An Introduction
In recent years, local tourism businesses have encountered significant challenges. Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority of Ireland, recognised the importance of supporting these businesses, which play a crucial role in our communities. And with this in mind, they embarked on a mission to provide meaningful support.
The primary goal of the campaign was to support local tourism businesses across the nation, with a particular emphasis on paid activities and attractions. The aim was to stimulate business growth and revenue for domestic paid-for attractions and activities while promoting the concept of daycations.
Enter IRS+ and our local radio heroes with a game-changing solution that changed how Fáilte Ireland supported the local businesses.
The Project
At IRS+, we understand that inspiration can strike at the most unexpected moments, like a sudden epiphany in the shower. But it can also abandon us when we need it most and leave us struggling to come up with enjoyable daycation ideas for the weekends or holidays.
Recognising the value of directly engaging people’s thoughts, we decided to offer “Daycation Inspiration” to radio listeners nationwide as a solution to this common challenge.
After all, at IRS+, we’re present everywhere, and our local radio DJs possess invaluable local knowledge.
The Innovative Approach
Our approach was to turn to our local listeners and ask them about their favorite daycation activities, including places to visit, fun activities, and unique experiences. Through a week-long promotional effort, we gathered insights into the most beloved attractions within a 60 to 90-minute travel radius of each station’s county or listenership area.
Subsequently, we transformed these submissions into concise, 60-second editorial-style advertisements. These ads, delivered in the trusted voice of each station’s local DJ, served as a regular source of fresh “Daycation Inspiration” in the lead-up to the weekend.
Fun fact: Our experiment on the impact of local accents revealed that people engage up to 8% more with messages delivered in a local accent compared to a national one. You can read more about it here.
The Impressive Outcomes
By crowdsourcing daycation activities and ideas, we were able to generate authentic and locally relevant suggestions for a broad listenership.
Condensing these ideas into 60-second placements allowed us to offer a wide variety of activities, ensuring that as much “Daycation Inspiration” as possible reached our audience.
We provided five placements per station, covering both the surrounding area of the station and the listeners’ home counties.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
Engagement:
Campaign delivery:
| 15 stations | 1 x Weeklong promotion |
| Weekly Reach | 1,286 |
| Target Population % | 28% |
| GRP’s | 252 |
| Audience | 795 |
| Gross Impacts | 7,287 |
| Average Frequency | 9.2 |
| 15 stations | 6 spots per week x 1 week |
| Weekly Reach | 1,286 |
| Target Population % | 20% |
| GRP’s | 41 |
| Audience | 581 |
| Gross Impacts | 1,184 |
| Average Frequency | 2.0 |
| 15 stations | 6 spots per week x 7 weeks |
| Weekly Reach | 1,286 |
| Target Population % | 23% |
| GRP’s | 300 |
| Audience | 669 |
| Gross Impacts | 8,645 |
| Average Frequency | 12.9 |
