2016 Bronze Best use of search, natural and paid for

Agency Propellernet

Client Kuoni

Campaign summary

A sand expert from Minnesota helps you pick a Mauritius or Seychelles holiday

Campaign overview

The brief was to promote the Indian Ocean destinations that are crucial to Kuoni’s success.

It was also about presenting the differences between them, making sure not to portray Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion Island and the Maldives as all ‘being the same’.

Strategy

This campaign aligned Kuoni’s brand strategy: ‘Find your amazing...’ and tied into an autumn DM campaign, focused on promoting Indian Ocean destinations.

The target audience was ABC1 honeymooners 25-35 years old and Kuoni’s core market of ABC1 45+ years old. Sources including: answerthepublic.com, Google Suggest, BuzzSumo, destination research and a content audit of editorial (rather than commercial) competitors such as Condé Nast Traveller, Telegraph Luxury and National Geographic informed the ideas.

BuzzSumo research confirmed a massive appetite for photos from the Indian Ocean – but generic ‘beach shots’ didn’t differentiate locations.

So the creative looked at sand in a new, microscopic way, and the resulting photographs were the basis for explaining the geographical differences between the islands to help people find their own version of amazing.

Creativity

Kuoni sent sand from the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion island and Sri Lanka to microscopic photographer Harold Tayler and arenologist (‘sand expert’) Kate Clover based in Minnesota to produce 21 original photographs of sand from the different islands.

Kate’s expert analysis identified everything from sea urchin spines and coral fragments to peridot crystals and volcanic basalt. Kouni created an online gallery to explain how the grains reflected the islands’ larger geological differences. The remaining sand samples were placed in glass vials and sent, along with original prints, to key journalists and online editors.

Before the release Kuoni secured a 24-hour photo editorial exclusive with the Mail Online, featuring on their travel homepage for one week. Following a hugely successful sell-in of photos to the online media, they launched targeted Facebook promotions to two core audiences and paid to publish the photos on Velvet Escape and A Luxury Travel Blog.

Results

The campaign increased online brand awareness of Kuoni as the experts for Indian Ocean holidays, whilst also driving traffic to the Kuoni website.

The photos and accompanying release demonstrated Kuoni’s expertise and earned coverage on 26 websites to date, including: Mail Online, Independent Online, Telegraph Online, BT.com, The Weather Channel and The Irish Examiner.

Team

Helen McLane (Account Director) • Andy McLane (Creative Director) • Stephanie Sheehan (Consultant) • Georgia Watts (Senior Project Manager)