Welcome to our Neighbourhood

Attracting new visitors to Bluestone National Park Resort.

5 children posing in beautiful grounds

Challenge

Ask a parent in Wales if they’ve stayed at Bluestone, and you’ll be surprised if they say no. And even if they do, they’ll know a family who has. But in England, you may not hear the same.

The market is dominated by Center Parcs and Haven. Brands with more awareness, resorts, and marketing budget.

With the launch of Bluestone’s new Platinum Lodges in 2023, the park’s capacity and potential revenue increased. That’s why we were tasked with increasing the number of bookings by families within a 2-to-4-hour drive of Pembrokeshire to fulfil this potential.

Solution

Bluestone has more than the 100 family friendly activities on resort. It has mountains, castles, rivers, coasts, and islands at its doorstep. Unlike other family resorts who want you to spend your entire holiday on-site, Bluestone embraces everything that Pembrokeshire has to offer. So we made this the focus of our campaign, we welcomed visitors to “Our Neighbourhood”, but this neighbourhood is the entirety of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

 

Using an integrated approach, the paid media campaign included a full media mix of TV/VOD, Audio, Social, Online Display and Google Search. Launching the campaign on Boxing Day, the campaign used broadcast channels to drive awareness and incremental reach and tactical strategies using a combination of prospecting and retargeting to drive consideration and bookings.

Strategic PR activity also bolstered the campaign. We launched a UK-wide survey to uncover the impact neighbourhoods have on mental health and wellbeing, providing us with newsworthy data to share with national media across the country. Top tier journalists were invited to review ‘Our Neighbourhood’ – and we’re continuing to host hero press and their families at the resort to share their experiences.

 

collage of campaign look and feel including photography, brand assets and digital banners.

Holidays aren’t an impulse purchase. They taking planning, comparing and deliberation before a booking is made. That’s why we created a suite of bespoke re-targeting assets for visitors to the Bluestone website, who hadn’t made their booking quite yet.

Results

  • 44% increase in revenue YoY
  • +11% vs target campaign revenue
  • 23% increase in bookings by holidaymakers between a 2-4 hour drive of Pembrokeshire
  • 8.4% increase in new website users
  • 25 PR hits, generating over 4 million opportunities to see.
  • Top tier writers from Hello! Magazine, MailOnline, Stylist, and The Telegraph accepted our invitation to visit and review ‘Our Neighbourhood’.

Testimonial

“In 2024, we needed to build our brand quickly in new areas to achieve our commercial objectives. We originally approached Golley Slater to create a new TVC advertisement, but their strategic guidance led us to the creation of a new integrated campaign.

‘Welcome to our Neighbourhood’ encapsulates what it’s like to spend a family holiday at Bluestone from the perspective of our most important guests – children! We’re really happy with the campaign, and the results Golley Slater have achieved.”

Beth Rees
Head of Marketing