Karen Beagrie, head of operations at Meon Valley Travel, landed the booking after sharing Discovery’s Maritime Masters: Expedition Antarctica documentary with her customers.
Beagrie, who has been with the agency for 21 years, was contacted by Scenic in May about the new show and after receiving marketing information on the programme, including video and social media content, and being invited to an online dedicated training session, spotted an opportunity.
Prior to the pandemic, Beagrie joined Scenic on a 13-day cruise to Antarctica and once the first Maritime Masters episode was broadcast – a look at the commencement of Eclipse’s voyage to Antarctica from San Diego – Beagrie added it to a dedicated Antarctica page on the agency’s website.
She and her team promoted the content via their social media channels and to their newsletter database which is shared with more than 20,000 subscribers.
Within hours of the show and page going live, Beagrie bagged the £35,000 booking with many more confirmed in the following weeks.
"I loved the show and how it bought such an incredible yet remote part of the world to life," Beagrie said. "Utilising the docu-series together with my own content was such a great way to connect with our customers and showcase the experience effectively."
Following the launch of the show, Scenic saw sales of its ocean voyages increase by more than 20%. In the week following the release of the first episode, sales figures were up 22% and inbound calls were up 10% against the previous week.
Nichola Absalom, general manager, sales and marketing for Scenic Group UK, said: "We are thrilled to see the incredible knock-on effect of the Maritime Masters docu-series converting into sales for our trade partners.
"I am delighted for Karen and the wider agency and look forward to welcoming her clients on board very soon. We are committed to supporting agents so that they are best equipped to understand Scenic Eclipse’s ultra-luxury offering and sell our product with toolkits, webinars and fam trips all available for 2023."
