LET’S
BLOW
UP
WINTER
The Challenge
Visitation to Bermuda is lower in the winter season. Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) sought to change that.
The Insight
Since most visitation happens in the warmest months, not many people know that Bermuda’s ocean breezes, clear waters and pink sands make the destination an ideal place to kiteboard in the winter. It’s especially attractive to kiteboarders who face freezing temperatures in New York City and Boston, little more than a stone’s throw away.
THE SOLUTION
As a first for Bermuda, we developed a fully integrated niche campaign that focused specifically on the kiteboarding community. We called it The Bermuda Winter Blow Out. In conjunction with professional kiteboarders, we created a series of motivating content pieces delivered through interest-targeted advertising and PR activations. Knowing female kiteboarders were underrepresented and often objectified in the category we exclusively invited pro female Kiteboarders to show the world how it’s done. Our purpose was to make sure nearby kiteboarders know that Bermuda is a credible and inviting kiteboarding destination during winter.
The campaign strategy included multiple pillars.
Increase awareness of ideal kiteboarding conditions in Bermuda: Crucially, our definition of awareness was extremely targeted and designed to achieve a specific outcome. Many kiteboarders were not aware that Bermuda was a kiteboarding location, let alone a prime destination situated close enough to New York City and Boston to allow for spontaneous weekend trips.
Focus on the passionate kiteboarding community: We used interest-based targeting to send specific, highly motivating messages to precisely the right people:: passionate kiteboarders.
Partner with reputable, influential kiteboarders and connect with the local community: Who better to tell the Bermuda story than professional, award-winning kiteboarders? These athletes have a stronger influence on kiteboarder behaviour than brands, so Destination Think worked with four of the best to develop a series of compelling content pieces for people who love the sport. The partnerships helped validate the Bermudian kiteboarding experience and started to build Bermuda’s reputation as a kiteboarding destination.
This campaign achieved incredible saturation in the target market, for a very cost-effective investment in content marketing. For example:
Within a target market of 390,000 kiteboarders in Boston and New York City, the campaign generated 358,000 social media engagements.
By comparison, Bermuda welcomed 203,697 leisure air arrivals in 2018 and 35,801 leisure air arrivals during the winter months (December 2017 – March 2018).
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