MP Impact Awards winner: “Wide Open for Meetings” campaign

The “Destination: Małopolska” project 

In the years 2022-2023, the City of Krakow, the Małopolska Region and the Małopolska Tourist Organisation joined forces to conduct the “Wide Open” campaign as part of the “Destination: Małopolska” project. The main goal of the campaign is to rebuild tourism in Krakow and Małopolska after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Krakow Convention Bureau, which is part of the organisational structure of the City of Krakow, focused on promoting business tourism. Promoting business tourism is a strategic element for the city’s tourism economy because of its huge organisational potential and facility base, providing business meeting venues for organisers from all over the world.

The “Wide Open for Meetings” campaign

From August to November 2023, a comprehensive online campaign, “Wide Open for Meetings”, ran on dedicated profiles on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. The communication was enhanced by campaigns and spots aired on the Google Display Network. Each month, two communication and two visual concepts were created, along with reformatting: a total of 120 static graphic designs and 48 HTML5 files.

The campaign was estimated to reach a total audience of nearly 30 million –the number of people reached in the social media campaign. On Facebook alone, the total reach across all markets is estimated at over 10 million! We recorded the highest CTR (1-3%) in all markets in the Dispaly channel.

Furthermore, a campaign was carried out from April to November 2023 in the foreign trade and influential press. Advertisements promoting Krakow and Małopolska appeared in the renowned weeklies The Economist and WirtschaftsWoche in the British and German markets, as well as the trade press in three issues of Conference News, MICE Benelux, and HQ Magazine, two issues of Punto MICE and Tendence Nomade, and one issue of Boardroom and AMI. The pieces were featured in the paper and digital versions of the magazines.

The offline audience reach, estimated based on the total circulation of 17 newspapers and magazines, was nearly 388,000, while online reach calculated as the sum of interactions and subscribers to individual titles was nearly 360,000.

This came to a total readership for the press campaign of 747,834!

In addition, in the project, the Krakow Convention Bureau produced three films using profiles of the Ambassadors of Krakow and Małopolska to promote Małopolska’s science, economy and arts on the international scene, as well as ten virtual tours of Krakow and Małopolska’s conference facilities. Using EU funds, positioning was purchased for the English version of www.convention.krakow.pl for two years, and is constantly updated. This also ensured a continual social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,  LinkedIn, and a fam trip for foreign congress and conference organisers was organised.

The “Destination: Małopolska” project is financed by European Funds under the Regional Operational Programme for the Małopolska Region 2014-2020.

The budget for the entire project was PLN 24 million, of which PLN 8 million was allocated for the domestic campaign and PLN 16 million for the foreign campaign, including PLN 4 million for MICE promotion. This is the only project funded entirely by European funds.

MP Impact Awards

The MP Impact Awards is the first competition dedicated to initiatives, campaigns, and events that have an impact on the operation and development of the meetings and events industry. The contest is organised by MeetingPlanner.pl. The purpose of the MP Impact Awards is to recognise, honour and promote initiatives, campaigns and events that have or could have a significant impact on the development of the meetings industry, addressing important challenges or solving problems, whether on a local, national or international scale. Awards were given for projects in four categories: Initiative, Event, Campaign, and MICE for Good.

The finalists were selected by a jury chaired by Dominik Górka (CEO and creative director, Live Age), and the awards consisted of two stages. In the first stage, the jury selected the finalists based on the competition entries, and in the second, the organisations running the projects gave presentations at the MP Impact Summit on 12 December and answered questions from the jury and audience. The winners were decided in a vote by everyone in attendance, the jury and the audience alike. The projects of winners and finalists will be presented in the MP Impact Report. The statuettes – Impacts –were presented at the MP Impact Awards gala.

MP Impact Awards Winners

Initiative category: City-forming role of trade fairs, MTP Group

The finalists are: Event Technology Workshop (Brill AV Media) and World Tour (Association for the Education of Students, Students, Teachers, HORECA Industry Professionals, Travel and MICE Hotelmania, and the co-organisers: HBX Group, Hotelbeds, BCD Travel).
 
Event Category: Konferencja Scena Jutra [Stage of Tomorrow Conference], Fundacja Scena Jutra [Stage of Tomorrow Foundation]

The finalists are: Event Industry Forum, (Evential) and Incentive Day 2023 (Association of Incentive Travel Organisers)
 
Campaign Category: Destination: Małopolska, Małopolska Tourist Organisation (leader), co-organisers City of Krakow – Krakow Convention Bureau, Marshal’s Office of the Małopolska Region

The finalists are: We create something more – responsible business campaign (Arche Hotels) and Poland. More than you expected (Polish Tourist Organisation – Poland Convention Bureau)

MICE for Good category: Playing Green, PTWP Event Center, co-organiser PTWP SA

The finalists are: Green Events – Wrocław (Convention Bureau Tourism Promotion Foundation – Wrocław), Meeting Industry Sustainability Forum MISF 2023 (Travel Bidder)