G Adventures Case Study
Doing Big Things with G Adventures’ Career Break Campaign, Ditch the Cubicle
G Adventures selected Jeff Jung, the Career Break Travel Guy, to be the media spokesman and face of its ¨Ditch the Cubicle¨ Campaign. In one week, Jeff and G Adventures’ Public Relations Manager traveled across Canada to speak with the media about career breaks and work-life balance based on the 2011 G Adventures Labour Day Survey.
Objective:
G Adventures is a well-known adventure travel company based in Canada. To generate earned media coverage and awareness outside the traditional travel media landscape, the tour operator developed a unique news story around career breaks and work/life balance. As a leading expert on career breaks, Jeff became the voice of the campaign and delivered the program’s key messages.
Results:
The campaign and strategy behind it worked.
- Campaign reach: over 30 million impressions
- Jeff was interviewed by almost 40 journalists
- In addition to travel media, interviews were secured with general news, business, lifestyle and health media. Coverage ran nationally on various Global TV and CTV segments, on radio programs including 14 CBC radio stations, on major Canadian online publications like CanadianLiving.com and WalletPop, and on several Canadian travel blogs
- An interview secured with a network writer resulted in a syndicated story that generated national coverage
- The story was distributed on news wires and picked up by many major US news outlets
In 2012, the Canadian Press Relations Society recognized the G Adventures’ campaign with a Bronze ACE Award in the category, Best Use of Media Relations – Budget Under $50,000
Multi-Media Campaign Components Delivered to G Adventures by Jeff and Career Break Secrets:
- Served as G Adventures’ spokesman in media tour through Canada, in 4 major cities: Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver
- Produced and hosted 10-video web series filmed in India, with tips and advice for taking a career break
- Promoted the “Ditch the Cubicle” campaign micro-site, featuring the web series
- Promoted G Adventures’ key messages to the Career Break Secrets’ audience
- Used social media to promote with G Adventures on Twitter and Facebook
www.gadventures.com www.ditchthecubicle.ca
Media:
The national PR campaign in Canada included TV, radio, print, and online, including
- Major media markets in Canada such as Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
- Primary TV networks such as Global TV and CTV
- Radio stations across the country including the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) among others
- Major print publications across the country including 24 Hours, Calgary Herald and the Vancouver Sun
- Lifestyle publications such as Canadian Living and AOL’s Walletpop
Interview on CTV Edmonton:
G Adventures’ Feedback:
¨As a recognized leader in the career break travel space, Jeff was a natural fit for our program. His wealth of knowledge and strong understanding about the issues surrounding sabbaticals added credibility to our campaign,” says Timothy Chan, G Adventures’ Public Relations Manager. “It was a pleasure working with him and I would gladly work with him again.”
Links to Some of the Media Coverage:
Here are a few samples of the articles and stories that ran as a result of the campaign.
- Global TV Canada Interview on evening news across Canada (syndicated nationally)
- Global TV Edmonton morning show interview
- CTV Edmonton noon news interview
- CBC Toronto, Here and Now: Take a Career Break
- Canadian Living Travel Talk: 10 Tips to Help Plan Your Career Break
- Calgary Herald Gap Year for Grown Ups
- Toronto Sun, Escaping the Rat Race (syndicated nationally)
- AOL Canada/WalletPop How to Take a Career Break Without Ruining Your Career
- Canada.com Leading Career Break Expert Shares Sabbatical Secrets
- Regina Leader Post New Labour Day Poll Reveals Canadians Lack Work Life Balance
- Examiner.com New Poll Reveals Canadians Lack Work/Life Balance and Crave Career Break
- Adrian Brijbassi Want to Leave Your Job to Travel? Jeff Jung Tells You How
- Reb Stevenson Cubicle or Taj Mahal? How to Take a Career Break
- Chic Savvy TV Host Jeff Jung Shares His Secrets for Ditching the Rat Race to Travel
- Explore For a Year Interview with Jeff Jung of Career Break Secrets