By: Alex
You might not know this, but Germany actually has many scenic spots that are 80% similar to popular social media photo spots. For example, places like Horseshoe Bend in Arizona (USA), the long suspension bridge in Vancouver (Canada), the moon bridge in Guilin (China), the canals of Venice, and the Rocky Mountains on the west coast of North America—all have their counterparts in Germany. The key point is, rather than spending hundreds or even thousands of euros on a plane ticket, Germans can buy a train ticket for about 19 euros (approximately HK$166) and visit places like the “German Grand Canyon,” “German Venice,” “German Guilin,” “German Rockies,” and more.
The clever idea of matching foreign hotspots with domestic ones is actually a marketing campaign by German Rail (Deutsche Bahn). In collaboration with an advertising agency, they created a campaign called “No Need to Fly.” Using social platforms, big data, Getty Images, and Google search technology, they identified travel destinations loved by Germans and found similar landscapes within the country. Most importantly, since the ads were distributed on social media, the content could be fully tailored to the preferences of the target audience (each person might see different ads). The campaign also displayed real-time and the cheapest prices for flights and train tickets, aiming to fulfill the vision of “just buy a ticket and go.”
Source: Digitaling