Leisure company, Dometic and its Follow The Sun 2014 campaign reached 9.15 million people and attracted $1.66 million worth of news coverage in just 10 months.
As part of the campaign, three chosen couples or families embarked on three separate journeys, hosting happy hours across the country to promote domestic travel around Australia.
The Follow The Sun campaign ended last week at the Gold Coast, concluding the campaign which was staged across TV, print, radio and social media platforms.
Staged for the first time in 2010, the Follow The Sun 2014 campaign made a big comeback this year – with a strong social media push – to attract a record 8,000 entries.
As part of the campaign, three lucky couples were chosen as Follow The Sun ambassadors, receiving $35,000 each in prizes including a luxury makeover of their caravans with Dometic and WAECO branded products and an expenses paid, three-month road trip around Australia.
Dometic marketing manager Natalie King said: “In 2007 the WAECO brand was acquired by the Dometic GROUP. Our marketing efforts started to combine the two brands under one umbrella in 2009 and we wanted to stage a promotion that would further unify the brands and reinforce Dometic’s position as market leader in the leisure products industry.
“I think more people are catching on to the dream of travelling and our marketing and PR has been more effective this time round. Our PR team achieved more coverage in the early stage of the campaign, right after the launch, and word spread a lot further this time. There was greater exposure, with a bigger reach, which was supported in a major way through the utilisation of social media, which has grown immensely since then.”
“This time around, it’s still very much an exercise to raise brand awareness, reinforcing our position as industry leader, while also giving us the opportunity to market to the end user who is living and breathing the lifestyle our products provide. Through constant feedback from our Follow The Sun ambassadors, we get to hear from them on an almost daily basis from caravan parks all over Australia. Customer feedback forms a big part of our R&D in how we develop our product. It helps us to understand any issues that are out there, any needs our customers have,and how we can answer those needs.”
Domestic is expecting a positive flow on effect following the conclusion of the campaign.
“It’s always the end goal. Of course that would be nice. And whilst a certain spike is anticipated initially, we expect the flow on effect of such a big branding exercise to last over the next few years, with more people choosing Dometic and WAECO branded products,” King concluded.
