Introduction
Known as the birthplace of Irish legends, Armagh is steeped in history and boasts unique landscapes and Georgian architecture. Set upon seven iconic hills and filled with extraordinary landmarks, the destination is home to countless "firsts," where history and mythology are intertwined. The Visit Armagh team partnered with Sojern on a co-op campaign leveraging Tourism Ireland's Partnership Programme in the Great Britain market. The goal was to expand Armagh’s visibility in the Great Britain market and promote it as a key travel destination, featuring seven attraction and accommodation partners.
Objectives
The Visit Armagh team sought to activate a co-op campaign to promote seven partners, including attractions and accommodations, to offer a more comprehensive view of Armagh’s offerings. They focused on targeting families and couples actively searching for a short break in Northern Ireland and competitor destinations in the UK whether or not they had considered Armagh to travel during the summer/autumn period. The campaign aimed to achieve a native CTR greater than 0.15% and a video VCR greater than 70%.
Solution
The Visit Armagh team described the partnership with Sojern as seamless. The team appreciated that Sojern handled the heavy lifting, with minimal effort required from their team to get the campaign running. The Sojern team designed ad creatives for both native and display ads. Visit Armagh developed a custom microsite, which allowed for detailed analytics tracking and directed users to targeted pages before transitioning them to the partner’s homepage for further exploration and to complete a booking where applicable.
Sojern’s travel intent data identified couples seeking short breaks, frequent travelers, and families as key segments to target to drive travel to Armagh. This was layered with affinity and interest audience segments, such as outdoor enthusiasts, foodies, adventure travelers, movie and TV show fans, and art/theatre aficionados. Retargeting efforts concentrated on individuals who previously visited the Visit Armagh website, ensuring high relevance and engagement.
The first campaign ran in the spring and featured native and display ads. Through a test-and-learn approach, the team gathered insights and saw that Armagh needed to increase brand awareness. They applied these learnings to the second campaign in the summer, transitioning from display ads to video ads to enhance visibility. This led to improved brand awareness and engagement, and the campaign achieved strong KPIs.
Performance exceeded expectations—native ads resulted in a 0.25% CTR, 92% over the benchmark. Sojern’s algorithm optimizations and insights provided by the analyst team drove a +197% increase in the native CTR since the campaign started. Video performance resulted in a 70% VCR, with an increase of +13% since the campaign started. The campaign drove 1,324 confirmed travelers and over four million impressions, significantly boosting visibility for Visit Armagh. The campaign saw an increase in performance from one campaign to the other by applying the learnings from the previous campaign. The Sojern team provided consistent support, answering questions promptly and providing regular updates on performance, which the Visit Armagh team appreciated.
About the Partnership
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