Encoding destination messages in media coverage of an international event: A case study of the European athletics indoor championships

The destination management strategy of enhancing destination brands or market position via international sport events is one of the main reasons for destinations to engage in event bidding. The strategy raises important questions regarding the process of encoding a destination's brand values into the media reports from an international sporting event and what the perceived challenges of that strategy are.The process has been explored from a destination perspective in a case study during the recently completed 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden using data from multiple sources before, during and after the event. Public relations strategy and the persuasive communication model have been employed to structure the description.The study shows that the destination marketing organization (DMO) is involved in two different processes in order to influence the message transmitted from the event. The TV broadcast process is negotiated before the event and the news coverage process is occurring during the event. The latter relates to the DMO's attempts to persuade gatekeepers of international media to include the destination message in their reports by the use of both direct and indirect cues and activities. One tenth of the reports from the event are about the destination rather than the sport. Key differences between the two processes are presented, as well as a synthesis model of information-based communication and persuasive communication in the setting of an international sport event. Challenges to the strategy were e.g. media professional's formal assignment and the match between event and destination values in order for the DMO to communicate a newsworthy message.