It was only a matter of time: Google Glass has been used for the first time in a destination marketing campaign.
The Beaches of Fort Meyers and Sanibel invited five Google Glass Explorers to come experience the destination as part of the "Find Your Island" promotion.
The Explorers also completed a series of activities and challenges that showcased both the destination and the potential for Glass in the hospitality sector.
You can learn more about the event including an announcement video, explorer bios and more on the Find Your Island Challenge section of the destination's website.
In addition to the Glass Explorers, the promotion included a public sweepstakes, under the name "Find Your Island #throughglass." The sweepstakes was promoted via the destination's Facebook Page, and has the grand prize of a trip to the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel and a pair of Google Glass - once they become available to the general public for sale.
The actual Glass event lasted two days, and the initial footage of the promotion was compiled in the following video.
MMGY Global, the firm running the campaign for the destination, has reported the following initial results. From the week of 9/4 to 9/8, they saw:
- Over 1,200 photos and videos captured and shared with Glass.
- Over 6GB of #FindYourIsland data (video and images) shared by Google Glass Explorers.
- Over 8,000 entries in the Find Your Island #ThroughGlass Sweepstakes.
- Reached 1.3 million social media users.
- Generated 17.9 million social media impressions.
The sweepstakes element of the campaign is ongoing, with a slated end date of October 1st.
The potential for Glass to offer first-person travel perspectives is very clear, and this will most certainly not be the last promotion featuring Glass as a central element.
However, shifting into analysis mode for a moment, the central question with this technology is whether or not people care enough to watch someone else's unedited, first-person perspective of everything they are doing. Is this technology truly solving a problem or is it a showcase and marketing device for Google that is just a product in search of a reason for being?
Will this personal perspective driven content replace the considered, planned and attractive content creation that comes from employing professionals to showcase a destination, or will the rough-around-the-edges, first-person UGC become the de facto means of in-destination promotion?
Do potential visitors want to see it just as another visitor saw it, or do they want the idealized, creatively-fueled versions that come from employing professional content creators able to find the most stunning shots and create compelling narratives that build atmosphere and brand around a destination?
All of this remains to be seen - and there will certainly be a slew of campaigns forthcoming that will show us the potential of the wearable tech revolution in travel.