[EnI]

It's for my personal usage only (since I worked on this project I would like to get some feedback).

Slovenian national turist board (in cooperation with some German ad company) produced some promotional clips for the country. The short ones (1 min clip & 30 sec & 15 sec clips) will be aired on CNN International. The longest one is for other purpose not for TV.

Please look at the all 5 clips here - it will take only 6 minutes (or at least concentrate on the 2nd and 3rd clip - 1 min one & 30 sec one!):

http://www.slovenia-tourism.si/?_ctg_video=0&lng=2

I need some feedback from the foreigners (you guys ).

I need you to answer the following questions:

1. Do you like the clips (visual & audio & text)? Any particular reason why / why not?
2. Do you understand the main message ("Slovenia: A diversity to discover.")? If not, why not?
3. What do you think of the main message / slogan - what does it communicate to you?
4. What first impression did you get about the country looking at the clips?
5. Are the clips persuasive / interesting / appealing enough to lead you to make additional inquiries about the country / turist destination?
6. Would you visit this country if you had a chance?

I need as many responses as possible.
Thank you very much in advance. Your participation will be fully appreciated.

Greg

PS: If not a secret please specify your sex (M/F), age, and country you are from. This info is optional of course.

[vladinecko]

dude, that was freaking AWESOME!!! seriously, the music, the stunning pictures, visuals, blend of environments and overall, AMAZING!!

i do have some comments, however. so i'm gonna address your questions:

1. Do you like the clips (visual & audio & text)? Any particular reason why / why not?
-----
as i said, really cool. loved how the little golden ribbon flies around and introduces the text clips.

2. Do you understand the main message ("Slovenia: A diversity to discover.")? If not, why not?
---------
this is what i had a little problem with. especially in the 4 minute clip, this message came up like 5-6 times. after 2nd, i was saying to myself "ok, i get it, a diversity to discover" it's just overdone in that sense. i think commenting on what's going on in the clips like you have it now "ride off, climb up, etc, etc." and then just say once at the end the main message, just like you do in the shorter clips. overall, the 4 minute clip is too long, i thought. but visually stunning, nonetheless.

3. What do you think of the main message - what does it communicate to you?
----------------
it definitely introduced me to a country i knew very little about. i thought many times "wow, surfing. wow, golfing. wow, snowboarding" basically, i got a message that you can do pretty much anything in that country.

4. What first impression did you get about the country looking at the clips?
----------
see #3. in short, it gave me a much better perspective about the country.

5. Are the clips persuasive / interesting / appealing enough to lead you to make additional inquiries about the country / turist destination?
----------
no. it made me more attracted to see the country, but not to do more research about it. it basically showed me everything i wanted to see.

6. Would you visit this country if you had a chance?
-------------
absolutely!

i'm male/24.

[EnI]

Thank you. Salute to the first person who responded.

Just to explain: the 4 minute version will not be aired as a TV ad. It's just a "mother clip" - sum of all clips, and will be used e.g. as a background at promotional stands at turist fairs.

Only the shorter clips will be aired on CNN: clips #2 to #5.

[xmanpkr]

1. Do you like the clips (visual & audio & text)? Any particular reason why / why not?

Overall, thought the clips were good. The combination of the outstanding locations, superb visuals and I'm assuming Slovenia cultural music really meshed. There were some spots that I felt the music lagged behind the image you were attempting to convey, but all in all I felt it was a good viewpoint into a country many not initially think of as a tourism destination. See #2 about reducing the number of times you refer to the main slogan in the video via text.

2. Do you understand the main message ("Slovenia: A diversity to discover.")? If not, why not?

This is where I had a problem. I understand the intention of the slogan, however, something about how it is phrased made me cringe every time I read it or heard it. However, I can't quite put my finger on why the slogan bothers me.

3. What do you think of the main message / slogan - what does it communicate to you?

Again, I'm not a fan of the slogan. As currently stated, the slogan tells me that there is a host of things/activities/destinations within Slovenia that could potentially cater to a wide range of individual tastes and desires. The slogan tells me that whereas Slovenia may not be a high tourist spot, there is a lot in Slovenia to see, do, hear and experience. But I think this is most accomplished through the visuals and not so much the slogan.

4. What first impression did you get about the country looking at the clips?

First impression was a country that was almost an undiscovered example of old world (not pc anymore?) culture and experience. I also saw a country which had a lot of outdoor activities that would cater to an active tourist.

5. Are the clips persuasive / interesting / appealing enough to lead you to make additional inquiries about the country / turist destination?

Yes, despite many trips to Europe in the past, I had not heard that much about Slovenia as a tourist destination. I do know about Slovenia, some of it's history and some about it's current status, so I wasn't completely in the dark about the country. Already started looking up information on tourism within Solvenia via web to better familiarize myself with the country.

6. Would you visit this country if you had a chance?

I'll put it this way, I wouldn't dismiss visiting Slovenia if given the opportunity.

