As one of Gardeners' World's non-core advertisers, Voyages Jules Verne managed to increase both the awareness of its tour destinations and its escorted tour sales with the placement of this advert in the October 2010 issue of the magazine.
Results at a glance
- 50% of Gardeners’ World readers agreed they preferred their holidays to be organised by travel experts
- 52% of readers who recalled the advertisement had responded or planned to respond
- 69% who responded recalled the Voyages Jules Verne advertisement
- 70% of Gardeners’ World readers are planning on taking part in cultural activities on their next holiday
The Challenge
Voyages Jules Verne sought to ensure travellers were aware of their escorted tours with the ultimate aim of driving sales.
The business offers travellers more than 30 years’ experience in organising escorted tours to worldwide destinations of cultural and historic interest.
As part of this campaign to raise awareness of their tours, Voyages Jules Verne placed a display advertisement in the October 2010 issue of Gardeners’ World magazine.
The challenge was to prove that advertising in Gardeners’ World is a lucrative proposition for Voyages Jules Verne as a non-core advertiser in the title.
The Implementation
The tour operator placed a one page display advertisement in the October 2010 issue and was interested in establishing how their campaign was perceived by the magazine’s readers.
Consequently, BBC Magazines conducted research to measure the effectiveness of the display advertisement.
The main objective of the research was to test the clarity of the Voyages Jules Verne campaign messages and to prove the suitability of non-core advertisements for the Gardeners’ World audience.
The survey was sent to 1,322 Gardeners’ World panellists on the BBC Brand Impact Panel to measure how the advertisement was perceived by readers.
Additionally, readers were asked questions about travel with the aim of proving that gardener’s interests extend beyond the garden fence.
The Results
The survey achieved a response rate of 30 per cent, with 401 readers completing the questionnaire.
Over 70% of Gardeners’ World magazine readers are planning on taking part in cultural activities on their next holiday, demonstrating the great fit of the Voyages Jules Verne brand with the Gardeners’ World magazine audience.
Half of the readers that responded agreed that they preferred their holidays to be organised by travel experts, proving the suitability of the Voyages Jules Verne campaign.
The most popular tour featured in the advert was the Land of Ice & Fire tour to Iceland, with 55% of readers who recalled the advert stating that the tour appealed to them.
The tour operator was also ranked top by readers versus competitors for offering travel experiences and tours that capture the history and culture of a destination. This illustrates that the communication takeout of the advertisement was clear.
Over half of the readers who recalled the advertisement had responded or planned to respond, equating to 480,000 readers interacting with the Voyages Jules Verne brand as a result of the campaign.