Using PR to raise awareness for CIE Tours in the Travel Advisor Market

CIE Tours has deep roots as a tour operator specializing in packaged travel to Ireland and Britain. When Redpoint came on as PR agency of record in 2022, our first job was to handle North American trade and consumer media relations in celebration of and throughout the tour company’s 90th year in operation.

Then in 2023, as plans to expand their business took further shape, CIE sought to reinforce their standing and educate the industry on their growing range of offerings. And as travel advisors are a key audience for tour operators, cultivating the travel trade media became a top priority. So we rolled up our sleeves, put on our thinking caps, and got busy on a robust series of media relations initiatives that included:

• Working closely with the CIE marketing team to coordinate PR messages aligned with their promotional calendar and sales cycle.
• Enticing influential trade journalists to experience a CIE tour…and coordinating the dozens of details required to connect these journalists with several in-country spokespeople to help the journalists develop richer, more extensive stories.
• Crafting tailored press releases and pitches around industry trends to spotlight key promotions.
• Creating feature interview opportunities for key CIE executives to share corporate news and reinforce the company’s leadership position, as well as introduce new tour products, spotlight destinations, engage in Q&A’s and more.

The plan wasn’t just to “get coverage,” but to get DIVERSE coverage on a variety of CIE-related topics with consistent frequency.

Since this dedicated trade campaign kicked off, media coverage has been strong…and shows no signs of slowing. We’ve consistently saturated the trade media with CIE news and it’s keeping the brand top-of-mind with this influential market.

In addition to those found at the top of this case study, we’ve generated a cascading series of stories in leading travel trade media that showcases CIE from multiple angles. Check out some of our faves: Travel Weekly, Travel Agent Central, Recommend, Travel and Tour World, Canadian Travel Press, Travel Week.

We were also STOKED to land this six-interview video series on Insider Travel Report, which was featured extensively in the outlet’s newsletters and prominently on their website. The series showcases the people who make the trips happen – leadership, tour directors, local proprietors, and more – and deliver an exceptional experience for guests. If you have an hour to spare (LOL – you know you’re DYING to explore the enchanting world of Irish Sheepdog Farming), you can watch those videos here: