The Sapphire Coast campaign targeted travellers from Sydney, Southern NSW and the ACT across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and digital advertising in News Corp’s Escape magazine. The objective of the campaign was to increase appeal and consideration of the Sapphire Coast among 25 to 44-year-olds by encouraging the audience to travel to the region to experience natural beauty without the crowds.
Research conducted by Destination NSW into the effectiveness of the campaign, showed it was highly successful in meeting its core objectives, with both appeal (40 per cent) and consideration of a trip to the Sapphire Coast (38 per cent) increasing significantly with people who saw the campaign, versus those who had not.
In addition, 74 per cent of those who saw the campaign went on to take action, including 18 per cent visiting a website about the Sapphire Coast for further information; 17 per cent deciding to expand their itinerary with additional Sapphire Coast locations; 13 per cent speaking to family and or friends about going to the Sapphire Coast for a holiday or short break; 12 per cent extending their length of stay by a night or more; and eight per cent booking a new trip to the Sapphire Coast during the campaign period.
The campaign delivered over 12.9 million impressions via paid media with over 4.5 million completed views on YouTube.
The Sapphire Coast pages on VisitNSW received 46,300 visits and generated 7600 leads to operators in Sapphire Coast during the campaign period. This was a 36.5 per cent increase in traffic during the campaign period compared to the previous period.
Destination NSW, in consultation with Sapphire Coast Destination Marketing, delivered a successful Feel New marketing campaign for the region.