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eight&four has used the following skills/services in the project.
We worked with Sandals Resorts to produce a content-rich, multi-channel campaign with dual aims of driving bookings and celebrating the rich culture, heritage, and unique identities of Sandals' Caribbean destinations. We aligned our campaign with Caribbean Heritage Month to compound awareness.
Our challenge with the Caribbean Blues Campaign was not only to promote the celebrate cultural diversity within the Caribbean, but also to position Sandals Resorts as the stand-out Caribbean vacation spot in a crowded, competitive luxury market.
To cut through the noise, we needed to experiment with innovative channels and formats to drive user engagement and create excitement around Sandals and Beaches Resorts, in turn generating conversions. In a marketplace where consumers are saturated with social content, we needed to innovate to develop a tactical, engaging campaign proposal with a distinct look and feel.
Our challenge also came in the form of effectively conveying Sandals' unique connection and deep-rooted links with the Caribbean, building awareness of cultural tradition whilst demonstrating an expert knowledge of each destination.
Consumer research conducted through brand consultancy Studio Aapt has shown that travellers are becoming more and more invested in local culture and tend to seek authentic experiences from travel brands to enhance their cultural understanding of their chosen destination.
From our own experience of running the Sandals social media channels, we consistently see that content which celebrates the unique blues of the Caribbean always performs the strongest.
This campaign aimed to unite these two key insights - simultaneously affirming our Caribbean-born identify and therefore authority within the Caribbean travel space, as well as promoting our destination and encouraging new bookings.
Our strategic approach employed a variety of social-first formats combined with strong CTAs and messaging to drive awareness and bookings. This formed a dual-phase approach across organic and dark channels.
Our campaign content on Twitter and Facebook utilised striking visuals alongside immersive copy featuring the hashtag #Rhythm and Blues to engage prospects, while encouraging sensory nostalgia and a desire to return amongst existing customers.
On Instagram, we implemented a month-long feed takeover, with a campaign-specific visual direction inspired by the extraordinary hues of blue that are bespoke to each Caribbean island. Each feed asset was individually designed using colour swatches to land the campaign visually.
We delivered engagement-focused creative to users on TikTok and Twitter by encouraging them to complete a poll, intended to amplify the audience’s voice and bridge the gap between brand and consumer–something that’s especially important to Sandals as a customer-centric, family-owned business.
On YouTube, we created 5 different bumper ads to further improve brand visibility and awareness. We also experimented with the Meta Advantage Plus Catalogue Ad to pique the interest of potential customers with targeted content. Our Beaches channels emphasised lower-funnel activities, using thumb-stopping content, alluring copy and a clear ‘Book Now’ CTA to generate conversions.
