The latest tourism board to test the interactive waters is Go Israel, who has created a choose-your-own-adventure video that showcases three different potential paths for an exploratory journey in Israel.
This campaign is a bit different from others, as the video lives in the tourism board's own website rather than YouTube. This potentially limits the viral potential built into YouTube, but allows for a bit of a different experience than the traditional interactive video.
The technology comes from Interlude Company, which specializes in interactive videos and has received a good amount of previous press for its proprietary self-publishing platform, Treehouse, which allows anyone to create this style of video.
The paths are seamlessly built into the video, so there are no gaps as the next video loads up. After selecting the next path - say to go check out the spas surrounding the Dead Sea - the narrator segues straight into the next part of the journey.
By using a first-person view and a narrator named John, the video showcases a direct experience of Israel. The three guides offer different perspectives as well. There's Sharon, the Tel Aviv resident who "likes the good life;" a tour guide who "is as familiar with Israel as the palm of his hand," and Amit, a returning Israeli who's a "very cool guy."
The video captivates a good chunk of attention, and is something that surely will continue being a trend for travel boards to pursue. It's a multi-functional tool that allows for a wider return on investment, as it can showcase different selling points of a particular destination.
Explore the video on Go Israel's website.