at Explore Charleston, says, “We’re incredibly excited to offer content that not only inspires people to travel to this wonderful place, but that also gives consumers the ability to immediately engage further or instantly book the experiences brought to life through the campaign.”
The campaign consists of a series of videos praising Charleston’s locals, using Studio Black Tomato’s new interactive service, Blackwire. Blackwire uses Wirewax, an interactive video technology, to present Charleston through the eyes of local people, telling the city’s story from the perspectives of a historian, a basket weaver, an artist, a paddle board instructor, a craft distillery owner and a photographer, among others.
During the videos, viewers are given the opportunity to read about the landmarks they see, book experiences, listen to ghost stories, look at photo galleries of the best beaches, download apps and cocktail recipes; effectively increasing the amount of time people spend experiencing the campaign.
The new campaign from Studio Black Tomato marks a shift in Explore Charleston’s brand positioning to a contemporary, modern and original tourism leader, reflecting the ability of the city to combine history with a progressive outlook.
Nick Ford-Young, head of Studio Black Tomato, says, “At the heart of the Charleston Local Legends videos are the local people – who better to champion a destination than the residents who make it so unique? From our previous work with Explore Charleston, we understood how passionate the people of Charleston are about their hometown. The city fuels the creativity of its inhabitants, and in turn they make it what it is. We strived to create a video series that inspires audiences through these localised stories.”
To reach US audiences, the videos will be rolled out across all of Explore Charleston’s touchpoints, including its social channels.
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