Selected work / 02
Luxury
Yacht Charter
Performance Marketing, Lead Generation & Full-Funnel Growth
- Performance Marketing
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads
- Lead Generation
- Retargeting
- Video Creative
- Analytics
- Full-Funnel Strategy
A full-funnel performance marketing engagement for a newly launched yacht charter company entering a highly competitive market with three catamarans across different price points.
The objective was to generate qualified enquiries, build trust quickly and convert seasonal demand despite entering the market relatively late in the booking cycle.
The Challenge
The company entered the market with a fleet of three catamarans — two more accessible options and one significantly more premium vessel.
Campaigns launched in March, only a few months before the peak charter season in June, July and August. This meant the business had to build awareness, trust and qualified demand quickly in a category where booking decisions often happen months in advance.
New brand, low market awareness
Late entry into the booking cycle
Different price points across the fleet
The Strategy
The strategy combined high-intent search with visual retargeting, using Google to capture active demand and Meta to build confidence and stay present throughout the decision journey.
Capture intent
Google Search campaigns targeted users actively looking for yacht charter options in Croatia and related high-intent terms.
Build trust
Users who interacted with the website or campaigns were retargeted on Meta using strong visual and video creative designed to communicate the charter experience and build confidence in a new brand.
Segment by market
Campaigns focused primarily on the United States and Western Europe, with particular emphasis on Italy and France.
Adapt to seasonal demand
Campaign messaging and priorities evolved across the season — from early-season bookings, to peak demand, to last-minute charter offers, and finally to early acquisition for the following season.
Campaign Journey
March
Campaign launch
April–May
Demand generation and lead acquisition
June–August
Peak charter season
August
Last-minute charter campaigns
September onward
Early acquisition for the following season
Instead of stopping when the summer season ended, campaigns transitioned immediately into the next booking cycle to start building demand and trust for the following year.
Channel Strategy
Google Search
- Role
- Capture users with clear charter intent.
- Focus
- High-intent search terms, destination demand and yacht charter queries.
- Primary objective
- Qualified enquiries through website forms.
Meta Ads
- Role
- Retargeting, trust building and visual reinforcement.
- Focus
- Strong video creative showing the lifestyle and experience around yacht charter.
- Primary objective
- Keep the brand present throughout a longer, high-consideration purchase journey and move interested users back toward enquiry.
What we optimized for
Qualified
Enquiries
The primary performance KPI was completed enquiry forms.
The advertising team controlled acquisition, targeting, creative, campaign optimization and lead generation, while the client handled the sales process and final booking conversion.
This distinction is important: campaign performance was evaluated primarily on the quality and cost of enquiries, while final bookings were monitored as the strongest downstream indicator of business impact.
~€100
Cost per qualified enquiry
Approximate blended figure based on campaign performance.
The Outcome
~80%
Fleet occupancy in the first season
Full
Occupancy on the two more accessible catamarans
~€100
Cost per qualified enquiry
Next season
Campaigns started immediately after peak season
The more accessible catamarans reached full occupancy, while the premium vessel required a longer trust-building cycle — a useful insight that shaped the following season's strategy.
More Than a Lead Campaign
The result was not only the volume of enquiries generated.
The campaign helped a completely new charter brand establish market presence, fill the majority of its available inventory and create a stronger foundation for the following booking cycle.
The first season validated the acquisition model, while the premium vessel highlighted the importance of trust, brand familiarity and longer lead times at higher price points.
What Moved Performance
High-intent search
Google Search was effective at capturing users already showing active charter demand.
Visual retargeting
Strong video creative helped reinforce trust and keep the new brand visible throughout a longer decision cycle.
Seasonal adaptation
Shifting the strategy from regular bookings to last-minute demand and then immediately into next-season acquisition allowed marketing activity to continue beyond the traditional summer campaign window.
My Role
I led the end-to-end performance marketing work across strategy, campaign setup, paid media execution, targeting, copy, creative direction, retargeting, optimization, analytics and reporting.
- Performance Strategy
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads
- Lead Generation
- Retargeting
- Audience Strategy
- Copywriting
- Creative Direction
- Campaign Optimization
- Analytics
- Reporting
For a new high-ticket brand, performance is not just about capturing demand — it is also about building enough trust to convert it.
By combining high-intent search, visual retargeting and a seasonal acquisition strategy, the campaigns helped generate qualified enquiries, achieve strong first-season occupancy and create momentum for the next booking cycle.