The 2016/2017 winter ad launched Bruno, a friendly Italian who loves life, into social media stardom: he much preferred spending his time in the sun terraces of the Swiss mountains, and so asked skiing ace Albert to pose as his double for spectacular photos on social media. The ad showed how such videos and posts can go viral worldwide. Bruno’s posts gained him more and more fans, who cheered him on and showed how they are #inLOVEwithSWITZERLAND.

With the winter ad, Switzerland Tourism ST showed how important social media is for tourism, while making viewers laugh. Smartphones are ubiquitous among travellers today, who use them extensively to share their holiday experiences on social media. ST promotes this digital word-of-mouth promotion by means of targeted activities, such as collaboration projects with influencers. Or more low-key, friendly campaigns like the bride and groom on Gornergrat and the now globally established hashtag #InLoveWithSwitzerland. This hashtag is not only used by ST and the winter destinations for sharing information – many users also use it to post about their holidays in Switzerland.

Facts and figures
Winter   2017 2016
Budget CHF m 20.5 22.4
Share of total budget % 21.9 24.4
Target markets   worldwide worldwide
Brochures distributed m 3.8 5.4
Visits to
MySwitzerland.com*
m 15.2 14.9
Participants of
ST media trips
  765 555
Media contacts (readers,
viewers, listeners)
bn 3.4 2.7
KAM-generated
overnights
m 1.5 1.2
*Including Cities campaign content