As CFC Consulting reported to “MediaBusiness”, the promo video “Ukraine. Beautifully Yours” on CNN International costs 2.53 million hryvnyas. According to managing partner Gennadiy Kurochka during 7 weeks, starting November 10 till December 28, 2008 the promo will be shown 300 times. The promo clip length is 30 seconds, and it covers 55-60% of the channel prime time. “The CNN target audience is business elite, main orientation on Europe, Middle East, Africa” - СFC Consulting has added. 

The promotional campaign of Ukraine on CNN International (nearly 143 million viewers in more than 143 countries) is aimed to represent the travel potential of the country as well as to “encourage foreign investors and attract more tourists to Ukraine.” The Ministry of Culture and Tourism did not make exact calculations as to possible number of potential visitors and the volume of investments, though. This was informed by the Minister of Culture and Tourism Vasyl Vovkun at the press conference held on November 13^th. 

The promo idea belongs to Vasyl Vovkun, and the video clip by itself was made using the materials of Ukrainian filmmaker Oles Sanin, the technical compilation was done by CNN specialists. 

In March 2008 the State Department of Tourism and Resorts announced an open tender to purchase services of a complex national travel advertising campaign on both domestic and international market, as well as participation in promotional campaigns on foreign TV channels and mass media with a slogan “Ukraine invites.” The tender committee has received offers from “CFC Consulting Company LLC” proposing to place promo video about Ukraine tourism potential on CNN International at overall budget 2.53 million hryvnyas per 428 shows, and  from “Diplomat service LLC” with a proposition to place promo video on BBC TV channel at 4.3095 million hryvnyas per 300 shows totally. Having studied and evaluated the offers, the tender committee took decision to accept the proposal of CFC Consulting Company LLC, and, as a result, the agreement between parties, dated October 7, 2008, was signed.  The main evaluation criteria of the tender proposals were defined as following: “total cost, TV channel network coverage, payment by installments based on services rendered, and some other benefits.”

 According to the Ministry of Culture it is planned to continue cooperation with both domestic and international TV channels in direction of wide informational positioning of Ukraine around the world and promoting its cultural uniqueness. 

“Our channel price policy is exactly the same as in Paris or London, for example, so there is no markup in price as it could be using an intermediary, - tells Mr. Kurochka. СFC Consulting is the official CNN representative in Ukraine.” In his opinion this official representative status is what mainly caused the State to choose his company. According to him, this video is only a part of promo actions ordered by the Ministry of Culture. “This current order is measured by seven weeks, further steps I can not comment”, - responded Mr. Kurochka to the question about future cooperation with the Ministry and orders from the State.

 As CFC representative Yuri Sak informed at press conference, most countries of Eastern Europe have conducted similar promo campaigns on CNN TV channel.

 Let us recall that during two last years there were two attempts to organize promotional campaigns of Ukraine abroad at the state expense.

 In 2005 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was conducted a tender aiming to create a positive image of Ukraine abroad. The winner was a little-known company “Konglomerat” from Kharkiv, who received 12.8 million hryvnyas budget. However the mentioned tender was accompanied by scandals and law-suits from the very beginning. As the result the contract was terminated, but the budget money, received by “Konglomerat”, was not returned to the state. The СFC Consulting, who have lost in competition with “Konglomerat” that time, did file a suit to European Court about justice restitution. 

A new tender for tourism potential promotion was conducted in 2006 by the State Service of Tourism and Resorts (a unit of Ministry of Culture). The winner of the tender was ”Grand-Print” company. The report of spending 8 million hryvnyas included: creation and placement of video promo “Ukraine. For snowlovers”on National Geographic and Euronews TV cahnnels (80 shows at each channel), advertisement in Readers Digest magazine, billboards in European cities, and promo in Ukraine by itself. The promo concept, visual logo and slogan were developed by the project’s subcontractor – creative agency “Studio 7.”

Screenshots of the promo “Ukraine. Beautifully Yours.”