How YVR measures global brand awareness & recognition with Agility’s media intelligence services

The Challenge

Adapting to the evolving travel landscape

Catering to millions of passengers requires being equipped with the latest travel developments to provide a pleasant and seamless travel experience. The modern customer journey encompasses various touchpoints, and YVR requires visibility and access to all potential venues to reach the right audience.

Proactively Managing Seasonal Travel

As an international hub, YVR operates 24/7, 365 days a year, amidst peak travel seasons and emerging issues. As such, YVR’s Communications team develops and implements targeted campaigns with content that educates and informs travellers and other key audiences in real-time. These efforts ensure travellers have access to critical information about their trip, creating a smoother journey to, through, and from the airport.

During peak travel periods and in instances of inclement weather, customer feedback and media monitoring play a crucial role in understanding which messages resonate most effectively. By leveraging these insights, YVR can continuously refine its efforts, ensuring vital information reaches travellers when and where they need it most.

Navigating Complex Media Models

YVR operates in a diverse media environment comprised of various platforms and channels, serving traditional, social, local, national, industry, and ethnic audiences. To effectively manage communication across these varied channels, YVR has to stay informed of media reporting and social commentary.

Adjusting to Post-Pandemic Changes

The COVID-19 pandemic brought various changes to air travel, from mandating social distancing to increasing the emphasis on airport hygiene. There was also a stark shift in consumer expectations regarding the level of safety measures in place.

Along with the rapid changes to health and travel restrictions and requirements, it was critical for YVR to continually have visibility into the media narrative and public perception to tailor messages and materials accordingly.

Gather Relevant & Timely Feedback

As YVR announced new initiatives to meet customer expectations, collecting prompt and accurate feedback to gauge customer perception and media coverage was crucial to ascertain what works and requires improvement.

YVR required access to public feedback to gauge the effectiveness of its initiatives and guide future communication and operational strategies. Agility helped offer insight by enabling insight into media coverage and public sentiment surrounding YVR’s initiatives..

The Solution

Customized reporting system tailored to the aviation industry

Daily media briefings tailored to YVR

Agility provides YVR with curated daily media briefings to ensure they remain updated on the current media landscape. The daily briefings cover relevant industry topics, competitor news, updates in the aviation industry, and a snapshot of their own coverage and media mentions.

These briefings offer critical insights to guide decision-making and highlight any emerging topics and trends for the team’s awareness.

Detailed periodic reporting

In addition to daily media briefings, YVR also benefits from detailed annual reports highlighting the media coverage details and key metric performance throughout the year. These reports allow YVR to see how its strategies perform and serve as a benchmark for annual progress.

Additionally, Agility helps YVR with ad-hoc coverage reports following high-profile announcements and during peak travel seasons, including Christmas, summer, spring break, etc. These reports offer detailed insight into media reactions and public sentiment around the season, helping YVR plan event-centric events and announcements.

Support for strategic initiatives and real-time adjustments

Agility’s consistent insights and coverage data gave YVR a timely performance review of its strategic communications initiative.

YVR received reports with tangible data highlighting coverage performance and audience response to messaging. Timely information can help identify room for improvement, tailoring operational strategies and PR campaigns accordingly.

“Agility provides quality support and customer service. The daily briefs are well curated and very useful to start our day. Additionally, the platform itself is easy to use, and our team is well-trained to gather insights on the fly.” 

– Alyssa Smith
Manager, Communications
Vancouver Airport Authority

The Outcome

Successful initiative implementation and global recognition

Improved insights to guide future communication initiatives

In recent years, YVR has introduced several services and programs (including Curbside Greeting, accessibility improvements, and new dining and retail offerings) to ensure the airport is accessible to all and that travelers have a pleasant journey. To understand public perception surrounding these initiatives, Agility supported YVR with prompt insights into media coverage, highlighting sentiment and key message traction in their reports.

Enhanced decision-making and strategic alignment

Through timely and strategic insights provided by Agility, YVR experienced increased visibility into user journeys and public perception. This, in turn, led to informed decision-making that aligned initiatives with the evolving needs of travelers and stakeholders, helping YVR meet their strategic objectives.

Reinforced reputation and more awards

Agility’s consistent support of key insights and knowledge of the evolving landscape has been integral to YVR’s strategic communications planning and performance over the past decade. The daily briefs and the bespoke annual and ad-hoc reports allow for a thorough analysis of PR initiatives that lead to informed decision-making. High-quality media intelligence data has helped YVR win numerous awards, including being ranked “#1 Airport in North America” several years in a row.

This ongoing support cultivates a proactive environment that allows YVR to focus on confidently achieving its PR objectives. The trust built over this long-term partnership underscores YVR’s reliance on Agility’s expertise, innovative solutions, and user-friendly platform to meet all their media intelligence needs, ensuring YVR remains well-prepared to navigate the complexities of the modern media landscape.