The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s online tourism promotion campaign, “6 Senses of Local Experience in Thailand,” or “Open All 6 Senses to Unique Local Experiences,” won the “Gold Awards 2018” in the Heritage & Culture category from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The campaign was created and managed by “ADYIM,” one of Thailand’s leading digital marketing solution providers under YDM Thailand, as the agency responsible for this campaign for the Tourism Authority of Thailand to promote a new style of tourism unlike anything previously done.

As the team responsible for the online activity, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and ADYIM welcomed 12 tourists from around the world to enjoy two weeks of travel experiences based on distinctive Thai local identities. It can truly be said that even travelers who had visited Thailand many times before had never experienced anything like this.

Ms. Anutsara Seelakhan, Account Director overseeing this online campaign, said:
“We are delighted that this online advertising campaign won PATA’s top award this year. Most importantly, we would like to thank the Tourism Authority of Thailand for entrusting ADYIM and YDM Thailand to create this work. The brief we received was to create an online campaign to promote tourism in Thailand in a completely new way, through local living experiences unlike those presented before.

This led to the online campaign titled 6 Senses of Local Experience in Thailand, opening all 6 senses to 6 unique local experiences, inviting travelers from around the world to learn, experience local culture, and gain a deep understanding of the beauty of Thai ways of life through six distinct senses: Sight, Taste, Smell, Hearing, Touch, and Belief. The campaign was designed to create uniquely local experiences for tourists, leave them with lasting impressions, and encourage them to share those impressions through social networks, while also helping raise awareness of local destinations and turning them into new places that travelers around the world would want to visit and experience.”

A key feature of this online campaign was building awareness and encouraging real experiences by inviting travelers from around the world who were interested in visiting Thailand through a promotional campaign video explaining all 6 senses. Each sense represented a local destination with distinctive and interesting characteristics. Participants were invited to choose the sense they were most interested in at www.tourismthailand.org/6senses and write why they selected that particular sense, then complete their personal details. The final step was to press submit in order to share the campaign on the participant’s social media and tag the friend they wanted to bring along. From this process, 6 winning pairs, or 12 people from around the world, were selected to travel to Thailand for two weeks to experience the sense they had chosen.

Local residents and experts in various fields were on hand throughout their stay to provide guidance and knowledge about the locality and the unique activities there between 1 August and 11 November 2017. The campaign generated nearly 350 million impressions worldwide, with more than 9 million users visiting the campaign website and more than 17,000 people registering to participate. It also created a positive first-time travel experience in Thailand, leaving visitors impressed by distinctive Thai local identities and turning 6 Senses of Local Experience in Thailand into a phenomenon that fully met the project’s objectives.

Even more exciting was what happened after the campaign ended. Tourists widely shared their positive impressions of traveling to Thailand in communities around the world as well as on the social media of participants in each country. They talked about the fun, beauty, excitement, friendships, smiles, and Thai uniqueness through local experiences, ultimately creating the phenomenon known as “6 Senses of Local Experience in Thailand.”

All activity photos and impressions can be viewed at www.tourismthailand.org/6senses