The Travel Marketing Awards: catching up with the winners

As a company that takes nearly two million customers on holiday each year, the Hoseasons team is constantly innovating to drive its marketing forward and to attract and engage new audiences.

The goals for the team in 2017 were to support both the business and brand strategy by delivering a compelling and cost-effective range of marketing activity across their channels.

Additional goals included challenging perceptions of the Hoseasons brand, increasing new customers to the website and growing traffic through new content, including imagery and 360-degree videos.

Results included a 10% year-on-year growth in traffic and 20% growth in web use from the 25-34 segment. In 2017, Facebook fans grew 100% to 140,000 and Instagram increased fivefold to 6,500 followers.

Anthony Reilly, Hoseasons marketing director, says the whole team of 30 is thrilled to have
won the award: “Winning means everything to the team – it’s the recognition they deserve for pushing the boundaries of what we do, every single day. They’re passionate about marketing, the Hoseasons brand and inspiring people to book the UK as their destination of choice.”

Reilly cites an innovative approach to marketing, a focus on reaching new audiences and a strong team culture for helping Hoseasons bag the award.

• Lay out your vision to your team and be clear on your expectations
• Create a culture for them to succeed, and thank them for everything they do
• Celebrate the talent you have within your team

Black Tomato developed the brief for Get Lost as a reaction to luxury travel trends.

Jos Davies, global lead of marketing and PR, says: “We were noticing the rise in discerning global customers coming to us looking for life-affirming experiences. They wanted to break away from the norm, to be challenged physically and mentally, and to travel in a new way.

So we developed Get Lost, the ultimate adventure experience that takes travellers to uncharted destinations and charges them with exploring their way through it, unguided, to discover their inner steel. We wanted to challenge the traditional concept of a luxury holiday.”

International media coverage comprised travel, lifestyle titles and broadcast opportunities, including 30 key pieces of international media coverage around the launch of Get Lost, with a combined online readership figure of 534 million views. To date the campaign has secured more than 500 Get Lost enquiries.

• Correct use of global press contacts
• Aim to go viral – creating something like Get Lost that creates a buzz in the industry
• Correct use of brand partners – our collaboration with What3Words allowed the campaign to become relevant to not just the travel press but also to essential technology titles; helping to broaden the overall reach of the Get Lost campaign

This award, which celebrates bright young talent in the industry and is created in partnership with TTG, means a great deal to Stone.

She says she’s “absolutely over the moon” to have won: “I’ve always had a passion for travelling and marketing, and when I started my career at Manchester airport I realised that I could combine the two together.

“I’ve been lucky enough to work with big brands from across the aviation industry on high- profile marketing campaigns and to work with inspirational colleagues from across the travel and marketing industries.”

Stone says her proudest achievement at Manchester airport was helping to manage Hainan Airlines’ launch marketing campaign for the UK.

“As an unknown brand in the UK, I was responsible for raising mass brand awareness of the airline and then targeting audiences with a high propensity for travelling to China. This route was hugely important for Manchester airport as it was the only airport outside of London with direct flights to mainland China.”

The launch airside event was one of Manchester airport’s largest, and was attended by more than 150 high- profile guests including the Chinese Consul-General, the Lord Mayor of Manchester, the Northern Powerhouse minister and 30 journalists.

Outside of the launch event, the campaign involved establishing Manchester airport’s presence on Chinese social media channels Weibo and WeChat, and managing the airport’s first geo-targeted digital campaign, targeting users via the language settings on their phones.

The campaign’s success is impressive. “Since the route was announced, more than 7,000 pieces of coverage have been generated,” says Stone.

“In its first year of service, more than 90,000 passengers have flown – that’s 15% higher than planned for. The new route and subsequent campaign have also driven a 21% uplift in total UK-China passenger air journeys year-on-year.”

• Embrace the multi-channel approach and keep ahead of the latest marketing trends
• Know your audience

• Build effective relationships