“95% IMPROVEMENT IN THE CAMPAIGN RESPONSE AFTER 3 MONTHS ON TV”
With a wealth of amazing adventure holidays on offer, Explore helps create truly unforgettable trips and experiences. Providing a way to see countries in a more authentic way, in small groups with access to local tour leaders with over 400 worldwide adventures. Explore engaged with FOTW to create their first-ever TV campaign. It needed to have an attention-grabbing narrative to push those considering their next adventure in the right direction.
Services
- Creative
- Storyboarding
- Copy / Scripting
- Live Action Production
- Pre & Post Production
- CGI Animation / Asset Creation
- Clearcast Management & Delivery
Deliverables
Connecting Audiences to the World of Explore
Explore challenged FOTW to create a bold, standout TV ad that builds brand awareness, driving traffic to its website and educating audiences on all that it has to offer. With this is mind we wanted to create an impactful piece that would emotively engage with the viewer to seize the moment and book trips to the places they’ve always dreamt of visiting.
A Surprising Send Off
Our creative cleverly frames Explore holidays as something fun, fresh and exciting, before reminding us that – despite their adventurous nature – these trips are tailored for the 40+ age market. In a buzz of excitement, we see a mother preparing to send her daughter off on her trip.
Whilst saying their goodbyes and running through the range of exciting things lined up on the trip ahead, product messages land, reinforcing the range of activities, before playfully flipping the narrative – To the viewers surprise we reveal it’s actually the mother who is embarking on the once in a lifetime journey as the daughter waves her off! In doing this we take a light-hearted and humorous approach to showcase the variety of Explore’s offerings, whilst also underpinning the inclusivity of all age ranges.
“Being on TV has created a real buzz on the phones, and has certainly contributed to the increase in new customers”
Jae Hopkins, Marketing Director, Explore Worldwide
Luggage, Camera, Action!
Once our storyboard had been approved by Explore it was time to shoot. Working with our production partner Paragon Pictures we had a very short amount of time to lock down cast & locations as the advert needed to air in a matter of weeks to hit this season’s holidaymakers.
The day of filming turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year! Which was tough going as 90% of the advert was external, although better than it raining. We also had our fair share of challenges recording sync sound in London with tree surgeons, police sirens, delivery drivers, helicopters, lawnmowers, barking dogs, and screaming school kids making a noisy appearance every time we called action! Despite these challenges, the day ran smoothly and we were able to capture everything as planned.
Steps Towards Sustainability
It was very important to everyone involved that the whole process was eco-friendly and that conscious choices were made toward a more sustainable project experience.
FOTW worked with Paragon Pictures to make sure anything bought for the shoot had a limited effect on the environment. Together we provided reusable and eco-friendly coffee cups and water bottles. The food arrived in re-usable tubs that were sent back, all snacks were in cardboard wrappings, and anything not used was taken back to the staff at Paragon/ FOTW HQ to ensure no waste. All cast wore their own clothes meaning no wasteful wardrobes. Limited props were purchased, as well as supplied from our own homes to fill the scenes. Cast and crew were encouraged to use public transport or to car share where possible.
This eco way of working continued into post-production. For the grade everything was sent digitally, meaning no drives were couriered. The sound mix was all done by our trusted partner in his home studio, plus we used a local audio house close to the talent for the VO record whilst the rest of those involved joined virtually. These steps made sure that we were able to achieve an efficient and environmentally positive experience.
Bringing It All Together
Although the advert was mostly captured in camera, reliant on great performances from the cast, the project really came to life in post-production. As editing, grading and SFX pulled everything together to make the final ad that we and most importantly, the client, were really happy with. Along with the 30” TVC, we also created digital versions by efficiently using the footage and assets we created for the TV ad. This helped to push the reach of audiences and increase brand recognition, further propelling everything Explore has to offer.
For this creative we had 1 master ad with 3 different outputs, each with a different Call To Action (CTA). We ran 3 variants of the CTA to help measure the effectiveness of each message we were calling out. Each CTA followed similar design, but differed in its info. CTA A contained Explore’s slogan ‘Once-in-a-lifetime. Every day’ alongside the Feefo Gold Trusted Service Award logo. CTA B displayed a ‘£75 off next trip’ offer as well as the explore website url. CTA C had a ‘sign up at explore.co.uk’ message. After 4 weeks of being on air, we were able to analyse which performed better and chose which to go forward with. This ensured we were efficiently using the most impactful CTA lockup.
The whole journey with the client from brief to delivery felt extremely collaborative, supportive, and flowed seamlessly. With the travel industry opening up again, this was a wonderful project for us to work on. We loved bringing to life a clear idea with a playful sense of adventure and discovery. Filming on location was handled brilliantly by the team, overcoming a multitude of hidden challenges. With huge thanks to Paragon Pictures and our lovely clients at Explore, we’ve created a joyous piece of work that really stands out and instils adventure!
