“Skyscanner was the perfect strategic partner to help us meet our goals. From its huge audience to creative execution and placements across the marketing funnel, they provide the platform to reach, engage and inspire Scotland’s next visitors.”
Fiona Holmes, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, VisitScotland
Overview
- We told our primary German market and secondary French market about Scotland’s unique, enriching experiences that could be enjoyed year-round with direct flights.
- The campaign encouraged travellers to explore beyond the city walls and discover the people and places across Scotland's countryside, highlands and islands.
- With sustainability and responsible travel key components, we highlighted Scotland’s quieter, less-visited areas that would benefit from visitor numbers and spend.
The impact
- We reached almost 5 million travellers, generating nearly 11 million impressions.
- Germany was our primary market, generating a return on ad spend of almost 2,000%; while our secondary French market achieved 281%.
Into the wilds: Showcasing the best of Scotland
As the country’s national tourism organisation, VisitScotland’s mission is to grow the value of tourism and the visitor economy, creating a better place to live, work and visit.
In 2023, a record-breaking four million overseas tourists visited Scotland, drawn to its unique tapestry of cities, highlands and islands. For many, a trip to Scotland remains one of the best, most exciting holidays possible.
We targeted travellers on Facebook by spotlighting Scotland’s legendary history and culture, two holiday categories we knew our audience loved.
Most people travel during the traditional summer months. With its focus on sustainable tourism, VisitScotland wanted to encourage travellers to make longer visits during the quieter shoulder season, beginning with two big European markets: Germany primarily and then France.
Homepage hero ads, featuring the line ‘Scotland is calling’, took over Skyscanner's homepage, putting VisitScotland front and centre when travellers land on our site.
The campaign was also about inspiring travellers to explore further and wider into lesser-known places and take advantage of Scotland’s plentiful public transport and cycling routes.
Scotland is calling you
There are fantastic, easily accessible regions outside Scotland’s biggest cities with so much to offer – perfect for combining with a city trip. So we created inspiring content to help people explore further afield, spotlighting varied, unique experiences to be enjoyed across Scotland.
At the same time, we positioned Scotland as welcoming, accessible and easy to reach – just a short direct flight away from airport hubs across Germany and France.
'Discover incredible nature, legendary history and vibrant cities’ – brand banners targeted travellers searching for competing destinations, directing them to our hub page to explore further.
We wanted to change perceptions too, with Scotland often not being seen as budget-friendly. We demonstrated to travellers that Scotland did, in fact, provide excellent value-for-money in terms of experiences – the food, people and places to stay providing memories that would last a lifetime.
We also acknowledged that, yes, it rains a bit, but rain is part of the drama of the landscape. And most importantly, there wouldn’t be Scotland’s famous whisky without the heavens opening from time to time.
"The partnership we have with Skyscanner is really special. Firstly, I love that we’re two Scottish brands working together to raise the profile of our wonderful country. Secondly, the strategic insights, campaign management and flexible budgeting always ensure we surpass our KPIs.”
Fiona Holmes, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, VisitScotland
Traffic drivers across homepage heroes, paid social, newsletters and display banners used Scotland’s magnificent countryside and history to grab people’s attention and take them to a custom-built hub page.
There, they’d discover the very best of Scotland in 2024 – from cities and culture to unique food, drink and the great outdoors, alongside a helpful reminder that prices are often cheaper outside peak season. A list of direct flights from across Germany and France underlined the ease and speed of getting to Scotland.
Our hub page gave travellers a comprehensive guide to what Scotland has to offer, from city guides and air travel routes to history, food, culture and the great outdoors.
Results
We reached nearly 5 million travellers across Germany and France, generating almost 11 million impressions, resulting in 1.8 million searches to Edinburgh alone – a return on ad spend of up to 1,959%.
If you’re interested in advertising on Skyscanner, please get in touch below.
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