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The Essence of “Pura Vida” will be on display during the World Cup

 

  • Costa Rica will carry out a strategic advertising campaign over online video services that will be broadcasting the Russia 2018 World Cup in the main European tourist-sending markets.
  • The commercial will invite Spanish, German, French, English and Swiss tourists to take a break during the World Cup and visit Costa Rica on their next vacation

The Costa Rican national team will be participating in the world's premier soccer tournament, with their eye on making their country proud at the Russia 2018 World Cup beginning with their opening game on June 17th. Meanwhile, the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) has begun an ad campaign on online video services with exclusive broadcast rights in the main European markets of interest with teams in the World Cup: Germany, France, Spain, England and Switzerland. This campaign is part of the country’s efforts to promote tourism during the world's largest sporting event.

“We plan on using this campaign, which is directed at the main European markets that visit our country, to increase interest in Costa Rica as the natural choice of tourists who wish to experience the essence of pura vida, which can be seen in the pleasure of being in a unique destination and the warmth of its people”, said Alberto López, General Manager of the ICT.

The campaign consists mainly of a 30-second commercial, which will invite viewers to take a break from soccer to visit Costa Rica and experience a new way of seeing the world, where people can see rivers flowing over the mountains and volcanoes rising up over the landscape. It also shows how nature dominates in our country, where adventure is always around the corner, and where tourists can always choose between relaxation and adrenaline year-round in every part of the country.

Different adaptations have been made of the video, with narration and subtitles for each of the countries in which it will be shown, with versions in English, Spanish, German and French. The commercial includes the hashtag #PuraVida at the end of each version, which aims to take advantage of the soccer hype around the recent reference to the Costa Rican phrase made by the renowned soccer star and former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane at the UEFA Champions League final.

A Costa Rican presence in highly watched games

The commercial will begin its run on digital platforms (streaming services) belonging to the following channels: MediaSet in Spain during the Spain-Portugal match (June 15th), TF1 in France during the France-Australia game (June 16th), ZDF in Germany during the Germany-Mexico match (June 17th), and ITV in the UK for the England-Belgium match (June 28th).

In Switzerland, the run will continue on a freer basis on the digital platform of the SRG SSR network. The commercial will be played throughout the matches of the first phase on a random basis.

The campaign will also include digital banners that will redirect the audience to www.visitcostarica.com after showing the commercial.

This advertising campaigns was developed for the ICT with assistance from the MMGY advertising agency. The company was able to carry out a reasonable, measurable and less costly negotiation than is normal for ad runs on traditional television in the countries that also have their national teams in the World Cup. Thanks to this, the decision was made to have a presence in the live broadcasts of matches with high viewership in the selected markets on the official platforms mentioned above with the exclusive broadcast rights for FIFA World Cup games on websites and mobile devices.

The advertising runs were negotiated such that they will reach approximately 30 billion measurable impressions of the commercial. The investment made by the ICT for this digital advertising campaign was $496,500.

“ICT has decided to make a strategic and measurable investment in advertising in the world's largest sporting event. Four years ago, we invested a similar amount in traditional television and this time, the emphasis will be on online video”, López concluded.