How well the video ad campaign for Valais was received by consumers

Valais is one of the largest cantons in Switzerland in terms of area. Its territory includes the Great Aletsch Glacier and the Matterhorn, arguably the country's landmark. In order to create awareness for the region and position it as an attractive vacation destination "dihei" (= at home), Valais/Wallis Promotion commissioned digital marketer Smartstream with an extensive video ad campaign for the first time. The aim was to direct holiday-loving Swiss people to the promotional organization's website and thus increase the number of bookings for accommodation and activities in the canton of Valais.

In terms of timing and content, the three-part campaign designed by the Bern-based media agency Mediaschneider Bern was based on the seasons of summer, fall and winter. The autumn and winter campaigns were follow-up flights to the successful campaign premiere for a summer vacation in Valais. The focus was on hiking with trails for the whole family, the mountain bike offer and the experiences surrounding the products of the terroir.

Environments on Swiss general interest portals

The multiscreen campaign was played out to Swiss users aged 18 and over, who were targeted with pre- and mid-roll ads in video environments on Swiss general interest portals (with the exception of users from the canton of Valais itself, Graubünden and Italian-speaking Ticino). Responsive video ads in the classic 16:9 format were used as German and French-language advertising media in order to reach the target group optimally on all end devices - from smartphones to large desktops.

Thanks to overlap-free delivery across all devices and ad slots in a high-quality instream portfolio and precise targeting with a maximum of two advertising contacts per user, the summer flight immediately reached more than a quarter of a million users (260,000 unique users). The more than 550,000 advertising contacts (ad impressions) achieved boasted a strong view-through rate of 83 percent, i.e. more than 80 percent of the advertising contacts watched the video ad to the end, according to a press release.

The premiere was followed by two extremely successful sequels: The autumn campaign positioned Valais as an adventure park created by nature for mountaineers, hikers, bikers and adventure-seekers, while the winter flight focused on the Valais ski region. These two campaigns also delivered the desired performance: on average, around 270,000 unique users were reached in each case, and the video ads were viewed in full by around 85% of advertising contacts.