Jerne announces partnership with Virgin Voyages

Jerne – a platform that connects social media influencers and content creators with experience providers – has announced a partnership with Virgin Voyages that aims to connect more than 9,000 influential creators in102 countries with incentives to promote the brand’s adults-only cruise offerings to those creators’ 3.3 billion followers.

“As arguably the most creative new entrant in premium ocean cruising in recent years, Virgin Voyages is no stranger to innovation,” said Tim Morgan, CEO of Jerne, in a press release. “We are thrilled to celebrate the success of Virgin Voyages in hosting dozens of creators on their ships in 2023 and 2024, where they create and share inspirational content, resulting in referral bookings from their followers that continue to build with every hosted experience.”

The companies’ partnership had a strong start to 2024, with the January to August dollar value of new cruise booking referrals by Jerne creators (the term for the wider grouping of influencers, content creators, bloggers, and more) outpacing the same timed period in 2023 by 271 per cent, resulting in hundreds of qualified leads and bookings across individual and group bookings. 

Showcasing the growing opportunity of social media sales for travel products, new leads are placed in Jerne’s proprietary B2B2C re-marketing engine for Virgin Voyages to take advantage of on-demand sales and marketing efforts to build an evergreen funnel of new consumer bookings.

“We are no stranger to leading the industry in sales and marketing innovation, particularly for new-to-cruise travellers who are looking for a different experience at sea,” said Lauren Goerl, manager, influencer and celebrity partnerships at Virgin Voyages. “Jerne makes it easier for us to reach, scale, and manage this incredible opportunity to showcase our stunning ships and turn sailors into sellers.”

 A study by Stelico Consulting Group found that 76 per cent of luxury travellers selected their hotel brand, cruise line or airline based on social media, while 60% said they had purchased travel based on a social media post by a creator such as a celebrity or influencer.

 "The global opportunity to work with influential creators is through millions of people around the world producing all types of marketing content for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogs, and other platforms," said Morgan, "and our partnerships with companies like Virgin Voyages are increasingly providing marketing cost savings and driving bookings to retail channels including travel advisors and direct sales."

Creators interested in partnering with Virgin Voyages can begin the process here. 

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