Project: MyRoadTripUSA

Client: Capital Region USA

Date: January 2008

Task: To stimulate interest among consumers for the scenic byways in Virginia and Maryland.

Implementation: A microsite, MyRoadTripUSA.co.uk enabled users to create their perfect road trip in the region; users selected their touring preferences and the site recommended a tailor made road trip.  Campaign conducted in partnership with Hertz and North America Travel Service.

Results: The campaign achieved a return on investment of 42 to 1, with coverage valued at over $1.6 million.  2250 database opt-ins and 12.425 unique visitors were generated, and a 28% uplift in bookings to the region was reported by North America Travel Service.

For CRUSA, we took the online route

In 2007 KBC was tasked by Capital Region USA (CRUSA) with creating awareness to stimulate interest in consumers for the scenic byways travel experiences in Virginia and Maryland.  We advised the creation of a fun-to-use microsite which would generate press coverage in its own right, as well as provide a direct route to consumers for the destination and its partners.

Consequently MyRoadTripUSA.co.uk was launched in January 2008 to enable users to create their perfect road trip in the region: users select their touring preferences and the site recommends a road trip tailored to those choices, such as scenery, history & culture or outdoor activity.  The site also includes information on the nine designated Scenic Byways in the region.

A £5,000 holiday prize was sourced from North America Travel Services to create additional interest and provide a hook for news media.  Hertz was secured as site sponsor, providing a route to consumers via their database, as well as additional funds.

The seed email was sent to 186,500 consumers and a five month advertising and editorial campaign developed with specialist consumer magazine Motoring & Leisure to promote the site and subject matter.  Online support was also put in place using adwords, SEO and PPC.

Results of the campaign were well in excess of expectations, achieving a return on investment of 42 to 1, with coverage valued at over £1 million.  2250 database opt-ins were generated (target 2000), 448 Byways packs were requested along with 311 downloads (target 500), with 6,330 competition entries, 14,564 site visits, 12,425 site visitors, 64,635 page view and 53,889 unique views.  Additionally, North America Travel Services reported a 28% growth in bookings to the Region during the first 10 months of the campaign.

This project was so successful that we have conceived and developed a second microsite, this time focusing on the gardens, national and state parks, wineries and farmers’ markets in the CRUSA region and using the endorsement of UK gardening guru, Monty Don, to generate additional press coverage.  We also teamed with the UK’s National Gardens Scheme to reach an affinity group of consumers known to be interested in gardens and have used gardening media, as much as travel journalists, to promote the site and the CRUSA destination.  A group press trip has just taken place visiting some of the parks and gardens mentioned on the site, to complete the circle.

MyCapitalGardensUSA was launched just a few months ago and has already achieved it targets in terms of site hits, competition entries, download requests and press coverage.

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