Bushtops is a privately owned luxury safari company based in Tanzania and Kenya, operating in Serengeti and Masai Mara. Their owners approached Wallop at the end of 2013, looking for help in reshaping their digital strategy. They found us through the work we had done for Singita and other luxury travel brands in South Africa.
They were an ideal client for us both because of their niche and the way our teams meshed creatively. They trusted our recommendations from the beginning and made the investment in compelling photo and video. The Wallop Film team makes regular trips to film on location as they expand their product offerings.
As we know, marketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum – at least not for experiential luxury travel brands. Soon after we launched the new digital platform and short films, the Ebola outbreak hit West Africa. And although it was 3,000 miles away, travel to the continent all but dried up. Once Ebola calmed down, bombs started going off in Lamu, Nairobi, and Mombasa. On top of all of that, the Nairobi airport had burned down.
We had done everything we could, digitally speaking, but when you work so closely with a client, their stress becomes your stress. It was a tough few years on Bushtops, but collectively, we stuck to our strategy and watched as the economic conditions slowly improved.
Needless to say, getting an email like this really makes our team smile.