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by GregA

1. Do you like the clips (visual & audio & text)? Any particular reason why / why not?

The cinematography is quite good; some scenes are breathtaking, important when promoting breathtaking landscape. The music works quite well with the video but

Originally Posted by GregA

2. Do you understand the main message ("Slovenia: A diversity to discover.")? If not, why not?

Yes, I understand what you meant the message to convey but it doesn't work at all. In fact, it is ultimately going to be confusing to the recipient and will negate the positive work you are otherwise doing. (If you want to ask me more beyond what I am writing here, please send me a PM)

A small part of my duties as an industry analyst is to analyze messaging such as this and make recommendations based on how I believe the message will be received. The short tutorial on messaging (and I just wrote a cover story partly on this for an industry publication) is that a message is never received in isolation; it is received within the context of any other messages the recipient may have already received in this area (i.e. tourism in your case) and the recipient also needs it to make sense.

Let me quote from the article so I don't have to paraphrase myself:
Studying the messages that companies send out to their customers is interesting. Some are successful (Volkswagen's "Think Small" program was possibly the best advertising campaign of the 20th century), and some are not (United Airlines' "Rising" comes to mind; what is a plane supposed to do, fall?).

Buyers don't think in a vacuum. By the time a message reaches a buyer, it has to fit in with all of the other ideas that person has accumulated over the years about a category. If it doesn't fit it, it is rejected. A new word processing brand, for example, would have to fit in with everything the IT buyer thinks about Microsoft Word, WordPerfect and possibly others in the category.

A message also has to be logical (see United Airlines example). Sometimes messages come close but ultimately fail (why didn't American Airlines say "we know why you fly American" as opposed to "we know why you fly"?

Just yesterday, I was just listening to some Pan Am commercials from the 1960s and thinking that the copywriters from the 2000s should be listening to these - they really worked!

Originally Posted by GregA

3. What do you think of the main message / slogan - what does it communicate to you?

See 2.)

Originally Posted by GregA

4. What first impression did you get about the country looking at the clips?

That is a beautiful and peaceful place.

Originally Posted by GregA

5. Are the clips persuasive / interesting / appealing enough to lead you to make additional inquiries about the country / tourist destination?

If I didn't already know something about Slovenia, yes.

Originally Posted by GregA

6. Would you visit this country if you had a chance?

Yes, and I've already been there but this would make me think of going again.

Originally Posted by GregA

PS: If not a secret please specify your sex (M/F), age, and country you are from.

Male, Austria and U.S.

[JSpira]

Flashing "fly free" across the screen multiple times might create the wrong impression unless you are paying for airfare.

[325er]

Originally Posted by GregA

It's for my personal usage only (since I worked on this project I would like to get some feedback).

Slovenian national turist board (in cooperation with some German ad company) produced some promotional clips for the country. The short ones (1 min clip & 30 sec & 15 sec clips) will be aired on CNN International. The longest one is for other purpose not for TV.

Please look at the all 5 clips here - it will take only 6 minutes (or at least concentrate on the 2nd and 3rd clip - 1 min one & 30 sec one!):

http://www.slovenia-tourism.si/?_ctg_video=0&lng=2

I need some feedback from the foreigners (you guys ).

I need you to answer the following questions:

1. Do you like the clips (visual & audio & text)? Any particular reason why / why not?
2. Do you understand the main message ("Slovenia: A diversity to discover.")? If not, why not?
3. What do you think of the main message / slogan - what does it communicate to you?
4. What first impression did you get about the country looking at the clips?
5. Are the clips persuasive / interesting / appealing enough to lead you to make additional inquiries about the country / turist destination?
6. Would you visit this country if you had a chance?

I need as many responses as possible.
Thank you very much in advance. Your participation will be fully appreciated.

Greg

PS: If not a secret please specify your sex (M/F), age, and country you are from. This info is optional of course.

All the clips are fine, but I don't think they address the main issue on my mind. The main issue to me is, as lovely as this country is, how is it different from any other former Yugoslav republic? Why shouldn't I go to Croatia for example? The language and culture is almost identical, the geography very similar etc. Personally I think that the disintegration of Yugoslavia created a bunch of small, weak, irrelevent little republics, all with very similar cultures etc. A prime example of how the big fight for independence was very questionable ie United we stand divided we fall.

Simply put, in order for me to travel all the way to Europe from Canada I would need a very compelling reason to visit any of these rebublics. I would rather visit countries that have an identity that is clear to me. For example Germany vs France vs UK. vs Italy vs Greece etc. The differences are obvious.

No fancy marketing campaign or videos are going to work until you identify what you are trying to promote, and what makes your republic unique. This will require a detailed examination of why you sought independence to begin with. These reasons need to be compelling enough so that foreigners can clearly differentiate your Slavic rebublic from any other. You must have sought independence for some reason! You must have believed your rebublic was better than the others in some way. So focus on those points.

Cheers and hope this helps.

[stressdoc]

Slovenia is the undiscovered Europe, at least from the perspective of many North Americans. IMO an ED trip from Munich to Ljubljana to Dubrovnic, then maybe a ferry over to Italy and back up to Garda or Maggiore for some wind surfing, then the back roads through the alps to return to Munich is about as good as it gets.

I like most of the video clips. The music is good. I find the yellow ribbon distracting. I do not like the slogan, it is not quite proper to use "diversity" as the subject noun, it is usually a modifier, as in the phrase "a diversity of opinions." The slogan leaves one wondering, a diversity of what? The clips, although uniformly excellent, do not seem targeted at a specific audience. Who are you trying to entice?

In sum: Great place! Super video! Not the right slogan.