A TONGUE-IN-CHEEK promotional campaign designed to encourage young people to explore Scotland by ferry has won a UK-wide award.
Caledonian MacBrayne, together with Edinburgh-based The Lane Agency, scooped the digital marketing campaign of the year category at the prestigious Travel Marketing Awards.
The advertising campaign features two young men lacking in common sense – The Two Eejits – being guided through what CalMac’s Clyde and Hebrides ferries network has to offer.
A media release to go alongside the campaign stated:“What those Eejits lack in general savvy, though, they make up for in enthusiasm, throwing themselves into everything from historical immersion on Bute to Segway riding on Arran, having a laugh and discovering that there’s more to the islands than they thought.”
The Two Eejits short film series was CalMac’s first campaign specifically targeting 18- to 35-year-olds, and aimed to show travel to the islands is inexpensive and easy to plan.
The videos also sought to address perceived issues of bad weather and the lack of anything to do, by showing the dim pair having plenty of adventures regardless of rain, hail, sleet, snow or anything else the notoriously fickle west-coast weather gods throw at them.
Exploring everything from sport and pampering possibilities and taking in cultural treasures along the way, the four episodes featuring the loveable eejits also included CalMac’s very own representative – along for the ride to keep an eye on proceedings.
That long-suffering company mandarin – a Harris Tweed-clad puppet called Brian Ferry – endures a voyage alongside the eejits as they get to grips with Scotland’s west coast.
The two “eejits” are, in fact, anything but. They are played by the Bafta Scotland-nominated Something Something duo of Ian Greenhill and Jordan Laird, and their well-crafted antics made an impact both in terms of generating online chatter and increasing the number of customers deciding to book with CalMac.
CalMac’s marketing manager Peter Griffiths said: “We were already proud of simply being shortlisted for this award,” said . “To be announced as winners was unexpected and we couldn’t be more thrilled “.
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