Search
Close this search box.

The Road of Flavours Cultural Campaign

DATE

March – October, 2019

Client

Yeremyan Projects

Service

Full PR Support, Creative Campaign

Category

Production

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Cultural-educational campaign “The Road of Flavours” was implemented by SPRING PR for Yeremyan Projects (2019-2021), one of the leaders in restaurant business of Armenia which unites under its umbrella 11 restaurants, The Academy of Culinary Arts and Hospitality, “Yeremyan Products” the high quality milk, dairy and meat production, stud cattle breeding farm, swine farm.

The campaign aimed at popularizing Armenian cuisine and positioning Armenia on the gastronomic map of the world as a promising gastronomic destination.

The project stages:

  • Documentary film “The Road of Flavours”
  • Fashion show “GASTRO COUTURE”.
  • International press tours “The Road of Flavours”

 

PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY

The annual growth of gastro-tourism in the world is 10-12%. According to the results of a large UNWTO study conducted in 100 countries, for 84% of respondents, the main factor for visiting a country is its national cuisine.

Armenia is a country with ancient culinary and hospitality traditions, in which one of the most developed and successful business areas is the restaurant industry. Tourism in Armenia has been declared a priority sector, and gastronomic tourism has serious development potential.

The aim of “The Road of Flavours” campaign was:

  • Contributing to the development of the potential of gastronomic tourism in Armenia by positioning Armenia as a gastronomic center (hub) and touristic destination.
  • Popularization of Armenian culinary traditions and hospitality principles,
  • Promoting iconic dishes of national cuisine,
  • Establishing culinary diplomacy and creating platforms for intercultural communication and exchange
  • Increasing the recognition of restaurants with national cuisine among tourists and local population
  • The geography of the project: capital of Armenia, Yerevan, where the most popular restaurants are concentrated, as well as the regions in RA
  • Media coverage geography included USA, France, EU and CIS countries, Lebanon, Armenia.

RESEARCH

  • The Campaign strategy development was based on secondary study – the data analyses of statistics on tourism development tendencies in Armenia, research of the preferences and satisfaction of foreign visitors to restaurants with national cuisine, monitoring of tourists’ assessments on various specialized platforms, monitoring of publications of foreign media about Armenia, national cuisine, restaurants and gastro events.
  • Ethnographic research to discover the recipes of national traditional dishes, serving rituals, the place where they are most typical
  • In-depth interviews with tourism, gastro-cultural , restaurant sphere and hospitality experts were carried out. They were not only a target audience for the campaign but also opinion leaders in the society and important mediator of communications.
  • All restaurants under Yeremyan Project’s umbrella which represent national cuisine were studied (Lavash, Sherep, Tavern Yerevan Restaurants Chain), a special gastronomic tour based on traditions and rituals were developed in Tavern Yerevan Restaurant to best present the gastronomic traditions of Armenia.
  • For greater coverage a selection of International, especially Russian, Ukrainian and European media specialized in gastronomy, tourism and hospitality was made, including representatives of the editorial offices of in-flight magazines (largest airlines and railways).
  • Multi-channel communications were implemented, using the tools of both traditional and digital media, involvement of opinion leaders, influencers and bloggers both local and international, for targeted and efficient communications.

 

During the long-term complex campaign “The Road of Flavours” the following communication formats were used:

  • 4 International Press tours, 2019-2021, a press tour and other communications were planned also during 2020, but due to the COVID19 Pandemic the press tour was delayed and was implemented in April 2021.
  • Media events
  • ATL, BTL, TTL tools, digital tools
  • Gastro Couture culinary fashion show, a creative event with a know-how format
  • Production of Film “The Road of Flavours”

 

PLANNING

Representatives of 35 media outlets and food blogs took part in the press tours in 2019 and 2021, including Elle, Esquire, L’officiel, National Geographic, Business Traveler, Café Babel Brussels, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Izvestia, Arguments and Facts, Restorator, Eda.ru, Rosiyskaya gazeta, theVillage.ru, Buro, SRSLY by Gasprom media, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Afisha Daily, Gastronom, in-flight magazines Utair, Aeroflot, S7, Sapsan, Mail Ru, Solt, Timeout, Radio B.FM Radio, OTV Lebanon.

