Thu Dec 04 06:11:58 UTC 2025: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kerala Tourism Wins PATA Gold Award for Viral Social Media Campaigns

KOCHI, India – December 4, 2025 – Kerala Tourism has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for its innovative and highly engaging social media campaigns. The campaigns, developed in collaboration with Stark Communications, cleverly combine globally recognized cultural trends with the unique culture, art, heritage, and experiences of Kerala.

The campaigns feature unexpected combinations, such as Vecna from Stranger Things enjoying coconut water in Kerala, or Superman being weakened by Kozhikodan halwa. Recent posts include a homage to John Lennon’s “Imagine” with figures in traditional garb re-enacting the Abbey Road album cover, and characters from the Korean series Squid Game boating through Kerala mangroves.

“Our philosophy was very simple: we wanted to be emotionally truthful to Kerala, but culturally current with the world,” said Ajit of Stark Communications. This approach has allowed Kerala Tourism to tap into a “shared cultural vocabulary” that resonates internationally, according to Roy Mathew, managing director and co-founder of Stark Communications Pvt Ltd.

One example was an April Fool’s Day prank on Instagram that “showed” Hollywood actors Tom Holland and Zendaya in Munnar, which went viral before the prevalence of AI and brought considerable attention to Kerala Tourism’s page.

Geoffery Shocky, a creative planner at an advertising agency in Kochi, notes that Kerala Tourism has “cracked the formula” by adapting global trends and localizing them to align with the brand’s identity.

The “Travel for Peace” campaign, emphasizing Kerala as a meeting point of identities, showcased the state’s commitment to harmony, peace, and coexistence. “The campaign was built on the belief that Kerala could be framed through a universal human value rather than any political lens,” said Roy.

At a time when the world feels increasingly divided, Kerala Tourism’s social media strategy reminds us that “movement, discovery, and human connection can soften divisions.”

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