Brittany Ferries Returning to growth

The Covid pandemic brought huge challenges for the travel industry. As the category has recovered post-pandemic, Brittany Ferries have faced a battle from direct sea-faring competitors as well as those operating over land and air many of whom had been investing significantly more in media.

To deliver on ambitions to return to and sustain growth in bookings within this challenging context, we needed to first understand and then start to change perceptions of ferry travel to bring back existing and attract new travellers.

We adopted a disproportionate scale approach, using first and third party data and our own planning tools to create an optimised media plan within which budget would be allocated by territory and audience segment such that the campaign would feel biggest to the highest value potential customers. Recognising the nuanced purchase funnel differences by territory and audience, we devised a channel mix that would prioritise upper, middle or lower funnel – wherever the bottleneck was.

The resulting campaign, optimised throughout the live period, helped deliver 73% year on year growth in the UK alongside a 75% increase in spontaneous awareness and 32% increase in positive brand image.

Our work with Brittany Ferries is currently shortlisted in Media: Travel and Tourism in the 2024 Drum Media Awards.