The City of Brno’s long-term marketing strategy defines precisely the type of tourists it is primarily targeting: hedonists, lovers of gastronomy, culture vultures, and those with a sense of humor.
As part of this strategy, the city’s tourist information centre (TIC BRNO) has developed BRNO MATCH, an application via which everyone can find their place in the story of the city, as well as which places they should visit, which events they should not miss, where in the city they will feel best – and even which statue they most resemble.
BRNO MATCH falls within the long-term #brnotruestory campaign, through which the city does not try to please everyone, but rather seeks out those tourists who will feel great in Brno.
“We are well aware of what would happen if we started attracting quantity to Brno instead of quality,” explained Petra Motesicky, head of TIC BRNO’s Marketing and Tourism Division. “This city has beautiful monuments and great architecture, but what tourists appreciate most is that it is a place of comfort, great gastronomy, a friendly atmosphere and local communities. And we could lose these attributes if we focused on the mainstream tourist.”
The application, prepared for TIC BRNO by the local game studio Ateliér Duchů, is available at www.brnomatch.cz, and was first tested at the Pop Messe festival, which attracts thousands of alternative music fans from the Czech Republic and neighbouring countries every year.
“During the first weekend, more than 900 people played the game, and we had the opportunity to check whether the application works and how our target group reacts to it,” said Motesicky. “The first reactions were positive, people appreciated the humor, simplicity and graphic design in particular, but we still spent another three weeks fine-tuning the small details.”
Brno’s marketing communication targets tourists from neighbouring countries, presenting them with five main reasons to visit the city. These include the recently opened Žlutý Kopec reservoir, the summer festivals, functionalist architecture, gastronomy, and the Brno Christmas festival.
“This year, the MotoGP returned as the driving force of the entire destination strategy, thanks to which Brno is known far beyond its borders,” said Kristýna Černá, Brno City Council’s Representative for Tourism. “However, in everyday communication, we target Austrian, Slovak, Polish, German and Hungarian tourists, that is, those who have the potential to arrive by road or rail. In other countries, we have to explain where Brno is in a convoluted way, and the results of targeting in previous years have shown that it is better to focus on countries that are geographically and culturally close – and offer potential tourists indulgence, good food, cafes, bistros, bars, and perhaps alternative culture.”
The game is available for free in English and Czech at www.brnomatch.cz. TIC BRNO is preparing a marketing campaign for foreign markets at the turn of August and September.
