Intro
In the competitive Scottish transport sector, long-term brand building is essential for sustained growth. When iconic Scottish travel institution Citylink found itself trailing behind competitors following pandemic-related disruptions, it partnered with Carat to reconnect with its audience and reclaim market leadership.
Through a strategic TV partnership that maximised every pound of a modest budget, we delivered extraordinary results—increasing brand consideration by 12% and catapulting Citylink from second position to the top spot in consumers' minds when planning travel across Scotland.
The Challenge
Citylink, a well-established and iconic Scottish travel brand, experienced a sharp decline in ticket sales during the pandemic in 2020 and throughout 2021. Despite their strong heritage, they were sitting just behind Stagecoach in consideration metrics (33% vs 34%).
We were tasked with:
- Orchestrating a high-reach campaign to re-engage with the Scottish people
- Building saliency to increase consideration levels
- Moving Citylink from second position to market leader in the minds of the public when planning travel
With ongoing rail strikes causing travel uncertainty, the timing was perfect for Citylink to reassert its position as Scotland's premier travel provider—but we needed to overcome the challenge of limited budget while still achieving mass awareness.
Insight
Our research revealed two critical insights that shaped our approach:
- The first brand that comes to mind wins the business. Data showed that 54.6% of travelers book with the first brand they have in mind—making top-of-mind awareness crucial for success.
- Professional recommendations drive consideration. While TV advertising ranked highly for inspiration (29%), professional recommendations were the top driver for consideration (50%). For maximum effectiveness, we needed a media strategy that combined both elements.
Travel decisions are typically made in advance, with consumers defaulting to top-of-mind brands. To overcome this hurdle, we needed to partner with a trusted Scottish figurehead who could lend credibility and deliver an implied recommendation for Citylink.
Strategy
Our strategy centred on finding the perfect partnership that could deliver both mass awareness and the crucial element of recommendation.
STV emerged as the ideal partner—as Scotland's most-watched channel during peak time (335k audience) with 4 out of 5 Scots registered to their player. Within STV's programming, "Sean's Scotland" presented the perfect opportunity.
Sean Batty, Scotland's favourite weatherman and a beloved local personality, offered the trusted voice we needed. His travel programme showcased the beautiful Scottish landscapes that Citylink's routes serve, creating a natural alignment between content and brand.
This strategic partnership allowed us to:
- Leverage a trusted Scottish personality to provide implied endorsement
- Achieve wide-reaching audience coverage through broadcast television
- Create an association between Scotland's natural beauty and Citylink's services
- Deliver consistent brand presence over an extended period (August 2022 to January 2023)
Execution, Solution and Innovation
We negotiated an exceptional value partnership that delivered multiple times our original investment, comprising:
- TV Sponsorship: 4 x 10-second sponsorship bumpers are shown at the beginning, middle, and end of every episode, and are featured around both linear broadcasts and all catch-up viewing on STV Player.
- Bespoke On-Air Marketing: Custom promos narrated by Sean Batty himself, promoting both the programme and Citylink as the exclusive partner, featured in high-profile programming like Coronation Street and The Masked Singer.
- Digital Integration: A homepage domination on STV Player with 100% SOV throughout the sponsorship period, amplifying awareness and driving clicks to Citylink's website.
- Social Media Amplification: Sponsored posts across STV's social channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to extend reach and engagement.
- Cost-Effective Production: STV Creative provided production services as part of the partnership, transforming Citylink's existing drone footage into compelling campaign assets.
This integrated approach delivered over 650 Adult TVRs at a frequency of 13, reaching 50% of Scottish adults and ensuring 33% saw the campaign at least 4 times—creating the consistency needed to build long-term brand preference.
Result and Business Effect
The campaign delivered exceptional results, fulfilling all objectives and demonstrating the power of strategic TV partnerships even with modest budgets:
- Market Leadership Achieved: Citylink moved from second position to clear market leader, increasing consideration from 33% to 37% (+12%)—while all competitors saw declines.
- Massive Reach: We reached over 2 million adults across Scotland (50% of the adult population).
- Digital Engagement: Generated 327,000 impressions on STV Player plus 54,237 impressions from display assets.
- Search Demand Growth: Brand search demand increased by 82% year-on-year (compared to just 12% for Stagecoach), with clear spikes during episode broadcasts.
This case demonstrates how smart media partnerships can transform brand fortunes even with limited budgets. By focusing on the right strategic partnership rather than simply buying media space, we helped Citylink reclaim its position as Scotland's premier travel provider.
