"Romeria", Costa Rica's Annual
Pilgrimage Goes Viral
By Laurel Wentz
It sounds like the slacker's version of a
religious pilgrimage -- substituting a long,
arduous trek to a holy site with an
effortless stay-at-home digital version.
But the Catholic Church welcomed the idea
when Costa Rica's Minister of Health last
year banned the country's famous, annual
228-year-old pilgrimage along with all other
major public gatherings at the height of the
outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus.
Traditionally more than 1 million of Costa
Rica's population of 5.5 million does the
annual walk to the Basilica Virgen de Los
Angeles, a huge church in Cartago, a small
town outside the capital city of San Jose.
When the government controversially outlawed
the popular religious gathering on
public-health grounds, the Catholic Church's
official radio station Radio Fides appealed
to its new ad agency for help. Jotabequ
Grey's solution, taking the centuries-old
tradition online, won the award for best ad
at last week's Volcan ad festival in Costa
Rica.
Jotabequ created a site called
romeriavirtual.com (Spanish for
"Virtual Pilgrimage") where people could
upload their photographs, either directly or
via Facebook, and share their promises of
faith and the wishes that inspired their
journey to the church. Then they chose a
pair of shod feet to do the online walking
for them. There were about a dozen footwear
options "including mens' shoes, womens'
shoes and Michael Jackson from Moonwalk,"
said Alexander Obando, general creative
director at Jotabequ. (The agency's name
spells the Spanish letters JBQ, representing
the shop's three founders).
The site, still live, is a moving parade of
photographs of the pilgrims (or sometimes
their dogs, or cartoon characters), mounted
on shoes ranging from comfy sneakers to
yellow stilettos. The most devout can choose
to walk all the way on their knees. Their
promises appear overhead, ranging from world
peace to finding a grandmother's dog. Most
fall somewhere in between, like doing well
in school, getting a job or wishing for
their family's good health, Mr. Obando said.
The agency added a filter to keep out
insulting messages, but decided to allow
some less-serious ones, such as rooting for
a favorite soccer team's victory, to help
encourage young people to participate, he
said.
Almost 15,000 online pilgrims signed up, a
small number compared to the real-life
pilgrimage of past years but considered a
good turnout in a country where digital
penetration is still low, Mr. Obando said.
As word spread, the site drew about 296,000
visits, and the average time spent was seven
minutes per visit, considered extremely high
for a Costa Rican web page. Catholic blogs
wrote favorably about it. And the Romeria
Virtual victory at the Volcan festival marks
the first time the top prize at a Costa
Rican awards show has gone to a digital ad,
rather than a TV or radio commercial or a
print ad, he said.
This year the real pilgrimage will resume,
with many people walking 10 hours or more on
Aug. 2 to get to the church (they only have
to walk one way; pilgrims usually take the
bus home, or call a cab). But the newly
popular digital option will continue too,
Mr. Obando said.
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