Travel: Projects Abroad rounds up volunteers

Campaign: Projects Abroad
Client: Projects Abroad
PR team: Ascent PR (Berkeley Communications Group)
Timescale: October 2010-June 2011
Budget: £21,000

Objectives

To make Projects Abroad the company of choice when booking a volunteer or gap year project

To position founder Dr Peter Slowe as an expert commentator.

Strategy and plan

Ascent devised a rapid response programme to provide comment on news stories and debates related to gap year travel and overseas volunteering. National newspapers were targeted with comments, feature ideas, case studies, top tips and independent surveys. Ascent identified 'honey-teering', a trend of couples choosing a volunteer project for their honeymoon.

Measurement and evaluation

More than 200 pieces of press coverage were generated in national print, online and broadcast media including The Daily Telegraph, BBC online, Daily Mail, The Independent, i, The Times, The Guardian and the Daily Express, and in numerous travel magazines.

Results

Relationships were developed with all mainstream travel media. Following a 500-word bylined piece by Dr Slowe in The Telegraph on 6 November 2010, web traffic increased by 80 per cent in that weekend alone.