Paris Tourism Advertising

By Nicolle D'Onofrio

The Paris Tourism industry is the largest tourism industry in the world. Millions of visitors come from all over the world to experience the city that has been presented to them based on a series of advertisements, current event coverage, and popular media. The Parisian Tourism advertising industry, owned by the French government but also coexisting with out private tourism industries, uses these popular media as a foundation for which they build their campaigns. A majority of these campaigns are visual and follow three primary themes: History presenting Culture, Romance presenting Ambiance, and Innovation presenting Urbanity.

An example of the Paris brand of Innovation to present an urbanity to their audience.
(Les Arts Decoratifs, Mediatheque)

An Example of the Paris Brand as romance to present ambiance.
(Les Arts Decoratifs, Mediatheque)

An example of Paris presenting History as Culture.
(Les Arts Decoratifs, Mediatheque)

By presenting these three aspects of the "brand essence" of Paris, audiences are targeted with specific myths these advertisements visually create. As media has progressed, it has been more important than ever to adjust these advertisements in order to match the media consumption preferences of specific European nations. Current campaigns in various European nations in the North Atlantic, North Central, and Mediterranean regions of Europe not only build upon media trends in these regions, but also these nations' diplomatic relationships with France, and therefore Paris. While the digital sector is still relatively new to Parisian tourism advertising, great strides are being made to take these campaigns online.