By: Robert Govers (jury member)

On January 14th, the Dutch Network of City Marketing professionals handed out the first City Marketing Innovation award to the Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Bureau (ATCB) for their innovative www.TruthaboutAmsterdam.com viral campaign. One of www.Placebrandz.com‘s co-founders was part of the jury.

ATCB reacted to a very negative discussion about Amsterdam and The Netherlands on the The O’Reilly Factor show on Fox News in the US. The biased opinion of presenter Bill O’Reilly was scrutinized in a witty response on YouTube, invalidating O’Reilly’s statements with hard facts and statistics (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPsFIsxM3w). The initiative resulted in a viral message that reached over seven million people, primarily in the USA and The Netherlands. It shows that one doesn’t need gigantic advertising budgets to reach one’s goal and viral can work, because, as a result of the success of ATCB’s initiative, O’Reilly was forced to respond on US national television (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVxDNJ6RZQw&feature=fvw).

More information on the jury report can be found on the Placebrandz Circle. Please read `How to use this website´ and contact us in order to join.