The Associated Press announced today that it is working with the local government office in Mie Prefecture, Japan, supporting its tourism drive ahead of the G7 Japan 2016 lse-Shima Summit, which will be held on May 26 and 27, 2016.
The AP team will work with Mie Prefecture to create content and produce and distribute a series of videos and photos in order to promote the region to potential overseas visitors and media organizations.
This is part of a new initiative by AP’s custom content and distribution division, AP Content Services. While remaining independent from AP’s newsgathering, AP Content Services uses the news organization’s multimedia production and content distribution network to reach the world’s major media organizations, supporting public relations and brand campaigns.
Recently AP has also begun making its global Twitter feed, which has over 7.8 million followers, available for sponsored tweets on an exclusive basis to select corporate customers using AP Content Services.
For the project with Mie Prefecture, AP will produce four videos, a selection of images and sponsored tweets, as well as global content distribution via AP’s network. The viral video contents include Ise Jingu, Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Routes, ama female divers, hot springs, jūnihitoe robe and ninja cultural experiences and more.
“As local government offices look to increase tourism in their local regions in Japan, they need to be creating and sharing visual content that is appealing to their target audiences, especially internationally,” said Chie Tsuda, AP sales manager. “By working closely with Mie Prefecture, our team will ascertain the best storytelling topics and angles to create impactful videos and images which we can put in front of media organizations around the world to generate interest in visiting Japan.”
Governor Eikei Suzuki of Mie Prefecture said: “It is important for us to show both the charm of the Mie Prefecture, such as the Ise Shrine, and how wonderful the people who live here are; and the G7 Ise-Shima Summit is the perfect opportunity for us to do that. It was very important for us to show people around the world the depth of Mie by using AP Content Services to create video and photos from a foreign visitor’s point of view, as well as then reaching the major media worldwide through their distribution capabilities.”
By drawing on AP’s award-winning storytelling expertise, cultural knowledge and global footprint, corporate partners can create content that will be attractive to overseas audiences.
In addition to tourism boards, AP also works with a number of large corporations, such as IOC, Disney, Emirates, Selfridge London, McDonalds, Lego, Shell, Jaguar and BMW.
Contact
Ilona Cheshire
Acting Communications Manager
+44 (0) 207 482 7751
CheshireI@AP.org