This summer, the MEERKATs worked with Willows Activity Farm to plan and buy a visitor attraction advertising campaign designed to reach families across the local area.
Willows Activity Farm is a much-loved day out in St Albans for families with younger children, bringing together indoor and outdoor activities, farm animals, shows, rides and plenty of space to play. For Peter Rabbit fans, there are daily shows, a Peter Rabbit Adventure Playground and the chance to meet favourite characters during a visit.
For a family attraction like Willows Activity Farm, timing and location of an advertising is very important, as parents and carers need to see the message when they are planning days out, looking for school holiday ideas or travelling through the local area with children in mind. The campaign was planned around that behaviour, combining out of home visibility with targeted TV activity.
MEERKATworks planned and bought a series of 4-sheet posters at carefully selected rail stations, giving the campaign a strong physical presence close to the attraction’s catchment area. The creative was designed to stand out in busy station environments, putting Willows Activity Farm in front of families while they were already out and about.
Alongside the out-of-home (OOH) campaign, the MEERKATs planned and bought a geo-targeted ITVX campaign to reach family audiences in relevant locations. This used a combination of video and Pause ad formats, helping Willows Activity Farm showcase the experience of a day on the farm while also promoting its action-packed summer programme. The video ad gave families a flavour of what they could expect from a visit, from animals and activities to shows and play areas. The ITVX Pause Ad added another high-impact touchpoint, keeping the summer campaign visible in a format that works well for clear, seasonal messaging.
By combining rail station OOH with ITVX, the campaign reached families across different moments: when they were travelling locally, watching at home and thinking about how to keep children entertained over the summer. It is a strong example of how visitor attraction advertising can work when media planning is built around real audience behaviour. For farms, family attractions, seasonal events and days-out destinations, the best media plan is not always about going as broad as possible – it is about understanding where your audience lives, how they move, what they watch and when they are most likely to make plans.
That is where the MEERKATs come in. If you’d like to discuss your next geo-targeted visitor-attraction advertising campaign, get in touch with the team today.