Case Study: Southern Delaware Tourism

Below is the first in a series of case studies that we wanted to share with those of you who read our blog. We think it’s a great opportunity to share examples of our work and capabilities. The case study below, for our client Southern Delaware Tourism, showcases our online media capabilities, specifically paid search campaigns.

An Introduction of the Southern Delaware Culinary Coast

Client: Southern Delaware Tourism (SDT)

Situation
From July 15 through August 31, 2009, SDT asked AB&C to promote its Culinary Coast concept, touting its collection of restaurants and tourism destinations. Of the total media budget, 30% was earmarked for web media.

Strategy
Our first concern was awareness. Faced with limited resources and a sharp decline in recreational travel, we developed a targeted audience-focused solution. The audiences selected were foodies, the LGBT community, beer and wine fans and the staycation set. Our second concern was buy-in from local businesses, with the intention of co-branding the advertising for the 2010 summer season.

Execution
AB&C managed a paid search campaign utilizing keywords focused around the travel concerns of our specific target audiences, layering on direct buys with The Washington Blade (LGBT), Food Network (foodies & beer and wine fans) and The Washington Post travel section (staycation). We also targeted the ads to appear only to an audience within 150 miles of southern Delaware, close enough to make a weekend out of their trip.Concerning future co-branding, we constructed the plan with enough flexibility to easily incorporate a larger media buy and additional audience segments.

Results
Using these targeting methods allowed us to stretch our limited resources to have a bigger splash with our select audiences. During the campaign, 88% of all visits came courtesy of the web media campaign. 30% of the media resulted in 88% of the traffic.