DigitalMassa
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Leksand Sommarland

Case · Theme park and camping

Leksand SommarlandFrom search to summer holiday.

Leksand Sommarland is a theme park with a water park by Lake Siljan in Dalarna, Sweden, and is part of Leksand Resort together with a cabin village and a five-star campsite. We ran the advertising in Google for the park, the cabins and the campsite from March 2018 through 2022, through the agency United Power.

Engagement
2018 to 2022, through the agency United Power
Channels
Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, YouTube, display, Discovery and Performance Max
Market
Sweden and Norway
Children driving colourful bumper boats in the sun at Leksand Sommarland with Lake Siljan and the forest in the background
Leksand Sommarland

About the client

Leksand Sommarland opened in 1984 on the shore of Lake Siljan and has 48 attractions with a water park, carousels and activities on land and in the air. The park has become one of the largest tourist attractions in Dalarna with around 140 000 visitors every year.

Next to the park lies Leksand Resort with the cabin village and the five-star campsite by Lake Siljan. Since 2022 the whole resort has been part of First Camp.

Families book cabins, pitches and tickets on the website. That is why bookings and purchases on the website were the measure of what the advertising delivered.

Caravans on the campsite by Lake Siljan with forested hills on the other side of the lake
The campsite by Lake Siljan, next door to Sommarland.

Why we worked together

The engagement came to us through the agency United Power and its founder and CEO Jessica Engström. United Power held Leksand Resort's digital marketing together and trusted us with the advertising in Google.

From 2020 we also had direct contact with the marketing manager at Leksand Resort.

A theme park has only a few weeks each year, and a summer that is lost does not come back. That is why we followed demand closely and moved the budget to where the searches were, from the first bookings in spring to the last weeks of the summer holiday. That way of working suited Leksand Resort and the trust grew with every season.

We are grateful to have been part of five summers by Lake Siljan.

The assignment

The assignment began in March 2018, a few weeks before the season opened. Leksand Resort wanted more families to book cabins, pitches and tickets to Sommarland on the website. The ad account already existed but did not measure any bookings, so we rebuilt it from the ground up and connected it to the sales on the website.

Over the years the advertising expanded to YouTube, display and Discovery and in 2022 to Performance Max. Every year began with a plan and a forecast for the season, and during the summer the budget was followed up continuously so that the money went to where the demand was.

The collaboration over time

  1. 2018

    A new account ahead of the season

    In March we rebuilt the ad account from the ground up with dedicated campaigns for Sommarland, the cabins and the campsite in Sweden and Norway. The account went live on 29 March, just as families began planning their summer.

    A log cabin with a veranda and pine trees around it at Leksand Resort
    One of the cabins at Leksand Resort

  2. Every booking counted

    From the first season every booking after a click on an ad was counted. It showed straight away which campaigns delivered bookings, and the budget could be moved there.

  3. 2019

    Families who had looked were reminded

    In February video ads on YouTube and display ads started for families who had visited the website without booking, so that they met Leksand again when the summer was being decided.

  4. Better than the forecast

    2019 was the first full year with the tracking in place, and the outcome beat the forecast we set in December 2018.

    Two climbers in helmets on a platform in the climbing course high above Lake Siljan
    In the air at Leksand Sommarland

  5. 2020

    The pandemic spring

    In March we paused all prospecting advertising and halved the budget. The advertising kept to people searching for Leksand, the cabins and the campsite, so that the budget was still there for the summer.

  6. An open theme park when demand turned

    Leksand Sommarland stayed open in summer 2020, and in June searches grew quickly. We raised the budget in step with demand and started campaigns for Sommarland on YouTube and in Discovery. In July the pressure on the campsite was very high.

    A family having lunch on a terrace overlooking Lake Siljan
    Lunch overlooking Lake Siljan

  7. Ticket purchases in the tracking

    During the autumn the Sommarland ticket shop got its own tracking, so that ticket purchases could also steer the advertising ahead of the next summer.

  8. 2021

    Five stars for the campsite

    In January the campsite at Leksand Resort became a five-star campsite.

    A bright living room in a cabin with large windows facing Lake Siljan
    The view of Lake Siljan from one of the cabins

  9. A doubled budget ahead of the summer

    In April Leksand Resort chose to double the ad budget to meet demand ahead of the summer.

  10. 2022

    Performance Max in the plan

    The plan for 2022 added Performance Max alongside the search ads, so that the ads reached families outside the search results as well.

