iO and Brussels Airport
Brussels is the heart of Europe. Brussels Airport is also the heart of Europe. At least, it is for everyone visiting our country by plane or leaving it to see one of over 170 destinations. By focusing on the experience as a whole, Brussels Airport performs even better as a hub. Everything revolves around offering the best possible experience.
To showcase that, we work as an extension of the airport. We do so in terms of strategy, technology, marketing, content, data and research. It’s a hybrid collaboration between our teams and the Brussels Airport team. By combining all our skills, we are stronger.
In this section, we zoom in on some successful marketing campaigns as well as the constant betting on brand awareness to convince travelers to choose Brussels Airport on their next trip.
Don’t forget to read our in-depth case on Brussels Airport and get an idea of our 360° collaboration.
Themed campaigns with inspiring platforms
What are people looking for before they travel? Which questions trouble them and how can Brussels Airport answer them? Through custom content, SEO optimisation, and performance marketing, we can create a win-win situation. Passengers get the help they need, and Brussels Airport gains customers.
Hitting people with the facts is one thing, but in the travel industry, it’s just as important to keep people dreaming. Because, in many cases, the airport is responsible for memories that last a lifetime.
We lure people to Brussels Airport through various inspiring campaign sites and pages. We give them so much travel vibes that they have to give it their all not to book a flight.
A couple of examples that inspired quite a few people to go on holiday:
Zooming in: “Mijn Marokkomoment” (My Morocco Moment)
A large part of the Moroccan community in Belgium sees Brussels Airport as so much more than an airport. It’s the gateway to intimate moments with family and friends. Brussels Airport is where their Morocco Moment starts.
Brussels Airport wanted to make it easier for this audience segment (also known as visiting friends and relatives or VFR in the industry) to experience those moments. Our assignment: use paid media to showcase Morocco as a travel destination and convince the Moroccan VFR target audience to start their next journey at Brussels Airport.
The goal was to boost online bookings to Moroccan destinations. Brussels Airport also set up a contest, allowing participants to win a ticket for two to Morocco.
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Influencer marketing
We also engaged some people who were part of the target audience themselves. Influencers with a specific or large following. In 2022, we relied on eleven influencers to showcase Brussels Airport and its destinations through inspiring posts. We created a separate case about that part of our marketing efforts.
Brand awareness and lead generation in neighbouring countries
Brussels Airport may be a Belgian airport, but that doesn’t mean that it only targets Belgian travellers. The south of the Netherlands and the north of France also offer interesting markets. It’s often much easier for the population to head over to Brussels than to get to Amsterdam or Paris – a fun fact we successfully brought to many a traveller’s attention.
Through targeted campaigns that focus on brand awareness, performance and activation, we can show target audiences that Brussels Airport facilitates travelling. And with brusselsairport.nl and brusselsairport.fr, we built websites customised to the company’s needs.
A host of marketing activities
Being a large organisation, the airport has a tonne of commercial and communication goals. The iO marketing team supports the journey towards those goals across the board with a healthy and balanced marketing mix. Behold:
SEO- and content marketing
A wide array of activities and options. In close collaboration with the Brussels Airport team, we determine the focus and goals. By joining forces, we turn every campaign and activity into a success.
Data & insights
Many marketing activities and a complicated ecosystem – that means a lot of data. And that’s essential to tweak campaigns, measure success and make decisions.
We have all the experts we need to gather said data. Our extensive team of data scientists gathers data using several tools and sources. We use those sources to build dashboards and reporting flows that are understandable for people on the inside as well as new kids on the block. Our colleagues compile all the analyses and insights in easy-to-grasp documents. That tells stakeholders and decision-makers everything they need to know to take the next steps.
Just a few of the tools we use:
Google Analytics 360 controls all the advertising channels through audience building and conversion tracking
End-to-end-reporting with Looker Studio
Logging every interaction on Brussels Airport’s platforms, including profile management, with BRU-sys
Newsletter automation with Selligent
GCP, AWS or Snowflake for data storage. Dataflow, Appflow or Snowplow for ownership of data pipelines (if required). DBT for data management/governance/maintenance.
Dive further into this case
Marketing campaigns are only successful when you’re creative enough to move people with enough stopping power. Learn how we turned our campaigns into a real success with a thick creative layer, a selection of minigames and fun activations.
Want to know more about this collaboration?
Contact iO – our specialists can’t wait to hear your questions.