Cases studies

Mexico Street Marketing Campaign in Paris - How to create buzz and boost a destination's sales during peak season. France – December 2007

• Agencies : Interface Tourism France
• Services : Consumer Promotion - Events

Brief

Mexico is a very well known destination for the French; when the word “Mexico” is pronounced, everybody has a typical image of Mexico which normally includes Mariachis, coloured ponchos and sombreros and Volkswagen Beetles zooming through Mexico City.

The concept turns this around by using an original method of communication (street marketing) to promote Mexico in a fun and impacting way in Paris. We used the most typical images of the destination to boost sales of packages to Mexico and as a complement to more traditional PR and advertising activities.

This street marketing action could also have been carried out using Smart cars; however, to reach people’s associations in a stronger and more attractive way, it was decided to use Volkswagen Beetles, internationally known as THE Mexican car.

Tactics

December 2007

The basic concept was to use traditional and typical images of Mexico to promote the destination in the very centre of Paris:

• 6 Mexican Volkswagen Beetles totally covered in Mexican photos and logos
• 6 hostesses (one per vehicle) dressed in typical, traditional Mexican clothes (large sombreros and coloured ponchos) 
• The hostesses received a briefing about Mexico as a tourist destination so that they could  answer questions from the public
• For half the day, the Mexican Volkswagen Beetles drove for hours through the center of Paris so as to be as visible as possible to the general public
• For the other half of the day, the Mexican Volkswagen Beetles parked in strategic places (shopping streets, tourist sites, business centres etc.) distributing leaflets about Mexico
• The streets through which the Mexican Volkswagen Beetles drove and where they parked were carefully chosen to provide as much visibility as possile, by means of a geo-marketing analysis.

Result

• This Street Marketing operation lasted 6 days
  • 462 hours of high visibility in the most famous places in the centre of Paris
  • A total of 1.447 kilometers driving through Paris
• A total of 71.250 leaflets distributed by hostesses
• A large number of positive comments in the streets
• A real buzz amongst Parisians (people calling the Tourist Office to know where to see the Mexican Volkswagen Beetles etc.)
• The owner of the Mexican Volkswagen Beetles was so enthusiastic about the positive aspects of the operation that he extended the operation for a few more days more…