Page 43 - Gondwana Collection Namibia Value Creation Report 2021

GROWING OUR VALUE

Brand strategy

Promoting Brand Namibia is one of Gondwana’s Our marketing has always While we continue to promote our products, people are more NamibiaCam: A window on the wild
interested in stories. A campaign is more successful wherever
most important achievements. incorporated a strong we can connect a story to a product. We engage lodge In 2007, Gondwana’s IT all-rounder, Jens Viëtor, started a A radio link was built with solar, and a television installed at
employees to be story seekers because the stories and special
the lodge’s reception area. As the internet was not good,
weather station at home. In 2008, this became the website
content element. A moments are found at the lodges. namibiaweather.info when he added stations in Swakopmund snapshot images were sent to the website every five seconds.
Namibia Focus Promoting Brand Namibia and Klein Aus-Vista. In 2009, Gondwana acquired five weather When The Desert Grace was built, a better internet
The Gondwana Card News content-driven marketing Our content marketing promotes Brand Namibia, beyond Gondwana, stations for the lodges and the site started to become connection was installed. This faster internet awakened the
popular. As the site evolved, we started adding cameras to
idea to send a live feed to the website, which was achieved in
strategy that relies on and beyond tourism. This boosts tourism, which uplifts Namibian view the weather conditions. One of the first cameras was mid-2019. Visitors to the website increased to between 4 000
communities. This year, Gondwana focused on several content
at Namib Desert Lodge waterhole facing the petrified dunes
marketing efforts including videos and songs promoting Namibia. over a waterhole where the view and game made it more and 5 000. In 2021, the livestream was migrated to YouTube.
storytelling works well in This includes a video series on the Naturalist Collection, holiday interesting. The channel started to gain traction with the addition of
The Gondwana Namibia Nature and songs with Namibian artists, and several videos promoting Namibia’s sound in August, and chat functionality in September. While
Corporate Card Parks the era of social media, beauty. In addition, we run the following content platforms: In 2017, Gondwana took over the website namibiaweather.info. we had 4 000 viewers daily on the website, the YouTube
channel has up to 30 000. The success of the channel can be
The site became more popular as more stations and webcams
where communities cluster Namibia Focus News were added. In 2018, Jens decided to add a webcam at measured in the over 160 000 subscribers and counting. This
puts Namibia on the map and promotes the Namib Desert
Wegkruip, 8km north of Namibia Desert Lodge, where there is
This platform engages our German-speaking communities in an
around shared experiences. objective, but positive, way. This channel shares uplifting stories game to enhance the experience. Lodge and Gondwana Collection.
Gondwana Travel with consumers in German-speaking Europe.
Social media amplifies Website: https://namibiafocus.com
Centre Instagram
our platform to share Namibia Weather
Weather has always been a unifying concept in Namibia and
Namibia’s stories. abroad. This channel shares weather information from across
Aux 4 Coins de la the country, as well as live camera feeds from certain areas.
#itsup2us Namibie The Facebook channel shares interesting facts and information
We have published more than 20 books with thousands of stories about weather patterns and phenomena.
about Namibia and its people. Many of these stories had never
been recorded before and would have been lost forever. We Website: https://namibiaweather.info
also create and share video clips about Namibia regularly. Our Namibian.org
YouTube platform is extremely popular, and the videos, with their
YouTube Namibia Weather exceptional visuals, reach countless viewers worldwide. Our 2017 This content platform is still in the development phase. It is
video clip showcasing Namibia’s impressive landscapes against intended to be an online travel guide for Namibia. Information
Trump’s blunder of calling the country ‘Nambia’ and referring to includes history, parks, geology, and people. This platform
countries in Africa as ‘shithole countries’, reached 260 million includes a community-orientated forum about Namibia’s nature
people worldwide. Website visits are easily converted to sales and nature parks, both private and state-owned.
because our content marketing is effective. Website: https://namibian.org
LinkedIn TikTok Social media is an important referral source as travellers’ posts NamibiaCam
are often the first point where their friends see our offerings.
We work with online influencers, travel bloggers and traditional Launched in 2021, NamibiaCam is a live webcam located in the Experience
media outlets to expand our online reach. In 2021, we grew our Gondwana Namib Park, watching over a waterhole 24 hours per Namibia virtually
NamibiaCam social media channels and opened a TikTok account. day. The stream is available on Namibia Weather, and may also be
webcam on In 2021, video marketing did not perform as expected. Our mirrored on Namibian.org soon. This is one of the most popular by visiting our
Facebook YouTube audience tends to prefer more authentic and less staged videos. live streams on YouTube, with more than three million views so YouTube channel:
far. Viewers come from all over the world, but NamibiaCam is
We will expand on the success of our NamibiaCam webcam. watched in Germany, the UK, Japan and the US. More than 70% of
Read more on page 39, by setting up new webcams at different the viewers are over the age of 45. Beyond the waterhole, which is https://www.youtube.com/user/
GondwanaLodges
locations. man-made, no other interference with nature is allowed.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/NamibiaCam

38 VALUE CREATION REPORT 2021 GONDWANA COLLECTION NAMIBIA 39