[JUDGING] Shannon Airport
Section: Social Media Strategy: Brand
Organisation Name: Shannon Airport
General Strategy Questions
Name Of Brand Client
Shannon Airport
Name Of Brand Client Copy
Yes
Personpeople Who Led This Campaign
Hannah Kelleher, Isabella Montanelli and Giulia Brotto
Do You Use Alt Text In Your Images And Caption Your Videos
No
What Objective For Campaign
The campaign's primary objective was to unlock significant national growth for Shannon Airport beyond its traditional 90-minute catchment, targeting 2.4 million passengers by 2026. This involved challenging deeply embedded regional thinking, repositioning Shannon as a credible and convenient national choice, and transforming perception into action.
The goal was to consistently communicate the airport's ease and accessibility at scale through a clear, distinctive digital identity, driving substantial passenger increases, particularly from non-traditional counties. Ultimately, it aimed to redefine what growth looks like for Shannon Airport and fundamentally change travel behavior by making a strong national digital statement that highlighted real convenience, value, and accessibility.
Outline Your Strategy For This Campaign
The strategy aimed to grow Shannon Airport's audience nationally while maintaining strong local connections. It was built on three core pillars:
Extended Digital Geography: Digital media targeting was expanded to 18 counties beyond the traditional catchment, leveraging precise geo-targeting and audience segmentation to reach new travelers.
Distinctive Brand Identity: Facing low consideration, Shannon Airport created two robin characters, transforming functional benefits (parking, security, convenience) into memorable storytelling. A new brand platform launched these robin birds as central, emotionally engaging assets. Integrated across all channels, they showcased the airport's unique selling points (fast security, easy parking), conveying ease and charm.
Multi-Channel Digital Approach: Robin assets deployed across high-reach digital channels: display, digital audio, always-on social (Meta, TikTok), search, programmatic, YouTube, Skyscanner. Tailored content cut-downs and retargeting were used. Digital efforts complemented AdSmart for targeted TV and traditional media for mass awareness. Execution shifted from seasonal bursts to extended, year-round phases, integrating CAPI for enhanced social targeting/performance, effectively shifting perceptions and driving growth.
What Were The Outcomes For This Campaign Metrics Next Question
The campaign delivered exceptional, measurable digital impact, surpassing business and brand objectives and redefining growth for Shannon Airport. It successfully transformed perception into action, driving significant passenger increases, particularly from non-traditional counties, proving national digital repositioning changed behavior at scale.
The multi-faceted digital strategy achieved outstanding results across every platform, ensuring comprehensive reach and conversion. Commercially, the airport saw substantial passenger growth, increased car parking transactions, and significant visitor and revenue growth. Digital performance proved transformative, especially with a surge in search revenue despite budget reductions, highlighting efficient targeting.
Brand awareness and perception improved significantly, including a strong increase in Ad Recall, dominant online visibility, and a notable rise in first-choice consideration. Brand engagement and sentiment also strengthened, with key differentiators like "ease through security," "parking convenient," and "friendly staff" showing positive shifts. This reinforced Shannon’s core strengths and emotional appeal, proving the campaign successfully reinforced its differentiator of making air travel easier.
What Are Your Metrics For This Campaign Real Metrics Please
The campaign delivered exceptional, measurable digital impact, redefining growth for Shannon Airport by transforming perception into action. It surpassed business and brand objectives, driving an 11% YoY passenger increase in Q1, with strongest growth beyond the traditional catchment.
Digitally, our multi-faceted strategy achieved outstanding results: YouTube saw 2.8M impressions with a 60% VTR, Meta delivered 3.1M awareness impressions culminating in almost 10,000 car park bookings, and TikTok generated 10M impressions plus 19,000 landing page views. Search was a direct revenue driver with 107,000 conversions and a 12% uplift in new users.
Commercially, H1 passengers grew 12% YoY to 1.17M. Car parking revenue surged +30% and search revenue +67% YoY (despite an 8% budget reduction), with conversions from newly targeted counties increasing by 30%. Average purchase revenue per user grew +23%.
Brand awareness and perception significantly improved: a 6+ percentage point increase in Ad Recall, 71% online visibility, and first-choice consideration rising from 52% to 59%. Sentiment also strengthened across key differentiators: "parking convenient" increased from 53% to 59%, "friendly staff" from 36% to 45%, and "enjoyable airport experience" from 45% to 51%, reinforcing Shannon’s core strengths and emotional appeal.
Is There Anything Else You Want To Add Be Brief
By expanding beyond its traditional catchment and building a distinctive national brand presence, Shannon Airport demonstrated that digital channels can fundamentally change airport choice behaviour.
Shannon didn’t just grow; it redefined its role, leveraging a distinctive brand identity and a robust digital strategy to prove that a regional airport can win comprehensively on a national digital stage, significantly boosting brand awareness, perception, and engagement.
Ultimately, this holistic approach, rooted in deep insight and executed with strategic precision, stands as a benchmark for effective brand strategy, proving its unparalleled ability to transform a brand's market position and drive exceptional commercial outcomes.