ABTA hails success of ad campaign
ABTA claimed today that its latest multi-channel advertising campaign, Travel with Confidence, had built awareness of Association and increased traffic to its website.
The campaign, which ran from December 28 and throughout January, emphasised the benefits of booking with an ABTA member and explained the support they could expect to receive from the Association.
Despite ‘a relatively modest spend’ on the campaign, said ABTA, traffic to ABTA.com’s ‘Find a Member’ page was up 56% year on year. A spokeswoman said ABTA would not reveal the actual cost of the campaign, but she said it was the most ABTA had spent on a single advertising spree in recent years.
The adverts appeared in national titles throughout the January and early February peak holiday booking period. Radio advertisements using the new strapline also ran for four days on Heart FM as part of ABTA’s Earlybird campaign at the end of January.
These were heard 5.4 million times, said ABTA.
The Earlybird campaign was supported by pay per click advertisements on Twitter, Facebook and Google which were seen by hundreds of thousands of consumers. ABTA also reached 10,000 followers on its Twitter account @ABTAtravel.
As well as the advertising campaign, ABTA has undertaken SEO projects to boost traffic to ABTA.com and introduced a responsive homepage, supporting consumers who seek to verify ABTA membership or find out more about ABTA.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "We are delighted with the success of the campaign and will continue to promote the ‘Travel with confidence’ messaging throughout the year, to add value to the ABTA brand.
"It is very encouraging that many people say they will take action after seeing the advertisements and this highlights the value to members of displaying the ABTA logo.
"We are also pleased to see that ABTA members have really adopted the new strapline and are displaying it in store, on websites and in advertising campaigns; this is a very exciting time for the ABTA brand."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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