Runner Up Blog: Oi

Author: oi

Our brief was to encourage visitors to Jersey during the shoulder months of the traditional tourist Summer season. Autumn is the perfect time to visit Jersey, and we needed to create a campaign that demonstrated that whilst achieving stand-out against competitor destinations.  Following evaluations of previous campaigns, this campaign was to be online focussed; providing the most targeted reach, return on investment and emotional engagement with potential visitors.

Step 1
How we listened and learned

Geographically, we were focussing on city dwellers who lived in close proximity to airports that provide direct flights to Jersey.

We worked with our client to identified 6 measurable campaign objectives:

1. Contribute to Visit Jersey's target of welcoming 1 million visitors spending £500 million by 2030.

2. Create an online campaign that increases visitor numbers in autumn months compared to 2017

3. Drive online engagement and visits to jersey.com

4. Drive data capture

5. Portray the island as a tonic to the city

6. The media strategy must take into account the above objectives

Extensive research was undertaken into discovering the driving factors for people wanting to take a break from living in the city. Online research helped us to identify the primary negative feelings associated with living in a city.

Step 2
How we collaborated and created

We focussed on connecting with the target audience whilst reinforcing the key brand message of #theislandbreak. We didn’t want to portray living in a city in a negative light, but simply wanted to reveal some insight into the negative feelings that you sometimes need a break from, when living in a city. We needed to position Jersey as the tonic to city life.

The online campaign required a strong campaign video at its heart; something that would engage, resonate and create intrigue. We developed a core emotive campaign message of ‘How do you want to feel?’. The display advertising was not being overly branded and this was designed to be a driver, and a different approach for this sector.

Oi produced the video, partly shot in London featuring real people who were asked both how they were feeling and how they wanted to feel. Many of their answers highlighted some of the general stresses associated with living in a city that our research had shown. The video production, editing, music and lighting were all used to personify this feeling of Jersey being a tonic from the city. From noisy, hectic city scenes to open, lighter and expansive Jersey views.

The video was seeded across Visit Jersey’s social channels and partner sites including Time Out, The Evening Standard and The Times in order to drive views, interactions, site visits and competition entries.

After watching the video, prospective visitors were taken to a campaign landing page on Jersey.com where they were asked for their own answer to the question "How do you want to feel?" in exchange for a chance to win an island break. A follow up email campaign ensued promoting various island break options to help them achieve their aspired feeling.

Step 3
How we evaluated and evolved

Due to the campaign having a strong focus across digital channels we were able to measure the effectiveness easily. Measurement was also completed through the deployment of an evaluation methodology that is widely adopted by tourist boards, has been rubber-stamped by the UK National Audit Office, and that mirrors the UK Government Communications Service ‘Standards and Guidelines’.

The results from this evaluation showed that more than a month after having seen the campaign more than 90% said that they recalled it. The material led respondents to say that it conveyed Jersey as being somewhere that offered a warm welcome and would be the sort of place that they would enjoy.

Advocacy is an important driver of destination choice and almost half of those seeing the campaign were stimulated into talking to their friends and relatives about Jersey as a result. Between one-quarter and one-third of those recalling the campaign actively searched for details of accommodation available in Jersey and flight or ferry fares as a result.

What success looks like...
The immensely successful campaign video amassed over 1.5 million views on social media as well as 584,000 completed views via paid display media. Achieving an above industry average view through rate of 69%.

Recognition
Best Digital Campaign - 2019 CIM Travel Marketing Awards - 3rd place