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Facing significant headwinds and a decline in international travel from key markets, Nassau & Paradise Island deployed a strategic, data-driven media campaign.
Earlier this year, Nassau & Paradise Island were confronting several macroeconomic headwinds that were impacting near-term travel demand. The destination saw a forecasted decline in travel for late Q1 and Q2, particularly among international visitors, due to geopolitical factors that were causing a dip in travelers transiting through the US. This was acutely felt in the Canadian market, where bookings on Canada-U.S. routes were down by over 70% month-over-month. With the U.S. Travel Association estimating that a 10% reduction in Canadian travel could lead to a $2.1 billion loss in spending, the strategic imperative for Nassau & Paradise Island was clear: to maintain a positive destination image and increase awareness in Canada, focusing on the unique experiences the destination offered. The goal was to align with travelers' shifting needs and wants and lay the groundwork for a future resurgence in travel demand.
The Strategy: Creating Meaningful Connections
Looking beyond media KPIs, the team leveraged upcoming flight schedules to identify opportunities in key Canadian cities, which kick-started the development of this plan. To combat the decline in demand and leverage the opportunity to re-engage the Canadian market, a two-pronged approach was implemented: strategic media shifts and data-driven optimizations. This approach was designed to drive more opportunities for partner bookings and ensure profitable growth despite the challenging environment.
- Volume + Efficiency: Strategic budget allocation was crucial to drive efficient website traffic while prioritizing high-quality conversion volume.
- Creative & Audience Refinement: Different creative formats and messaging were used to engage specific audience segments and ensure the message resonated with each target group.
- Market Focus: With a reduced budget, the strategy honed in on the most impactful markets with tailored messaging and creative to maximize results.
To achieve this, the team implemented key shifts in the media approach:
- Meta Instant Experiences: The campaign leveraged Facebook Instant Experiences (formerly Canvas) to create immersive, mobile-optimized ad units. These instantly loading experiences used airline-specific creative and messaging to inspire potential travelers and jumpstart the booking journey. Instant Experiences were optimized for conversion, with a focus on maximizing time spent and view rates, ensuring a highly qualified audience was engaged.
- Demand Gen. vs. Video: The team activated "demand gen" campaigns over traditional "video for action" campaigns to boost awareness and scale efficiently. This approach allowed for a variety of channels to be used to inform and excite the audience, ultimately driving action.
The strategy also incorporated continuous, data-driven optimizations:
- Leveraging AI-powered Audiences (Lookalike Audiences): The team tapped into new lookalike audiences sourced from a Canadian seed list to expand reach to high-potential users.
- Geographical Targeting: The team analyzed new flight routes to the Bahamas and collaborated with airlines to understand the number of flights and available seats per week per geography. This analysis informed a strategic shift in budget, moving resources from softer markets to those showing more promising demand for Canadian travelers.
- Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM): An advanced MMM was utilized for budget planning, incorporating arrival data, flight data, media KPIs, and historical performance by country, day, and city. This model provided crucial guidance, ensuring that the geo-strategy and channel focus aligned with the "need" periods flagged by the model based on demand.
The Results: Driving Profitable Growth
The strategic and agile campaign successfully navigated a challenging market, achieving significant and measurable results that directly addressed the initial business objectives.
- Increased Linkouts: Since the implementation of the new strategy, Canada linkouts have increased by a remarkable +183% year-over-year. Cities like Montreal and Toronto saw the highest lift, demonstrating the effectiveness of the optimized geo-targeting.
- Reversed Arrival Trend: The campaign delivered a net +8 percentage-point swing in arrivals, moving from a forecasted decline of -5% year-over-year to a positive growth of +3%.
- Increased Efficiency and ROI: Total conversions increased by +59% during the campaign period despite an -11% decline in spend, leading to a -47% decline in CPA from paid media.
- Targeted Reach: The use of tailored creative and messaging, combined with a focus on specific markets, ensured that every dollar was working to engage the most promising audience segments and drive impactful results.
Through a combination of media innovation and continuous, data-driven optimization, the campaign solidified Nassau & Paradise Island's position as a premier destination, successfully reversing a downward trend and laying the foundation for future growth in a key international market.
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