Four years ago, during the South African World Cup in Johannesburg, Embratur (the Brazilian Tourist Board) invited the world to visit Brazil when it presented a new international promotional campaign for the country that advertised Brazil's tourist attractions abroad: "O Brasil te Chama - Celebre a Vida Aqui" (Brazil Calls You, Celebrate Life Here). It was a very special moment as we were presenting a country that, just like South Africa, would host the biggest football tournament in the world.
From that moment on, the aim was to make even more of the opportunity to give Brazil greater visibility, increase the influx of foreign tourists entering the country and secure new international events. Not including Embratur's publicity campaigns that are launched every two years, always designed to promote the best of Brazil with its ethnic, cultural and natural diversity, as well as the happiness and lifestyle of Brazilian people.
The video, "Brazil Calls You, Celebrate Life Here", announced by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the President of the Republic at the time and produced by the filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, had a big impact and during the time it was broadcast (almost ten weeks) in over 100 countries, it had a potential audience of 400 million people in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Several different types of marketing actions were used for the campaign. By the end of 2010, investment had reached almost US$ 30 million - in actions that included: adverts on TV, newspapers, magazines and tourism operators' international catalogues, PR actions in the international press, online and social media, billboards outdoors and at airports in 15 countries, publications and promotional material about the 12 host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, phone apps and promotion at tourist events in almost 30 countries.
Since then, the Institute's adverts and publicity campaigns have intended to make an impact on people and move and motivate them to visit our country and, also, increase the influx of foreign tourists (that reached 6 million in 2013), stimulate an increase in the length of stay and spend of those tourists and, at the same time, make the country better known abroad by promoting new Brazilian tourist destinations.
Previously, in 2008, the Institute launched the publicity campaign "Brasil Sensacional", (Brazil Sensational) in New York which ran in cities and large towns in Germany, Argentina, Chile, Spain, USA, France, Italy, UK, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay and Canada.
Let's not forget that the 2014 World Cup is not just a Brazilian event but a Latin American event too. Everyone is aware that major exposure of Brazil in international media improves exposure of not just the country as the host of the World Cup and the next Olympic and Paralympic Games but also of our continent as a whole.
A striking publicity campaign was launched in 2012, this time on the eve of the London Olympic Games with President Dilma present: "O mundo se encontra no Brasil. Venha Celebrar a vida" (The world meets in Brazil. Come celebrate life). The new campaign's slogan indicated that the country is somewhere that offers unique experiences and is a large meeting place with strong emotions. In this new phase, the attributes already thought of as the essence of Brazil: diversity, modernity and interactivity, are still present in the campaign's message but were presented in a more striking way to awaken the tourists' desire to discover or return to Brazil at a time when interest is growing.
Therefore, the campaign was based on the knowledge that Brazilians' kindness and openness are two of their most defining characteristics. According to the opinion surveys that Embratur carries out each year with foreign tourists, our main differential is our people's kindness and interaction with others. The publicity campaign was rolled out in almost 100 countries, reaching 1.2 billion people. There were adverts on TV, in magazines, social networks and websites as well as in urban centres in some countries.
And in May this year, two videos were launched (Dance and Meetings) and, with the campaign running in 14 countries, the audience is expected to reach 1.3 billion when broadcast. The main differential of this campaign compared to previous ones is the way it focuses more clearly on our people's attitude and receptiveness in addition to tourist experiences.
Entitled "Dance + Meetings", the video is a transition from the concept of "The world meets in Brazil" to the new slogan: "Become One of Us", the focus of which is to promote the lifestyle, experiences, culture, gastronomy and, of course, the "ginga" or "swing" of Brazilian football through our way of being, playing, dancing, embracing... (the tourist).
In addition, we received many foreign journalists from the key media in the markets considered a priority so that they could discover or rediscover Brazil. We participated in several international events of which we draw particular attention to the 20 "Goal to Brasil" events. Held in partnership with the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Culture in 15 countries, the events promoted tourism in the host cities of this year's World Cup and over 500 journalists and 1,700 professionals from the tourism sector attended.
Throughout Embratur's history of advertising and marketing, it has always been an important element that has featured in all campaigns that promote Brazil abroad. That is, in one way or another, our people's welcoming nature and way of being will always be represented. It's a fact that Brazilians enthusiastically and joyfully await the visitors who will come to the major events that Brazil will host in the future. Without doubt, foreign tourists are and will be very welcome in our country!