CNP: The Croatian National Tourist Board’s winning entry in the City Nation Place “Best Use of Social Media” category is a great example of the opportunistic use of social media channels – where did the idea come from?

Leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, there was a great deal of attention and media buzz. In particular, an enterprising reporter revealed that there was a common heritage at a NFL press conference between Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll, the two coaches of the teams competing in the SuperBowl. Upon learning that both Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, and Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, are of Croatian descent, we moved quickly into action and began promoting “The Battle of the Croatian Coaches” on our Facebook and Twitter account. Tweets and hashtags created tied back to Croatia National Tourist Board (CNTB) twitter page, @Croatia_hr and hashtag, #SuperBowlCroatia.

We wanted a unique way to grab the media attention around the SuperBowl and the “Battle of Croatia” contest and decided to offer the coach of the winning team an all-expenses paid trip throughout Croatia in 2015, or “trip back home,“ to explore the land of his ancestors. We quickly garnered the media’s attention, as they covered this campaign as it built momentum. Forbes ran an article titled, “Who Cares Who's Going to Disney World? The Winning Coach of Super Bowl 2015 Is Headed To Croatia.” This placement generated more than +55,000 views and was valued at more than USD$3.5 millions of free advertising further showcasing Croatia’s booming tourism industry and as a destination tied to a mainstream sports event. The Forbes article was a tipping point, as we became fully aware that our story had caught on. In order to maintain this momentum, we needed to continue to think outside the box and shortly after the article ran, we announced a new contest on Twitter, a Super Bowl selfie contest. We encouraged fans on Twitter to tweet their selfies during the game and to use hashtag #Croatia #SuperBowlCroatia for a chance to win a trip to Rovinj, a romantic port city on the western coast of Croatia’s Istrian peninsula.


This announcement brought immediate attention and fans quickly responded by posting their selfies using hastags #SuperBowlCroatia. The winner of this contest was Tony Aiello, a NYC-based reporter, who posted a photo with a pair of Croatian flip-flops.

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