  11. Part of First Camp

    In March Leksand Resort with Sommarland, the campsite and the cabins became part of First Camp.

  12. 2023

    New management and handover

    After the change of ownership the work was paused in autumn 2022, and in January 2023 we handed over the annual report for 2022 to the new management.

Results

Full year 2017 compared with full year 2022

+1 472%

Clicks from the ads

−91%

Cost per click

In 2022 the ads delivered 1 472% more clicks than in 2017, the year before we took over the account. The cost per click fell by 91% while the ad spend grew by 42%.

The figures cover all the advertising for the park, the cabins and the campsite. A large share of the clicks came from people searching for Leksand Sommarland and Leksand Resort, who now went straight to the right place.

2019 against the forecast

+10%

Booking value from the ads against the forecast

−17%

Ad spend against the plan

Before us the ad account did not measure any bookings at all. 2019 was the first full year with the tracking in place, and the booking value from the ads was 10% higher than the forecast we set in December 2018 for 17% less money than planned.

How Sommarland and the campsite developed

In summer 2020 Leksand Sommarland stayed open in the middle of the pandemic. From 2020 to 2022 revenue for Sommarland and the campsite grew by 132%.

+132%Net revenue 2020 to 2022

We started 2018181920212223
Net revenue for Leksand Sommarland and the campsite (Leksand Sommarland Strand AB) according to the annual reports, which are publicly available from 2020. The light purple area shows the years we worked together.

Leksand Resort's own sales report

Leksand Resort followed its sales week by week in a report of its own, with each channel's share of the revenue on the website.

19%Google Ads share of the revenue on the website in week 24 of 2019, according to Leksand Resort

“Google Ads accounted for 19% of the revenue.”
Leksand Resort sales report 2019, week 24, translated from Swedish

How we worked

Search ads for Sommarland, the cabins and the campsite

We rebuilt the Google Ads account with dedicated campaigns for Sommarland, the cabins and the campsite, so that each part got its budget according to how much it booked. Leksand Sommarland and Leksand Resort got campaigns of their own on their names so that people searching for them went straight to the right place.

Already in the first season it turned out that Sommarland carried the advertising. Sommarland's ads accounted for 65% of the booking value from the ads on 31% of the ad spend.

Tracking of every booking and ticket

Before us the ad account did not measure any bookings at all. From the first season every booking after a click on an ad was counted, so that the budget could be moved to the campaigns that delivered bookings.

In autumn 2020 the Sommarland ticket shop also got its own tracking, so that ticket purchases could steer the advertising ahead of the next summer.

Ads in Norwegian for Norwegian families

Norwegian families make up a large share of the guests by Lake Siljan. In the first season Norway got its own campaigns in Norwegian, and the Norwegian searches for camping returned more per krona spent than the Swedish ones.

YouTube and display for families planning their summer

From February 2019 video ads on YouTube and display ads were shown to families who had visited the website without booking, so that Leksand stayed on their minds while they planned the summer.

In summer 2020 Sommarland got campaigns of its own on YouTube and in Discovery.

The right keywords when click prices rose

Ahead of summer 2019 the competition for the broadest keywords grew and click prices rose. Within a few days we went through the keywords together with Leksand Resort and put the budget on the searches that led to bookings.

Brilliant, thank you very much. When competition grows and prices rise we need to be there and adjust which keywords we are prepared to pay for.

Linda Johansson

Former Marketing Manager at Leksand Resort

The collaboration in practice

  1. Meetings with Leksand Resort and the agency

    United Power held Leksand Resort's marketing together and we went through the advertising with the agency and from 2020 also directly with the marketing manager at Leksand Resort. The meetings covered bookings, searches and the next steps, so that the advertising followed what was happening at the resort during the season.

  2. A dashboard and a place in the weekly overview

    Leksand Resort and the agency followed the advertising in a dashboard, and our reports became part of the overview Leksand Resort went through every week. The advertising could then be judged together with the rest of the sales.

  3. A budget that followed the season

    During the season we followed the spend against the budget continuously. In 2018 and 2022 the advertising landed within 2% of the budget, and when demand grew the basis for raising it was there.

  4. A plan and a forecast ahead of every year

    Ahead of every season Leksand Resort received a plan with a budget per month and a forecast for bookings, so that the advertising could be decided together with the rest of the marketing budget and followed up against something agreed.

    DigitalMassa has done a really good job for Leksand Resort and always delivers as agreed.

    Erik Nyström

    Former Digital Strategist at United Power

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