How a rich content partnership with News UK helped Virgin Holidays to encourage consideration and recommendation across a broad range of holiday destinations.

1.
NewsWorks
Planning
Awards
–
Best
Use
of
Content
–
Virgin
Holidays
and
News
UK
Partnership
Executive Summary
Print
has
always
formed
an
important
part
of
Virgin
holidays
marketing,
but
with
the
launch
of
their
new
mojo
creative
in
May
2013
we
embarked
on
a
partnership
with
News
UK
which
really
challenged
how
a
news
brand
can
use
their
platforms
to
produce
content
for
a
brand.
It
has
demonstrated
the
impact
a
multi-­‐platform
approach
can
have
on
the
consumer
and
has
created
a
wealth
of
content
for
Virgin
Holidays,
which
they're
using
to
amplify
the
partnership
even
further.
Background and objectives
In
early
2013
Virgin
Holidays
identified
some
key
business
challenges
to
overcome.
Research
indicated
that
consumers,
while
believing
that
Virgin
holidays
were
strong
in
providing
holidays
to
the
US
and
Caribbean,
didn't
necessarily
appreciate
the
full
breadth
of
holidays
that
they
offered
to
more
eastern
destinations.
They
wanted
consumers
to
consider
them
for
their
full
scope
of
worldwide
destinations.
Alongside
this
they
wanted
to
move
into
more
lifestyle
focused
content.
Consumer
behaviours
are
changing
so
they
don't
necessarily
need
brochures
with
lots
of
prices
and
offers.
Instead
Virgin
Holidays
wanted
to
be
able
to
really
inspire
consumers,
but
they
didn't
necessarily
have
the
content
to
provide
this
on
their
own.
Insight and strategy
Virgin
Holidays
new
Mojo
branding
and
creative
provided
an
excellent
platform
to
work
from.
The
idea
behind
the
campaign
is
that
Mojo
is
something
which
is
inside
everyone
-­‐
it's
your
best
version
of
you,
but
often
it
gets
lost
or
reduced
by
the
drudgery
of
daily
life.
A
Virgin
Holiday
helps
you
to
find
that
best
version
of
you
and
unleash
it
once
again.
All
the
media
around
the
launch
in
May
broadcasted
this
new
brand
position;
our
task
was
to
get
people
engaging
with
the
concept
of
Mojo,
as
well
as
demonstrating
the
full
breadth
of
destinations
which
V
Hols
offers
and
providing
credible
content
to
use
in
Virgin's
own
marketing.
This
need
for
content
is
what
drove
us
to
a
print
based
solution;
Virgin
wanted
to
be
able
to
use
the
content
in
their
brochures/
lifestyle
magazine
so
content
needed
to
be
credible
and
from
established
travel
experts.
Equally
as
we
wanted
to
shift
brand
perception,
regular
dialogue
with
our
different
target
audiences
was
vital.
The
Times
and
Sunday
Times
were
able
to
deliver
the
reach
and
range
of
audiences,
as
well
as
authoritative
travel
editorial;
a
long
term
content
partnership
with
News
UK
was
the
ideal
solution.
We
worked
incredibly
closely
with
New
UK
to
create
a
solution
which
answered
all
our
objectives.
At
the
centre
of
the
strategy
was
the
insight
that
readers
can
remember
that
feeling
of
their
best
self
via
photos
of
that
time
-­‐
specifically
their
holiday
snaps.
If
we
could
get
readers
to
dig
through
old
holiday
photos
it
could
revive
that
feeling
of
Mojo
and
make
them
want
to
rekindle
this
through
a
Virgin
Holiday.
Combining
this
with
an
on-­‐going
feature
in
Times
Mag
and
Sunday
Times
Mag
we
would
help
readers
identify
their
different
types
of
Mojo
and
give
them
inspiration
on
a
range
of
different
places
they
could
go
to
get
it
back.

2. The plan
The
photo
competition
is
at
the
heart
of
the
plan.
Each
week
we
ask
readers
to
"show
us
your
#holidaymojo"
by
uploading
photos
via
Instagram
and
each
month
the
best
are
featured
in
print
with
the
chance
to
win
1
of
4
incredible
luxury
holidays.
Virgin
hosts
the
competition
so
they
can
promote
it
socially,
and
use
any
content
uploaded
across
their
different
digital
channels
For
the
print
element,
it
was
important
not
to
produce
standard
city
guides;
instead
we
based
each
feature
around
different
kinds
of
mojo
that
may
live
inside
our
audiences,
be
that
the
self-­‐indulgent
mojo,
the
high
octane
mojo,
the
intrepid
mojo
or
the
laid-­‐back
mojo
and
show
how
and
where
readers
can
unleash
these
different
mojos.
Each
feature
has
the
same
look
and
feel
so
readers
can
identify
it
each
week
but
they
tap
into
a
broad
range
of
holiday
motivations
which
suit
our
different
audiences,
Because
such
a
big
part
of
this
partnership
is
the
content
sharing,
it
was
important
that
digital
platforms
were
very
much
integrated
from
the
beginning
and
tablet
played
a
big
part
here.
All
our
features
were
transposed
onto
the
Times
app
and
displayed
to
the
user
as
an
individual
magazine
so
they
look
even
more
like
they're
part
of
the
editorial
content.
We
then
made
this
platform
work
even
harder
by
adding
extra
content
here:
additional
photo
galleries,
blogs
from
Virgin
Holiday
experts,
videos
and
extra
offers.
Crucially
we
used
our
tablet
activity
to
close
the
loop
on
the
consumer
journey;
users
are
able
to
tap
straight
from
the
inspiration
of
the
content
to
browse
Virgins
range
of
holidays
and
the
results
have
been
phenomenal
with
engagements
smashing
the
Times'
usual
levels
(2.1
vs
0.4
CTR).
Additionally
users
are
able
to
click
straight
from
the
app
to
upload
their
photos
on
Instagram,
again
encouraging
higher
levels
of
engagement
and
making
the
consumer
journey
easier.
Results
We're
only
half
way
through
the
partnership
but
we've
already
had
really
positive
indications
on
the
success
of
the
campaign.
Against
our
1st
objective
of
producing
credible
travel
content
for
Virgin
Holidays
we've
had
15
destinations
covered,
produced
24
pages
of
content
in
print
and
86
pages
of
content
in
tablet.
We've
also
had
an
astounding
2,042
photos
uploaded,
against
a
benchmark
of
750.
Our
more
difficult
objective
was
to
encourage
consideration
and
recommendation
of
Virgin
Holidays
across
the
broad
range
of
worldwide
destinations
which
Virgin
offer
(not
just
US
and
Caribbean).
To
track
this
we've
commissioned
a
3rd
party,
CoG,
to
measure
the
impact
of
the
campaign
with
2
waves
of
research.
Client view
The
News
UK
Partnership
has
enabled
us
to
showcase
the
breadth
of
our
Worldwide
products
through
so
many
different
platforms
(web,
print,
iPad,
Times+)
and
also
enabled
us
to
gather
great
user
generated
content
through
the
Instagram
Competition.
Sam
Shamplina
–
Virgin
Holidays