Target audiences:

  • Tourism organizations of the RA, Russia and CIS,
  • CIS, EU, Russia, tourists,
  • Restaurant chefs,
  • Gastronomy editions of foreign media and their audience,
  • Local and foreign influencers,
  • Food bloggers
  • Local and International Media
  • General public (Armenia, CIS countries, Russia)

 

Campaign Key messages:

  • Armenia is a gastro-hub, an attractive, versatile and budgetary tourist cluster, including restaurants, bars, hotels, wineries,historical monuments and museums, interesting gastro and touristic events.
  • Armenia is an attractive destination for media, bloggers and influencers
  • Gastronomic tourism and the restaurant industry can become the main factors of social-economic development of Armenia.
  • Armenia is a unique tourist destination for gourmets and travelers from different countries, with an ancient history and rich culture, with hospitality traditions and ancient food culture.
  • Different regions of Armenia have preserved the peculiarities of the national cuisine and the specifics of the preparation of special traditional dishes for which the region is famous.

 

EXECUTION

The long-term complex campaign “The Road of Flavours”, was implemented from February 2019 to April 2021.

1ST STAGE – February, 2019: A private screening of the documentary “The Road of Flavours” was organized for representatives of the local and international media.

The film director is a Russian filmmaker of Armenian origin, a member of the Union and the Guild of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation Artak Igityan, and is dedicated to the cuisine and food traditions of Armenia, telling about the techniques and recipes of iconic dishes from different regions of the country.

2ND STAGE – April-Octobe,r 2019 – holding 3 press tours “The Road of Flavours”, media from Russia, Ukraine and Europe.

The creative solution and idea was the collaboration of Yeremyan Projects Restaurant Company and Harmony Fashion House implementation of which was:

3RD STAGE – November 28, 2019 – A “GASTRO COUTURE” exclusive cuisine and fashion-show, dress collection inspired by the aesthetics of national cuisine, made on the conceptual basis of the colors of the traditional Armenian dishes and hospitality in general.

While “Yeremyan Projects” initiated “GASTRO COUTURE” with the mission to preserve the traditions of the national cuisine and hospitality and at the same time to present them in a new way and make them more familiar in the world, with the initiation of this project “Harmony Yerevan” Fashion house has sought to develop the Armenian fashion traditions.

The show stood out for its concept.  The concept was the feast:  the sumptuous feast preparation process demonstrated in the first part of the show։ we highlighted the importance of the serving process. The looks of the “dishes” presented in the second part of the show. When creating looks, the details of those traditional Armenian dishes have been used that may be found in the restaurants of “Yeremyan Projects” company. The aim was to emphasize the importance of the preparation ritual-process for visiting a restaurant and aesthetics in the third part.

  • Thanks to the special design that recreated the symbols and entourage of traditional royal celebrations: a 50-meter table was laid in the center of the podium, served with vintage cutlery and filled with traditional Armenian dishes and sweets, the podium was decorated with antique Armenian carpets.
  • Representatives of the state, business, cultural, artistic, restaurant and fashion spheres, journalists of local and international media participated in the event.

 

4TH STAGE – April 2021, Press-tour “The Road of Flavours”  from Russia, top On line and printed media representatives.

OUTCOMES

  • Armenia ranked 12th on the UNWTO International Tourism-Barometer at the end of 2019.
  • In 2019, there was a 14.7% increase in tourists compared to the previous year, and a 26.7% increase compared to 2017.
  • According to the 76% of respondents in a survey of travel agencies and tourists, publications from influencers and media were the main factor in choosing Armenia.
  • The Road of Flavours film screening event received coverage from 45 local media, 470 influencers and sphere representatives, and 35 more specialized foreign media.
  • The event had 500 + guests, with 67 publications and 1200 stories.
  • GastroCouture, which involved 34 journalists and 200 influencers, had 700 participants and received 47 publications.
  • Yeremyan Projects restaurants had 1,500,000 visitors in 2019, with 650,000 being foreigners.
  • There were 3275 publications on social networks, including 2982 stories.
  • An ATL campaign involved a GastroCouture photoshoot on 120 billboards in Armenia with Yeremyan Projects Restaurants addresses.