Gold rush in the Swiss Alps or how Numéro10 created cool buzz for Crans-Montana

The advertising agency Numéro10 is well known for their successful, often hilarious campaigns: from turbo sleep to Gatorade, the spirited team working with Gilles Aeby create exciting and sustainable campaigns with their own special flair. If you knock at the door of Numéro10, buzz is guaranteed! And quite often that is as precious as gold…

Turns out, for ski resort Crans-Montana, the choice of Numéro10 was indeed precious: the professional buzzmakers came up with an idea that spiked the interest of media world wide, generating hundreds of international news articles and attracting the attention of hopeful gold-diggers in droves!

Not surprisingly, purely by “accident”, Switzerland’s largest gold nugget was found in…Crans-Montana!

Even if this was, by miracle, strategically placed in the Alpine landscape, so that a real “false” hiker could not help but stumble on it, this clever campaign triggered not only a veritable gold rush among treasure hunters, but also a very measurable result for Crans-Montana in this rather difficult economic situation.

In all the excitement surrounding the discovery of gold, lucky number 33 – multiplied campaign created by Numéro10 – was hugely successful for the region: 33 carat, meaning -33% discount on hotel bookings and ski passes with the offer resulting in an increase of almost 3,300 hotel bookings during off-season.

Along with the media coverage the campaign obtained, this resulted in a return of about 3x the communications budget initially invested.

A great example of how a creative agency can help tip the scales in their clients’ favour. So, for anyone searching for a golden spark of inspiration: why not buzz at Numéro10? Here, here, or here!

For more information on Crans-Montana, visit their webpage or join their Facebook and Twitter communities.

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