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Eyes on The Headland

Managing PR for the five-star Headland Hotel

The Headland is a five-star hotel overlooking Fistral Beach on the north Cornwall coastline. Its facilities include 95 luxury rooms and suites, 40 self-catering cottages, a five-bubble spa, three restaurants, and a surf school. In July 2020, it opened The Aqua Club with six pools, a sun terrace, and a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant.

We were appointed in 2018 by The Headland’s head of brand strategy and the hotel’s MD to manage all of The Headland’s PR activity.

Objectives

Working closely with the marketing team, we were tasked with:

  • Raising awareness of The Headland amongst the hotel’s desired audience, highlighting the quality of service on offer.
  • Generating news surrounding the launch of The Aqua Club with key travel, trade and local titles.
  • Increasing awareness of the hotel as a destination for multiple generations.
  • Increasing enquiries amongst potential staff and supporting recruitment.
  • Showing The Headland as an ever-evolving business within the industry.

Our work in brief

614

pieces of coverage generated over two years

1.45 billion

people reached

20

press and influencer trips arranged

38

press releases written and distributed to travel, trade, regional, and local media

40+

email campaigns written and distributed

Two

brand partnerships set up

The Headland Cottages overlooking Fistral Beach, Newquay

Press trips

Over a two-year period, we set up 20 press and influencer trips. These included:

  • The Times – review for The Sunday Times’ Best Places To Stay feature, after which The Headland was named “Seaside Hotel of the Year”.
  • The Daily Telegraph – top romantic hotels.
  • The Guardian –  stand up paddleboarding.
  • The Independent – The Headland Cottages.
  • GQ – The Headland Cottages.
  • BBC Good Food – family-friendly breaks.
  • Coast Magazine – family-friendly breaks.
  • Boutique Hotelier – the opening of The Aqua Club.
  • OK Magazine – The Headland Spa and The Aqua Club.
  • Max Out on the Lake District – influencer stay and charity dog walk.

Other services

Over the two-year period, we also assisted with other elements of The Headland’s marketing activity. This included:

  • Providing a new style guide to encourage consistency across the business.
  • Overseeing email marketing for the five-star hotel, including providing content strategy, writing content for 40+ email campaigns, list management, and reporting.
  • Setting up two brand partnerships with local businesses, which achieved 15k entries and an additional 8k subscribers.
  • Providing ad hoc website copy, including a health and safety policy (Covid-19), and content about The Aqua Club.
  • Researching and providing entries for relevant award schemes.
  • Liaising with television media to arrange interviews and documentaries within the hotel.

Karen Hoyle, head of brand strategy

“The Barefoot Media team were outstanding in their work for The Headland and worked seamlessly as an integral part of a multi-agency approach. Their generosity of imagination and ability to deliver high-quality outcomes to raise the awareness of the business surpassed all expectations. Always willing to investigate an idea or chase down a theory, Barefoot’s skills led to more coverage than ever before and developed further into email marketing with excellent revenue results. I can’t thank them enough for their spirit and hard work."

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