Visit Wales is the Welsh Government’s official tourist body and have set 2016 as the “Year of Adventure.” Where Wales will promote itself as the world’s capital of adventure and outdoor tourism with the #FindYourEpic campaign being its main drive.
This year, Wales will showcase its stunning landscapes, historic attractions and unique activities. Traditional and digital means will convey this message on behalf of Wales’ official tourism board Visit Wales. To make this happen, though, Visit Wales would need a digital platform and a campaign to inspire people to take these trips.
We were approached with an idea of using content created by past and current visitors to inspire future visitors. A key component of the campaign is the #FindYourEpic hashtag. So the aim was to use images from various social media channels under this hashtag, and display them together on an independent campaign site.
The #FindYourEpic site imports user-generated content – images from Instagram, Twitter and Facebook – for hashtags from the campaign. Within this curated library of photography, Visit Wales can select relevant images and edit related content such as title, description and the relevant tags. All in a custom application within the Sitecore CMS. The images from certain locations are then cross-referenced back to the main Visit Wales website.
Exploring and finding your own epic is what the Year of Adventure is all about; the site needed to reflect a similar “epic” experience. We are encouraging visitors to engage with Visit Wales here by giving them the platform for their images and social profiles to reach a wider audience. Audiences can then engage with the images that inspire them, and consider visiting a featured location.
Our design team started with a grid of images where users could scroll through those images that load as you progress down the page. The concept developed to an endless pannable solution but would need to function on both desktop and touchscreen devices. At the beginning, we weren’t sure if this type of feature was even possible. It’s difficult to assess whether smartphone and tablet devices have the processing power required to create the infinite scrolling experience that we had in mind.
Our developers had a lot to do behind the scenes to ensure that the site only rendered what was on display. Managing the memory and CPU in this way is something you wouldn’t normally do with a standard scrolling screen. But the solution in this respect is different. It allows users to scroll in all directions, with the user experience never hindered regardless of where they’re doing it.
Our aim with this first campaign for 2016 is to position Wales as a leading destination for outdoor adventure and use our iconic destinations to inspire people to explore what our country has to offer. This is an amazing opportunity to showcase the best of our country.
Ken Skates AM Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism
This year marks the beginning of a tourism drive for Wales, with the #FindYourEpic site featuring at the core as an inspiration for anyone setting out on a Welsh adventure. It showcases content from the people that have already experienced that content at first hand. A guide created by the visitors themselves – and all they need to do is post images on their social profiles using the #FindYourEpic tag.
It's a simple campaign site upon a glance. But one far from standard. Its features – and how it completes the tasks required – is the complicated aspect. Yet, the end result is completely user-friendly. Visitors can enjoy content via a social experience that no other social media platform can offer. Combining content creation and social proofing to boost engagement and referral traffic to the new Visit Wales main site. But more importantly, increasing the number of visitors to Wales.