After a three-year lockdown, Macao faced a significant challenge in rebuilding its brand awareness and restoring confidence in its tourism sector. The prolonged pause in advertising activities during the lockdown period left a substantial gap in engaging potential visitors – across both business and lifestyle travelers.

In collaboration with NBCUniversal, the client sought to raise awareness and elevate Macao's appeal as a premier travel destination post-lockdown amongst this diverse target audience.

The objectives for the campaign were as follows:

• Deliver a digital-first, multiplatform experience that would surpass internal benchmarks.

• Deliver 500K video views of the brand film.

• Raise awareness of Macao as an appealing destination of choice amongst our audience of business and leisure travelers. (KPI: +50%)

The idea revolved around presenting Macao as a multifaceted destination, rich in history and brimming with diverse experiences. Through a sensory and immersive storytelling approach, we engaged audiences in a captivating journey that highlighted the vibrant sights, sounds, and experiences unique to Macao. We showcased Macao's alluring blend of tradition and modernity, drawing viewers into a cinematic exploration of the city's character. The content, complemented by an energetic soundtrack and dynamic visual transitions, revealed the city's enigmatic spirit. The campaign emphasized personalized experiences. A digital microsite, featuring an interactive quiz, tailored content to individual preferences, allowing users to embark on a customized journey, exploring Macao's incredible sights, cuisines, and adventures that resonated with their interests. By leveraging insights from local experts, we created a human-driven narrative that not only informed but also enticed diverse travelers, positioning Macao as a destination that promised new, surprising experiences to every visitor.

Our strategy targeted global business and leisure travelers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

Based on our audience insights that revealed business and leisure travelers’ top choice for a destination were attributes of uniqueness, safety, and readiness, we created a multiplatform content series that would emphasize Macao's exceptional facilities for business travelers and offered rich cultural, culinary and nature experiences to entice leisure travelers.

The heart of the campaign featured a 60" brand film, a 15” pre-roll, and a digital content experience, immersing audiences in Macao's distinct charm and capturing audience interest.

To maximize reach and impact to this global audience, we strategically deployed various digital ad units, native touts and pre-rolls across CNBC and our NBCUniversal digital platforms directing traffic to the client's website.

We also amplified the campaign through social media to maintain a consistent presence where our target audiences were active.

From ideation to launch, the entire campaign unfolded within a well-structured 10-week timeframe. This involved developing creative assets, setting up the campaign ecosystem, and strategically placing content across various platforms. It also included crafting and refining creative assets—15-second pre-roll ad, 60-second brand film on YouTube, and digital content on CNBC.com. All featured a clear call to action (CTA), guiding audiences to the client’s website.

The campaign ecosystem included social posts and traffic drivers—organic and dark posts on NBCU Catalyst's social pages. Organic posts targeted followers, while dark posts, used for targeted ads, underwent A/B testing. Paid amplification extended post reach across platforms.

The campaign's substantial scale utilized profile feature posts, soundscape videos, and image-led posts. Custom photography shots in a carousel format on social media, along with soundscape videos and static images with engaging social copy, attracted viewers to the full digital experience.

The results of the campaign were as follows:

• Delivered a digital-first, multiplatform experience that achieved 12.7M impressions across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and an engagement rate of up to 1.61% that effectively amplified the brand's visibility and doubled our internal benchmarks.

• Delivered 728K video views of the brand film, indicating high interest and engagement with the campaign's central visual content.

• 95% of our audience agree the branded content was effective in making Macao seem more appealing as a holiday destination.

• 96% of our audience said their impression of Macao became more positive as a result .

• 54% of our audience said they are “Very Likely” to consider Macao for their next holiday based on the content they saw.