Canopy Tours Northwest had been in business for a little over a year, handling all of their advertising themselves. They had a superior product—the best darn zipline tour in the Northwest—but most folks had not heard of them. Canopy Tours Northwest approached us about doing some outdoor advertising on buses. With our long history of creating billboards and bus board campaigns, the easy response would have been to say, “Of course, we can do that for you.” We declined.

 

We knew they needed broader awareness. Research revealed that their best customers were females 34–55 years old, so we proposed that they could reach more of their target demographic (delivering a better return on their investment) by creating a radio campaign rather than an outdoor campaign. We aired commercials on radio stations and Pandora, and later added a television campaign around key holidays. We added a sonic logo to everything—“Zip On!,” a phrase used by the zipline guides. The campaigns resonated with women because the scripts talked about things that were important to them. And boy, did they book reservations.

 

Since the campaign, Canopy Tours Northwest has been consistently breaking single-day records, and they have even extended their hours by opening up for night zipping. In 2013, they saw a year-over-year jump in sales of 180% in June and 230% in July. In 2015, year-over-year sales were up 63% by June.