Carry on Camping for McCanns

COVENTRY-based The Camping and Caravanning Club has turned to Midlands marcomms agency McCann Erickson to help it implement a new campaign promoting camping.

The ‘New to Camping’ integrated campaign provides a vast range of practical camping information through a variety of channels, to encourage more people to experience camping and enjoy the great outdoors.

The campaign was also endorsed by Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury, who attended a two-day event at Warwick Castle entitled ‘Ask the Expert’. This event saw retailers, manufacturers and dealers offering advice to help people get started.

Club President David Bellamy, together with club, agency staff and members of the media camped overnight to sample life in the great outdoors.

As part of the campaign new promotional materials were launched including a ‘New to Camping’ booklet and a comprehensive, easy to navigate website was also developed. Traditional advertising and advertorials ran across national newspapers and broadcast media.

Extending the campaign reach further, the McCann PR team negotiated a week-long camping promotion with GMTV, featuring celebrity interior designer Anna Ryder-Richardson.

Tony Holmes, Group Account Director at McCann Erickson, said: “The early results of the campaign are really encouraging with the number of families camping in June increasing by 130% year-on-year.

“Not only that, the website has been a huge hit, with a 26% increase in traffic and the number of unique visitors to the ‘New to Camping’ section rising by 132%.”

Jon Dale, the club’s PR Manager, said: “We are delighted with the early results of the campaign which are the best for many years and are confident the campaign will increase momentum over the rest of the summer. I really hope that the people new to camping this year enjoy the experience and plan to return in 2011.”