2FOR1

We have worked together with Southeastern on a partnership marketing campaign since 2007 to encourage London residents to visit Kent by rail for day trips and short breaks.  The campaign has proved successful and based on the conversion research conducted at the end of the 2010 campaign and using the Cambridge Model Economic Impact Model, we can estimate the 2010 campaign brought £160,887 into Kent, showing a 4.6:1 Return on Investment.

Key results included:

  • No. of 2FOR1 vouchers downloaded  3,705  
  • No. of 2FOR vouchers redeemed  2,886
  • Top 5 voucher redemptions 
     Dover Castle
     Canterbury Cathedral
     Leeds Castle
     Hever Castle
     Canterbury Tales

To ensure consistency of messaging in the marketplace the creative for this campaign was brought in under the “Kent Contemporary” style for 2011. This has enabled the Kent Contemporary campaign to be extended beyond the initial early summer London advertising campaign and provide valuable repetition of messaging of the “your Garden” campaign theme.

For the first time in 2011 both Stagecoach and Arriva joined the partnership, further strengthening the campaign and providing a strong incentive to visit Kent via public transport.

Campaign activity included:

2FOR1 offers

The key driver for the campaign is the actual 2FOR1 offers.  Campaign partners and other Visit Kent Investors were invited to submit 2FOR1 offers and vouchers have been created for each offer.  Vouchers were available through a dedicated brochure and website and vouchers could be redeemed at participating venues on presentation of a valid rail or bus ticket, allowing for easy tracking of the campaign success.

Brochure

130,000 dedicated campaign brochures were printed and distributed throughout the campaign. 

The brochure featured editorial about places to visit in Kent, information on how to travel to and around the county and a list of offers which can be redeemed at participating attractions, as well as detachable vouchers at the rear of the brochure. 

Microsite

A dedicated campaign microsite (www.visitkent.co.uk/offers) went live at the end of July.  The website contains inspirational editorial about places to visit, downloadable 2FOR1 vouchers and direct links through to Southeastern, Stagecoach and Arriva for ticket purchases and journey planning. 

Banner campaign 

In order to drive significant traffic to the campaign microsite, banner space was purchased across well targeted websites such as www.travelweekly.co.uk, www.uktv.co.uk, www.heritagebritain.com, www.traintickets-uk.co.uk, www.ideasforthekids.com and www.activityvillage.co.uk

To further help drive traffic to the campaign microsite, banners were also live on www.visitkent.co.uk throughout the campaign. 

Visit Kent enewsletter

A programme of enewsletter activity took place throughout the campaign to raise the profile of the campaign and drive traffic through to the website. The first enewsletter was sent mid-August.

Google pay per click

A pay per click campaign containing key phrases such as ‘days out by train’, ‘2for1 offers’ and ‘cheap days out’ started at the beginning of August and ran through to the end of September.

Social networking

Regular updates were added to Visit Kent’s Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the summer months.

Poster campaign

The campaign occupied 1,000 sites across the Stagecoach network, 200 posters sites across the Southeastern network (on station), and 8 sites across the Arriva network throughout the summer. 

PR

A press release titled “Roll out the barrel for the Garden of England” was sent out after the launch in June, with a second release “Visit Kent offers cut the cost of summer holiday fun” sent out at the start of the campaign in August. Subsequent press releases were sent out to tie in with seasonal peaks e.g. bank holidays and half term.

Results for this campaign will be available from December 2011.