Summer KOL: Positioning San Diego in the Chinese Market
Context
The Problem:
To capitalize on the peak summer travel season, the San Diego Tourism Authority (SDTA) needed to launch a multi-platform campaign to promote the city’s unique brand messaging. The challenge was twofold: educating potential travelers about San Diego to capture their interest, and elevating the city’s brand above its more famous in-state competitors. A critical requirement was the ability to accurately track and measure the real impact of Influencer (KOL) collaborations.
Solution
We leveraged our deep expertise in the Chinese digital ecosystem to create a hyper-targeted influencer strategy.
- Strategic KOL Selection: Helios mined its extensive influencer library to select key opinion leaders from Weibo and WeChat who were emerging as true difference-makers in the China advertising space.
- Localised Video Content: San Diego became the first U.S. city-level Destination Marketing Organization to produce and distribute localized video content specifically for the Chinese market.
- Proprietary Measurement: We deployed our KAPE Index (KOL Aggregate Performance Efficiency), a hyper-accurate reporting system designed to monitor cost-efficiency and performance across every aspect of the campaign.
Results
The campaign not only exceeded all initial estimates, but also established San Diego as a preferred and measurable destination for the APAC audience.
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