The perfect partnership to save Scotland

Summary

Fred. Olsen’s Scottish port had been running for almost 10 years, but after suffering from poor sales it was on the brink of closure. To help save this port and make it a long term viable option to continue running cruises from for Fred. Olsen we developed a sponsorship with STV focussing on growing both trust and awareness amongst the Scottish audience.

Over the course of sponsorship, we saw sales increase by over 20% to help achieve their best ever year in terms of number of cruise bookings from Scotland. As a result, Fred. Olsen has since renewed this sponsorship at a larger scale for 2019 and more importantly, helped save the port from closing down!

Challenge

Due to poor sales, Fred. Olsen’s Scotland port was on the verge of closing down. We were tasked with growing sales in Scotland to make this port a long term viable option to continue running cruises from. Alongside this we needed to build trust and grow awareness amongst the 55+ Scottish audience.

Solution

We knew the 55+ audience still consume TV most heavily and therefore, together with STV included TV sponsorship with STV – one of Scotland’s most popular and trustworthy brands – we developed a sponsorship that would build awareness and give us access to the relevant dayparts for Fred. Olsen, across the most important sales period of the year.

Understanding our client’s nervousness around committing long term, we negotiated a 2 month trial period to prove its effectiveness before committing to the remainder of the year.

The sponsorship was supported by a press partnership, as well as biddable and display activity to effectively capture demand.

Results

Following the two month trial, we achieved a 23% increase in passengers booking cruises, beating the target of 10% from the port versus the same period in 2017. Fred. Olsen has since renewed this sponsorship for 2019 at a larger scale having had their “best ever year” in terms of the number of cruise bookings from Scotland, all of which helped to save the Fred. Olsen Scottish port from closing down!

“As soon as our sponsorship on STV launched, we experienced uplift in interest and a challenge turned into a success. In 2018 our Scottish departures were the most successful part of our entire programme and we believe our TV sponsorship was vital in achieving this.”

– Justin Stanton, Fred. Olsen Sales and Marketing Director