Ana: JOHN SMITH'S TRAVEL DIARIES

Credits & Description:

Category: Dimensional Mailing

Advertiser: ANA - AIRPORTS OF PORTUGAL

Product/Service: LISBON AIRPORT

Agency: PROXIMITY PORTUGAL

Date of First Appearance: Jun 1 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: PROXIMITY PORTUGAL, Lisbon, PORTUGAL

Creative Director: Nuno Duarte (Proximity)

Creative Supervisor: Marco Barrento (Proximity)

Creative Supervisor: José Castelo (Proximity)

Art Director: Rute Sousa (Proximity)

Copywriter: Pedro Neves (Proximity)

Account Director: Joana Lameirinhas (Proximity)

Account Executive: Denise Chung (Proximity)

Production Manager: Michele Guerra (Proximity)

Media placement: DM - 5 mailings - Main European Airlines - 1 June 2009



Describe the brief/objective of the direct campaign.

To convince airlines currently flying to Lisbon to maintain this route. At a time of economic crisis many companies eliminate routes that are not considered to be a priority, in order to cut costs. Our mission was to reaffirm Lisbon’s importance as a key tourism destination in any airline’s portfolio. This is backed up by statistics: we know that 75% of people who visit Lisbon are repeat visitors, 90% of visitors recommend the city and over 80% state that it exceeded their expectations. Lisbon was also listed by the New York Times as the No. 2 tourism destination in the world.



Explain why the creative execution was relevant to the product or service.

The diaries had to feel genuine. They were therefore handmade, featuring real cuttings and collages. We wrote the texts for each diary and then forwarded them to an illustrator.



Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective with reference to the projected response rates and desired outcome.

Rather than bombarding the target audience with statistics, we wanted to provide hard evidence. We decided to share the experiences of a tourist (John Smith) who visited Lisbon over several years, documented via his travel diaries. Over 4 days, we sent the diaries from his different trips to Lisbon. On the 5th day, we sent a blank diary (to be used by the Route Planner on a trip to Lisbon) and a letter from ANA, saying “Why John Smith keeps coming back to Lisbon”.



Describe the results in as much detail as possible with particular reference to the RESPONSE of the target audience including deliverability statistics, response rates, click throughs, sales cost per response, relationships built and overall return on investment.

The sole objective of the campaign was to make sure that 10 leading airlines continued to serve Lisbon. But it achieved far more. All the Route Planners contacted responded pro-actively and thanked ANA for the diaries. In addition, 5 of them booked trips to Lisbon in order to get to know the city. Until now, no route to Lisbon has been closed.