azores

Nestled in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between Europe and North America, is the Azores: an archipelago of nine idyllic islands. Think stunning scenery, exotic flora and fauna, raw, rustic landscapes, dreamy lagoons…and you're on the right tracks. In short? A nature-lover's paradise, less than four hours flight from the UK.

the brief Orchestra was approached by The Azores Tourist Office to create a campaign that would help increase awareness and ultimately, visitor numbers. On the one hand, this necessitated reaching out to new prospects – educating them about a relatively low-profile destination, getting them excited – whilst on the other, it meant improving retention amongst existing customers and altering their perceptions that the Azores is just a 'one-off' destination.

To help convey the essence of the Azores to the target audiences, we developed a creative concept based on stunning photography, evocative narrative, and the pivotal strapline, 'Explore the Azores'.

The campaign kicked off with a series of teaser adverts in regional press and online, to raise awareness of the overall Azorean experience. A second phase of advertising was then launched, with different executions focusing on the specific interests of different target audiences; we promoted the fantastic diving to divers, the wonderful walks to walkers, the beautiful scenery to nature-lovers – and that's just for starters.

'Explore the Azores' ran nationally, across a variety of high-reaching broadcast and national media including radio, TV and national newspapers. It was led by broadcast media, chiefly Classic FM and the Travel Channel, and was supported by broadsheet newspapers and relevant special interest magazines (Country Walking, BBC Wildlife, Dive magazine, Geographical, BBC Gardens Illustrated, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Birdwatcing magazine, Adventure Travel).

The campaign was managed entirely in-house, from creative through to production – and of course, media planning and buying.

'Explore the Azores' proved a great success; following the activity an immediate increase in bookings was reported. In addition to the reach generated by press activity, the radio campaign reached around 558,010 consumers in the first burst and 523,570 in the second, whilst TV achieved a total of 1.5172 TVR's and 210,875.63 impacts. Our peers in the industry also loved the work, with Campaign Magazine declaring it among the Top Ten Regional Ads of 2008. Not bad eh?