How a travel magazine was the missing link in content marketing for holidaycottages.co.uk
We were delighted to be asked to create a magazine for Travel Chapter, the parent company for a growing family of brands that includes UK flagship holidaycottages.co.uk.
The company had come up with the plan of producing a premium inspirational travel magazine to feature in more than 16,000 properties, with the aim of building its holidaycottages.co.uk brand and supporting its “celebrating the UK” brand pillar.
Senior marketing planning manager at Travel Chapter Ruth Cowley-King said: ‘We didn’t want a brochure because we knew people wouldn’t engage with a sales piece. Instead, we wanted the people staying in our holiday cottages to see the magazine on the coffee table, pick it up, flick through and then be inspired to have some amazing adventures across the UK.’
Travel Chapter’s own research showed that people who booked holiday properties via regional companies and online travel agencies weren’t always being exposed to the holidaycottages.co.uk brand.
‘We wanted branding within the property, but in a really sophisticated way,’ says Ruth. ‘We knew that a beautifully produced magazine would reinforce holidaycottages.co.uk as an expert in UK travel.’
‘It’s premium, inspirational, and not salesy. That was really important to us’
Salt created an aspirational 68-page travel and lifestyle magazine, called The Scenic Route, which focuses on the joy of UK exploration and finding off-the-beaten-path places. The magazine reveals some of the UK’s most beautiful and inspirational secret spots, as well as the country’s coolest places for laid-back adventures.
‘We knew our guests were not looking for wild adventures like white water rafting or paragliding,’ said Ruth. ‘Instead, they were more into enjoying gentle exploration and were curious about discovering interesting, cultural and novel experiences. The Salt editorial team nailed it with content themes and tone.’
After receiving a brief from the creative team at Travel Chapter, Salt devised, wrote and designed each of the features, articles and interviews in the magazine and sourced inspiring imagery to illustrate them.
‘We were impressed at how the Salt team managed to pull it out of the bag in such a short timeframe,’ added Ruth. ‘When we initially approached them with the brief, we weren’t sure that would be possible. They really delivered on the concept and the visual direction. It’s premium, inspirational, and not salesy. That was really important to us.
‘Working with Salt has been great, and I had complete peace of mind throughout. The feedback internally has been extremely positive; it’s such a powerful tool – not just in cottages, but for onboarding new owners, events, and sales meetings.’