Check out the following marketing material from my work. From copy, editing and image selection as well as creative direction with use of a design team to create every element.
Content Marketing
I have written content for blogs related to travel, home and fashion, three of my passions. I've had the chance to write several blogs for Merit Travel which are featured on their site and are focused mainly on family travel. Here are some of my featured blogs below to get an idea of my work.
I have worked on many e-newsletters using Mailchimp and Constant Contact. While I worked at Merit Travel, I worked on local and national e-newsletters creating copy (headline & body), images and scheduling for deployment using best practices. I worked closely with Store Managers on local news and copy to create for every local e-newsletter in the store locations. For national e-blasts, I would work closely with suppliers on any campaign that involved a joint sale and ensured info. was accurate and approved.
One of Merit Travel's preferred adventure suppliers is G Adventures. Every year, these two travel companies collaborate in a week long national campaign called "G Week" to offer consumers discounted adventure tours exclusively through Merit Travel. The latest campaign offered 20% off all marine tours or 15% off small group tours. Choose from sailing through the Galapagos or island hopping in Greece. The creative consisted of flyers, store window posters, leader board and box banner ads, landing page, e-blasts, Facebook sponsored ads, Google ads and social media posts. I worked closely with the Trade Marketing Specialist at G Adventures and gathered the information, legal copy and images (as well as final approval) for the marketing material and directed the Merit Travel design team on all elements of the creative.
Re-Branding
Merit Travel was once a company with many different brand names all under one umbrella called Merit. Brands like The Adventure Travel Company (ATC), Merit Vacations, Travel Cuts and seven other brands which made it confusing for the consumer to know that all of them were connected due to different branding, websites, collateral and store signage. After 20 years, the company decided to streamline all the brands and build it under one brand, one name, and one site but delivering all the same travel experiences and for every kind of traveller. The re-branding process took about six months long and consisted of newly branded marketing collateral, apparel, store signage (28 store locations across Canada), and online presence. I was responsible for creating a Marketing Toolkit to be used for all Merit Travel staff to inform them of the changes and what to expect. I also worked on all of the new marketing collateral and apparel and made sure it was all delivered in time of the launch.
Africa Campaign
This campaign promoted travel to Africa with Merit Travel's preferred suppliers offering huge savings on their top Africa trips. This national campaign ran for a month and consisted of print and digital collateral. Merit Travel stores featured creative window decals and a chance for in-store staff to have fun with decorating their shops to fit the theme and a contest to go along with the best Africa campaign display. This is a sample of the flyer and window poster for stores. I worked with the suppliers and in-house design team on executing the campaign from gathering content, supplier approvals (logo, copy, offer and fine print), directing design team on creative for print and digital (landing page, banner ads, e-newsletter, Facebook ads, Google ads and blog), and organizing print collateral, and delivery to all stores in time for launch. Click here to see the landing page and online campaign for this project: Africa Campaign.
Why I Love Intrepid
One of Merit Travel's former brands "The Adventure Travel Company" (ATC) executed a national marketing co-op campaign with their preferred adventure supplier Intrepid called "Why I love Intrepid". The main concept was to let consumers know about the real travel experiences of the ATC Adventure Specialists on Intrepid tours and why they love travelling with them. The travel offer for this campaign was 10% off all ATC's favourite Intrepid trips which was only available exclusively through ATC. The creative for the campaign consisted of a landing page with a cool interactive map and images of the agents placed on their favourite destination for an Intrepid tour. Each ATC Adventure Specialist would also have a feature box that would pop up and the consumer would discover the following: what is your favourite Intrepid tour? what is your dream trip? and what tour they would recommend. The marketing tactics that I worked on included a homepage leaderboard banner, social media posts, e-blast, store posters and flyer in each ATC store location in Canada.
West Jet Vacations
Merit Travel and West Jet Vacations partnered together to do a month long co-op campaign using Zoomer magazine for both print and online marketing. Merit Travel has had a long relationship with Zoomer magazine with its monthly full-page ad campaigns every year, so for one issue, West Jet Vacations participated in a half-page ad and online box banner ads to promote winter travel to its sunny destinations. I was responsible for working with the Trade Marketing Specialist at West Jet ensuring branding, copy and legalities were approved, creating the ads with an in-house Graphic Designer, as well as delivering the creative directly to Zoomer magazine.
RTO Ad Campaign
The Retired Teachers of Ontario (RTO) has a quarterly magazine for its members called Renaissance magazine. Merit Travel is the exclusive travel provider for RTO and members receive special travel offers. Merit Travel participates in a six page ad spread in Renaissance and also has a website used by RTO members only. I would be responsible for creating each ad, working closely with the Director of Product Development & Groups on what to include, gathering product from suppliers, creating copy and selecting images and working with an in-house Graphic Designer. I would work with suppliers to approve each of their (co-op) ads, and submit all ads directly to print and worked closely with the printer to ensure all details were good to go.
Longstays Brochure
Merit Travel’s exclusive collection of unique packages called Longstays are for mature travellers—these are getaways for those who need a longer vacation of one month or more during the winter. Canadian travellers can intimately experience cities or towns and stay in four star accommodations that include a kitchen and other fine amenities. This Longstays brochure is created annually and is promoted though the Retired Teachers of Ontario's (RTO) Renaissance magazine and Zoomer magazine. All Longstays packages are included on the Merit Travel and RTO website. I worked with a freelance graphic designer and Manager of Product Development & Groups to ensure all copy was accurate and selected images for use. I would edit all pages of the Longstays brochure, provide necessary logos and submitted creative to printer. I would then work directly with the printer to proof the copy, colour and quality before final print and organize delivery to stores.
Oceania Cruises
Oceania Cruises is one of Merit Travel's preferred suppliers which targets the baby boomer market interested in luxury travel. This online campaign featured a special sale offering sailings with Canadian prices instead of the regular USD pricing. The campaign consisted of a landing page with specific product added to the website as well as a scheduled e-blast and social media posts. I was responsible for ensuring all content was edited and approved by Oceania as well as gathering all content to be added to the site along with images. I also edited the e-blast and social media posts and ensured approval before it was all sent out.
Social Media
I have managed social media accounts for previous employers using Twitter, Facebook (via Hootsuite) as well as Pinterest. I am currently managing two Instagram accounts, one is called "Modern & Minimalist", a minimalist and home organizing consultant business featuring home inspiration and tips. The other IG account is my personal account called micheledelory, formerly travelchicmic, which is focused on lifestyle from travel, food, fashion, local events (mostly in Toronto, Canada) and family. I've been using Instagram since 2010, so I am an expert at using this social media platform.
Articles
Here's some of my writing pieces where I was a featured contributor in travel and not-for-profit publications.