SL Tourism secures free ad campaign from CNN

• Comprehensive destination campaign to run for four weeks
• 30-second ads to be aired in Asia Pacific and South Asia feed
• Second no-cost partnership with an int’l media giant since pandemic outbreak

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
In an effort to drive the hard-hit tourism sector towards recovery, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) has secured another no-cost partnership with media giant CNN, an American news-based pay-television channel, owned by CNN Worldwide.

The no-cost partnership for promotion with CNN is the second the SLTPB has bagged, following the outbreak of the pandemic. 

The first one was with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launched in June, with a coverage of 375 spots on 30-second commercials, for a period of one month and were aired in the South Asia, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North America and Europe news feeds.

The SLTPB shared with Mirror Business that the partnership with CNN has been confirmed, where a destination campaign would be rolled out for a period of four weeks, under the ‘30 Seconds of Calm’ filler.

On CNN International TV, the campaign would be aired in the Asia Pacific and South Asia feed in 56 spots, which are of 30 seconds each. The dispersion has been decided as two per day to be run in the morning and evening prime. On the CNN website that caters to audiences across the globe, the partnership will deliver 500,000 audience targeted impressions in addition to 250,000 video pre-roll impressions.

The SLTBP shared that CNN would produce display banners from the 30-second commercial of Sri Lanka Tourism.

The last campaign the SLTPB ran with CNN was in September 2019. The ‘So Sri Lanka’ campaign ran for three months with the aim of boosting tourist demand for Sri Lanka as a destination and to regain popularity, following the Easter bombings in April, last year. Mirror Business learnt that the SLTPB is also currently in talks with a Russia-based television channel to secure a similar package as that with BBC and CNN.