Rene Rossignaud shot the wining picture titled "Sunset over Valletta"

Nikon – Malta Co branding – 2.5 million Euros of free advertising

In May, Malta entered into a co branding agreement with Nikon-Italia. The project involved the preparation, organisation and monitoring of the Nikon photography competition ( press conference) — where 27 European Nikon photographers had the opportunity to shoot Malta from their own perspective. Divided into three groups of nine photographers, they benefited from the advice of NPS technical expert Vanda Biffani and a comprehensive briefing on the three inspiring themes, namely: Fiaba (fable), Fuga (escape), Teatro (theatre). This initiative was brought about by Robert Zammit from the MTA

This initiative resulted in a cache of some 3,000 stunning images of Malta which may be used by the MTA in future advertising campaigns. All photographic expenses past and future will be covered by Nikon -Italia. Of the 3,000 odd photos only 2 are to be used in the campaign engineered by The Gate Publications, Nikon and the MTA.

Rene Rossignaud, Malta's own top notch photographer did us proud by having his image, Sunset Over Valletta chosen by The Gate, Nikon and the MTA as the winning photograph. It is being used in tranche 1 of the advertising campaign, which is well on its way in Italy, namely in, Rome, Milan and Turin.

Rene Rossignaud's image entitled; Malta Un Ritratto d’Autore is doing the tour of Italy, where it can be seen gracing the sides and backs of buses in Milan, Turin and Rome, on metro posters in Milan and Rome, wrapping the mini taxis in Rome and on bill boards in the 3 cosmopolitan cities. 3 million flyers will be dispersed throughout Italy via Italy’s favourite publications such as Reppublica Venerdì, Panorama and more.

The second tranche of the campaign goes forth in September, when the second winning photograph will be used. As a conclusion to this campaign, towards the end of the year a roaming exhibition will be launched. 54 to 60 of the best shots taken will be enlarged courtesy of Nikon – Italia. The exhibition sees its launch in Malta, where it will than move on to the UK, Athens, Italy and others countries.