The latest iambassador project, the second edition of #Blogville Emilia Romagna, dedicated to travel bloggers from all the world was launched in Bologna on Tuesday, 30th April 2013. From April to July, and from September to October, over 70 bloggers will be hosted in a blogger apartment in the historic centre of Bologna, Italy, and for the first time bloggers from Brazil and China will also take part in the project. Blogville Part 2 promises to be the largest travel blogging project in Italy… ever!
The launch of Blogville 2013 was accompanied by a course in pasta-making. Attending the launch were iambassador CEO Keith Jenkins and COO Melvin Boecher, Blogville coordinator Nicholas Montemaggi (APT Servizi Regione Emilia Romagna) and the first group of bloggers.
This year, a ‘resident blogger’ from the iambassador team will be in the apartment supporting the tourist board, the other bloggers and the live “Social Wall” on the Blogville Emilia Romagna website to follow live the adventures of the different bloggers in the region.
As in the past edition, the travel bloggers will find a “survival kit” in the apartment of typical products (such as Pasta, Piadina, Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, Parma Ham, Mortadella, etc.), wi-fi, the Blogville Card (for free admissions to museums and sights), as well as mobile wi-fi devices.
Discovering Emilia Romagna like a local
Over 70 travel bloggers from around the world will discover the Emilia Romagna region with #Blogville. The bloggers will be hosted (3 to 6 people at a time) in the #Blogville apartment located in the historic centre of Bologna from which they will be able to discover in total freedom the entire region. Once a week they will all take part in an organised trip to one of the nine provinces of the Emilia Romagna region in order to live like a local and feel and taste the best that the region has to offer – wine & food, handicraft, Motorvalley, Unesco World Heritage sites, hiking and biking in the Apennines, the nightlife, but also other classic Italian activities such as drinking espresso at the bar, taking part in the traditional aperitivo, meeting the local blogging and instagram communities, and a lot more. The bloggers will also participate in the top events of the region such as the 50th Anniversary of Lamborghini, the Mille Miglia oldtimer race, the medieval Palio in Ferrara, the Notte Rosa-Pink Night, the Moto GP of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, and all the traditional wine food festival events.
The first bloggers arrived on April 29th and on the first day their tweets have already reached almost 500,000 accounts in less then 24 hours, with more then 200 interactions and almost 100 different contributors talking about the Emilia Romagna region and Blogville.
During the launch ceremony, Nicholas Montemaggi, Melvin Boecher, Keith Jenkins and the bloggers were interviewed by regional and national television and radio stations.
The first #Blogville campaign in 2012 generated over 280 blog posts and reached over 8 million people on Social Media, generating 75 million impressions on twitter and over 3,000 shared photos and videos online.
