The Isles of Scilly are clustered in clear waters just 24 miles from the far western tip of Cornwall. They are spectacularly beautiful and have been a favourite UK-based holiday destination for generations. Until recently the islands faced a triple-whammy of issues. Firstly, although their core customers were fiercely loyal they were also ageing (it happens to us all), secondly after years of popularity a myth was circulating that accommodation on the islands couldn’t be had for love or money. Then to top it all the helicopter service pulled out after many years of legendary service, leading to another negative myth – that the islands were all but inaccessible!
Appointed very late in 2012 we started with some typically practical Wolf Rock responses… a highly targeted Youtube campaign to get immediate traction online in the New Year holiday market, a local campaign to get visitors from Cornwall back to the islands to form a basis for brand advocacy and started talking to high profile journalists for the upcoming season. With some quick wins pocketed attention was turned to branding, with a new brand essence defined and rigorously applied to photoshoots, an award-winning exhibition and a re-styled flagship brochure. A PR campaign followed focusing on the story that the islands were very much open to visitors and that the journey was all part of the adventure. We generated record numbers of press trips and on-message column inches in titles ranging from the Guardian to the Mail and from Red Magazine to Family Traveller and, rigorously collected valuable data and started the climb on the social media ladder. In 2014 we launched an all-new award winning Isles of Scilly website.
Some headline metrics form our work with the Isles of Scilly include:
– 46% growth in web traffic.
– 0-35K emails collected in 12 months.
– 40k brochures distributed 65% increase from previous years.
– 20% increase in day trip visitors.
– 4.6% increase in visitor number over all – the first increase in 10 years!