“Like Nowhere Else”: promoting Monaco in the USA
In New York, the screens are ideally located at the corner of 46th Street and 7th Avenue - © Pixabay
Posters and videos of the Prince’s Palace, the Hôtel de Paris and the Casino are currently on display in New York’s Times Square.
Tourism, whether for pleasure or business, is doing well in the Principality, and Monaco’s Tourism and Convention Authority intends to keep up the momentum. The government body unveiled a brand-new communications campaign designed to promote Monaco internationally, at the Fairmont Monte-Carlo in March.
Advertising
We went to meet the creative minds at Office Mikado, the communications agency behind the major project. “It’s the biggest project we’ve had so far,” say Elise, Mikaël and Arnaud in the colourful offices of the Monaco Boost business incubator.
Responding to the Government tender has meant the seven team members were able to see their work exported outside the Principality’s borders. A source of pride.
“We were up against several agencies and only had a few weeks to come up with an interesting offer on the basis of a set brief,” says Mikaël, Office Mikado’s artistic director and co-founder. “We do a lot of behind-the-scenes work on our computers, and it’s rewarding for us when we see the campaigns come to life in major airports or here in New York,” adds Elise, graphic designer and project manager.
Showcasing Monaco’s architecture
“Monaco is a unique destination for a host of reasons. While other cities have similar events, such as Grand Prix or festivals, Monaco always adds a special flavour,” says Arnaud, who is in charge of strategy. That’s why the slogan ‘Like Nowhere Else’ felt so right.
On the visual side, Mikaël wanted to come up with “something different to what we’ve seen before”, i.e. people in situ in Monaco. “I wanted to showcase the Principality’s architecture. If I’d been better at school, I’d probably have studied architecture,”says Mickaël, an artist in his spare time, with a smile.
Set against a “Riviera blue” background, the idea is to show very little, leaving room for the imagination, in a series that features the Prince’s Palace, the Monte-Carlo Casino, the Hôtel de Paris, the Grimaldi Forum, the Exotic Garden, the Oceanographic Museum, a yacht, the Prince’s Carabinieri, the Larvotto and the Monte-Carlo One. “We wanted to show a sample of what Monaco is all about, its culture, history and entertainment,” says Elise, who, like her two colleagues, knows Monaco well as she grew up there.
“Instagramability”, an essential quality
While other visuals have been provided for business tourism, those that target leisure tourism aim to attract young people in particular, who are now looking for “instagramability”. “Today, destinations are chosen according to the content that can be created locally, and Monaco is an ideal playground. There are so many places where you can pose for social media,” says Arnaud.
This is not the fhe Mikado team’s first partnership with the Government. The team members’ talents brought us the GoVax campaign, which ran during the health crisis, as well as material for the CHPG and SBM. And right now, the Prince Rainier III centenary commemoration campaign. Keep your eyes peeled!