Which city produces half the global supply of laptop chips, is home to the world’s largest stand-alone building, is the global leader in panda conservation, yet seldom features in a Google tourism search?

Renowned for its spicy cuisine, leisurely lifestyle, and lovable pandas, Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province in western China and China’s fourth largest city. In order to promote awareness of Chengdu as an international tourist destination, the agency developed a global program to connect Chengdu with its most attractive asset: the giant panda.

In order to expand the “City of Panda” brand, the agency built on the success of the original 2010 Pambassador program, strengthening creative PR tools to socialize the campaign and generate global influence. We leveraged social platforms to share adorable panda content and designed local experiential events to strengthen the local relevance for media and consumers.

The “Pambassador” 2012 competition connected with the world via Facebook, offering winning participants the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Chengdu to become a guest panda keeper and ambassador of panda conservation.

Chengdu Pambassador 2012 was an on-and off-line competition from September to November 2012.

The campaign drove a 30.3% increase in international visitors to Chengdu versus China’s national tourism growth of 1.2%. Global media coverage and high social media fan engagement attracted 255,000 worldwide applicants to live and work in little-known Chengdu – over seven times the number attracted by Queensland Tourism’s “Best Job in the World” campaign to live on a reef of stunning tropical islands!

Have you heard of Chengdu? Do you know where it is?

When we asked potential tourists in target markets these questions, the results were overwhelmingly negative.

Our first goal was to reach target audiences in Europe, the US, and Asia Pacific, tell them where Chengdu is, and share the many good reasons to visit. The communication objective was to make potential travelers from our target markets aware of Chengdu’s tourism assets. Success was measured by awareness and positive media coverage. Our ultimate goal, to increase the number of foreign tourists visiting Chengdu, was measured by foreign tourist arrivals in Chengdu.

• International visitors to Chengdu in 2012 increased to over 1.5m, annual growth of 30.3%, very impressive growth when compared to China’s national increase of 1.2%

• “Pambassador” was dubbed “the cutest job in the world”, a moniker picked up in many of the 2,852 international media reports across 30 countries in 13 languages that were achieved in 2012

• The level of coverage and online engagement attracted 255,000 applicants to live and work in Chengdu, four times the level of applicants attracted with the 2010 campaign

• Our 410,000 Facebook fans, attracted in just 5 months, were actively engaged through online voting for Pambassador finalists, video and image updates from the participants, experiential events in ten cities globally, and a continuous updating of adorable panda content

• Content featuring pandas and campaign events reaped 128m YouTube channel views

• Combined, we achieved 1.6bn impressions in social and traditional media

• Yao Ming, in partnership with the Chengdu Panda Base and nonprofit organization WildAid launched the 2012 campaign, heightening legitimacy and global visibility

• In Europe, costumed pandas toured Edinburgh, Paris, Brussels, Rome and Berlin to promote Chengdu and the campaign, with local public relations media angles

• In North America, the Pambassador competition semi-final and “Pambassador Day” at Georgetown University

• In Singapore, a retail activation with 7-11 stores featured the “Pambassador” search on posters, banners, and price tags, plus a Panda-Rock concert, Panda-themed black & white fashion show and Asian regional semi-finals

• In Hong Kong, a viral video of costumed pandas visiting the city’s landmarks in search of bamboo

• In Chengdu, 16 global finalists experienced the giant panda natural habitat and the city’s attractive tourism destinations in front of global media for the winner announcement

• Pambassador Channel on YouTube featured 22 panda videos - promoted globally by social and traditional media

China’s coastal cities account for a disproportionate percentage of the country’s foreign visitors. Low awareness of destinations in western China significantly limits opportunities to attract tourism. Chengdu’s 1.2m annual visitors in 2011 represented less than 1% of China’s 135 million total. Hungry for tourism revenue and international development, Chengdu wants more tourists.

Chengdu is an appealing destination for international tourists to experience traditional Chinese culture, taste savory Sichuanese cuisine, and visit the endangered giant pandas. Although relatively well known in China, Chengdu’s brand lacks strong recognition globally. This campaign was developed to change that reality.

Our strategy grew from the success of the 2010 “Search for Pambassador” model that first connected Chengdu with the little-known fact that the city is the hometown of giant pandas.

The agency’s team of leaders from each target market worldwide concluded that Chengdu’s most valuable asset to promote tourism is the opportunity to visit dozens of endangered and adorable giant pandas at the Chengdu Panda Base.

The team re-assessed the original Pambassador strategy, concluding that it was a very strong campaign idea but needed a fresh execution approach to reflect cultural shifts.

Our 2012 execution plan dramatically increased the use of interactive content to generate a social media buzz. Local activation activities and competitions in regional markets created local relevance and drove the traditional PR strategy. We also felt global reach would be maximized by using Facebook as the central campaign portal.