Madrid is putting its invisible heartbeat at the centre of a new global tourism campaign, as Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID launches \u201cMadrid Beats\u201d to position the Spanish capital and its surrounding region as a premium destination for long-haul travellers.<\/p>\n
Developed by Havas Creative Spain, the campaign introduces an \u201cinvisible heart\u201d as a new symbol for Madrid\u2019s energy, lifestyle and cultural identity. The platform will roll out across 13 markets spanning North America, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, including Singapore, China, Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n
At the centre of \u201cMadrid Beats\u201d is a two-minute film following a tourist who discovers Madrid\u2019s invisible heart and is swept along by its rhythm across the city\u2019s streets, landscapes and history. Along the journey, the protagonist encounters figures such as Ava Gardner, Ernest Hemingway, Francisco de Goya and Diego Vel\u00e1zquez, who are portrayed as having found their own connection to the city\u2019s energy.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss: Mongolia takes the global stage in cinematic national brand film<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The campaign aims to move beyond conventional destination marketing by turning an intangible quality of Madrid into a recognisable brand asset. The invisible heart will also live beyond the campaign, with a large-scale sculpture inspired by rock types found across the Region of Madrid planned as a physical manifestation of the new icon.<\/p>\n Juan Manuel S\u00e1nchez, marketing director at IFEMA MADRID, said the campaign forms part of a broader strategy to strengthen Madrid\u2019s positioning among increasingly global audiences by connecting the city, its wider region and its cultural energy.<\/p>\n Carmina Serrano, director of Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID, said \u201cMadrid Beats\u201d was designed as a long-term communication platform rather than a one-off campaign.<\/p>\n The new approach also marks a shift in how Madrid Turismo manages its international marketing. Rather than working with 17 different international agencies, the organisation has consolidated the creative and media operation under a single agency network managed directly from Spain.<\/p>\n This allows the campaign to maintain a consistent creative direction while adapting its media strategy and execution to local market insights, according to Serrano.<\/p>\n Havas has also built out the campaign across multiple touchpoints. Alongside the hero film, the visual campaign features 17 creative executions developed by Chilean photographer Roc\u00edo Aguirre, who offered her interpretation of Madrid\u2019s \u201cinvisible heartbeat\u201d across different locations in the city and region.<\/p>\n The campaign\u2019s visual identity was created by T.O.T. Studio, drawing on details from Madrid\u2019s streets, including shapes, colours and historical typography.<\/p>\n The film was produced by ROMA and directed by Nono Ayuso, with American actor Walton Goggins providing the voiceover. The original soundtrack was composed by Paulo Gallo, while cinematography was led by Ana Francesca Solano.<\/p>\n On the media side, Havas Media Network is prioritising video through Connected TV and YouTube, supported by OOH, social media, cinema, influencer marketing and branded content partnerships with publications in each market.<\/p>\n For Madrid Turismo, the international rollout is intended to strengthen the destination\u2019s position among high-value travellers while building a distinctive identity that can be carried across tourism, culture and business communications.<\/p>\n \u201c’Madrid Beats’ is a new communication platform built to endure over time, with the goal of positioning Madrid as a top destination for high-value travelers. Our purpose is to bring consistency to this ambitious campaign across all touchpoints in 13 target markets,” said\u00a0Carmina Serrano, director of Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID.\u00a0<\/p>\n “To execute the project, we introduced a new working methodology \u2014 shifting from a model involving 17 different international agencies to consolidating everything under a single agency network managed directly from Spain. This allows us to craft the creative vision using local insights while executing a global media strategy tailored to each country,” she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition, Jes\u00fas Rasines, CCO of Havas Creative Network Spain, said the challenge was to translate Madrid\u2019s distinct identity and energy into a symbol that could be recognised beyond Spain.<\/p>\n “Madrid has a distinct identity and energy, but the challenge was finding a concept that could synthesize them and make them recognizable beyond our borders. That’s why this campaign stems from a simple yet powerful idea: turning what makes Madrid unique\u2014its lifestyle, character, and the energy you feel when exploring it\u2014into a symbol strong enough to transcend traditional tourism advertising,” said Rasines.<\/p>\n “Our goal wasn’t just to talk about Madrid to the world, but to build a distinctive, recognizable brand territory capable of driving the city’s positioning as one of the world’s leading urban destinations,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n With \u201cMadrid Beats\u201d, the agency is positioning that energy not simply as a message about Madrid, but as a visual and cultural territory that can continue to evolve beyond the campaign itself.<\/p>\n Madrid\u2019s approach comes as destination marketers across Asia Pacific also look to build more distinctive, ownable identities for their cities. Hong Kong Tourism Board, for instance, is set to launch its \u201cOnly in Hong Kong\u201d global platform<\/a>, using the city\u2019s neon lights, colours and cultural character to spotlight experiences that can only be found in Hong Kong. The platform will replace its \u201cHello Hong Kong\u201d campaign and continue to sit alongside the city\u2019s \u201cAsia\u2019s World City\u201d positioning.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Singapore Tourism Board\u2019s \u201cWe don\u2019t wait for fun\u201d campaign<\/a> takes a similarly experience-first approach, targeting younger travellers with short-form content built around unexpected, distinctly Singaporean experiences. Rather than selling the destination through a single landmark or tourism proposition, the campaign showcases how visitors can move between neighbourhoods, entertainment, food and adventure with minimal friction. Its always-on approach, spanning social, digital, OOH and partnerships across nine markets, reflects the growing emphasis among destination marketers on keeping cities culturally relevant and top of mind beyond traditional tourism advertising.<\/p>\n Related articles:\u00a0 \u00a0
Macao tourism turns to vertical drama to reach Indonesia’s Gen Z<\/a>
Korea Tourism wants Australians to rethink what’s on the itinerary<\/a>\u00a0
Tourism Tasmania turns Sydney commute into winter gallery<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madrid is putting its invisible heartbeat at the centre of a new global tourism campaign, as Madrid Turismo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[30161,30165,30160,19116,27221,428,82,30159,29925,30166,30158,30164,17,30162,30163],"class_list":["post-80415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-destination-marketing","tag-global-tourism-campaign","tag-havas-creative","tag-havas-media","tag-international-tourism","tag-luxury-travel","tag-madrid","tag-madrid-beats","tag-madrid-tourism","tag-madrid-tourism-campaign","tag-madrid-turismo","tag-premium-travellers","tag-spain","tag-tourism-campaign","tag-travel-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}