From hard sales
to heart sales

1. Market situation

Never waste a good crisis

In 2023 the travel market found itself on the crossroads of two crises: the end of the Covid pandemic and the beginning of a war-driven economic crisis.The industry was among the hardest-hit sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic. Travel enthusiasts experienced frequent cancellations and soaring prices. Trust in travel faded, the appetite for adventure unanswered.

As of 2022, the economy had begun to show signs of recovery, reigniting interest in travel. Yes, it was the year of regained freedom and 'revenge holidays', but this uptake in travel was still largely sponsored by the exchange of numerous vouchers dating from the Covid-19 crisis. 2023 however would bring a more serious test for the industry. The freshly renewed travel enthusiasm was unexpectedly quickly dampended by a new war, a subsequent energy crisis, and inflation.

The temptation to keep competing (even more) on price might have seemed compelling for a travel operator, and most did so. However, Sunweb recognized that such a strategy would be nothing but a falsely safe bet and not prove sustainable in the long run.

As a market challenger, Sunweb operates with a digital-first business model and blends best of both worlds between 'classic tour operators' and 'online travel agencies'. Operating without bricks-and-mortar sales outlets however has the consequence that Sunweb is physically less visible. Hence a brand like Sunweb understands the need to establish a deeper connection with the customer, instead of building on short-term USP's that are easy to copy.

2. Objectives

The objectives for Sunweb were twofold: gain more share of heart and drive more bookings.

1. Marketing activation indicators: Stronger bonding
   Sunweb wanted the new campaign to lead to increases in emotional-related parameters like consideration/preference, fanship and identification. They pave the way to intent of interaction and are responsible for the beginning of Sunweb's marketing & sales funnel.
   
   
2. Business indicators: Better sales
   The Sunweb campaign was not only launched to capture more share of heart. Eventually Sunweb wanted the campaign to lead to significantly more website traffic and conversion to bookings. They are the closing elements of the sales funnel.

3. Strategy

Less deals, more feels

Traditionally, travel marketers responded to crises by a presumably safe bet; by reverting to tried-and-tested methods of attracting customers quickly - primarily through aggressive price and discount strategies. In the post-pandemic travel world, where changing consumer expectations offered a window of opportunity to sway away from typical price & destination communications, Sunweb stepped forward to renew its brand position and install a more emotional driven communication campaign than its competitors.

Sunweb recognized that true value in travel transcends mere cost. Despite economic pressures, the intrinsic value of holidays as enriching life experiences remains immeasurable, proving that the essence of a holiday cannot be quantified merely in terms of pricing, or package propositions.

While the urge for adventure and having-a-break moments remains steady, what travellers expect from travel and from operators had evolved. People want more to 'leave everything behind for a moment' and explore new, less beaten paths, longing for some moments of peace and be delighted in blissful nothingness. People no longer wanted to book a holiday, they wanted to experience 'vacation' again in its true meaning, fueled by their personal past memories and future expectations.

Sunweb found its new relevance by helping people to discover and guide them towards enrichment, by focusing on the consumer's personal travel experience more than on the offered travel package itself.

We love Holidays

A holiday begins from the moment you start dreaming of it. And that's what Sunweb wanted to do with its renewed communications campaign, spark people to dream of their individual holiday experience, and then guide them to make those dreams come true.

Sunweb created the 'We love Holiday manifesto', inviting listeners to imagine along what makes holidays meaningful and worthwhile for themselves, accumulating in that blissful a-ha moment of worry-freeness and enrichment, supported by the ultimate holiday tune of all times: Madonna's 'Holiday'.

Radio spots that make you dream

Radio, the 'Theatre of the Mind', has this magical power to spark your imagination and get people daydreaming about their next vacation. The Sunweb radio advertisements are more than airtime & presence tactics - they make you crave to pack your bags. Our radio campaign was supported with online display and video ads to encourage action, to visit the website and explore our holiday offering.

4. Results

Our communication investments directly paid off in notable higher awareness rates, and over the different campaign waves we have increased our overall preference. Sunweb obtained higher than ever emotion-driven marketing activation scores in radio research, organic website traffic growth that outperformed its main competitors and an increase in bookings that was higher than the average market growth.

More emotional bonding…

Over the various research waves, Sunweb has increasing scores and even reached the highest level to date in its campaign history, doing so on the four marketing activation indicators:

Source: Diva until Q1/2024

Sunweb also shows outstanding benchmark performances compared to its competitors, proving that our bold move from hard-selling to heart-selling paid off:

…better business results

Over the challenging year of 2023, Sunweb's renewed campaign efforts created a stronger emotional bond, that has led to a serious increase of both website activity and bookings.

• Direct traffic increased with no less than 22%
• Sales transactions from branded traffic search increased with 8%
• Bookings increased with no less than 12%