JETWING HOTELS: THE ISLAND INSIDER

To create a best-in-class digital magazine site for Jetwing Hotels and build a definitive destination for travel stories on Sri Lanka. To explore, refine and share the brand’s own stories, weaving these with outstanding, insightful, inspiring, keyword-researched and data-driven travel content on the country. To own and share the island’s stories, uniting UK and English-speaking international travellers with the brand via honest, value-first content to boost reach, engagement and drive bookings.

We designed and created the digital magazine The Island Insider, developing a full story-led content marketing strategy and 18 pieces of bespoke Sri Lankan travel content, including 3,000-word features, thousands of images and bespoke films. Crafted using a mix of journalistic expertise, research analytics and technical data via our awesome team of award-winning filmmakers, travel writers and bestselling authors, the stories unpacked the island and the brand, revealing the real experience of travelling in Sri Lanka and quickly becoming a trusted authority on visiting Sri Lanka.

From filming blue whales in the Indian Ocean to a mind-blowing train journey into Hill Country, the stories were search-optimised, image-enriched and seriously shareable. Thematically diverse, they covered wildlife spectacles, provided new takes on popular destinations, traced new routes & journeys and lifted the lid on the country’s range of incredible food & drink, including recipes and ‘How To’ films from the hotels’ chefs.

The site and stories launched with a powerful digital campaign that delivered extraordinary results: a reach of 2+ million in the first month; 500,000+ video plays and massive authentic engagement and sharing. The sense of trust, authority, community and audience interaction has provided a new way for the brand to engage with travellers and core dialogue between the hotels and potential guests. Boosting search rankings, visibility and engagement, the campaign has exceeded all KPIs, with The Island Insider films now ranking No.1 on YouTube for key search terms. Engagement has exceeded 45+ million across the campaign and the project has not only brought the country to life and driven bookings, but positioned the brand as a definitive publisher of Sri Lankan stories transforming Jetwing into a global digital gateway to the island.

In 2018, the site won “Best Travel Website in the World” at the prestigious Travel Marketing Awards, with the head of Google Travel praising it as a “stunning and visionary example of hotel marketing and digital storytelling.”