From Legacy to a Digital Future: A Safari Brand Transformation
For a century, our client's safari brand was built on its heritage. In the modern travel market, however, its legacy systems were holding it back.
Our work with the fifth-generation, family-run operator began with managing their social media. It quickly became clear the real opportunity was deeper: a full transformation of their sales and marketing operations to build a growth engine for the future.
The Diagnosis: A Powerful Story, Outdated Systems
The client is one of the most respected safari operators in Africa. The brand's story was powerful; its business systems were not. The core problem was delivery.
Fragmented Operations: Sales and marketing operated in silos, with no effective systems to capture, qualify, or convert market demand.
Untapped Potential: A B2B trade network of over 4,000 agents was managed with traditional, non-scalable methods.
Reactive Engagement: Customer support was not equipped for the 24/7 engagement that modern luxury travelers and trade partners expect.
The challenge was to build a modern commercial engine that matched the quality of their legacy.
The Strategy: A Phased
Approach to Transformation
Our strategy was an evolving partnership, moving through three distinct phases: Consultancy, Conversion, and Concierge. This framework allowed us to re-engineer their commercial function from the ground up.
Consultancy We started with a full diagnostic of their commercial operations. We found significant gaps in their direct booking process and sales workflows. The first step was to redesign their operational blueprint for a digital-first world.
Conversion With the new blueprint, we built a conversion engine for both B2C guests and their B2B trade network. For their 4,000+ agents, we created a dual-path journey: high-intent agents received direct, high-touch engagement, while others entered an automated nurturing funnel using content, WhatsApp, and newsletters.
Concierge to maximize lead capture, we deployed an AI-powered concierge for the website and for B2B agents. It provided 24/7 engagement, qualified inquiries instantly, and integrated with a new CRM, sending a clean pipeline of leads directly to the sales team.
The Results: A Digitally-Ready Heritage Brand
The outcome was a shift from a reactive, legacy operation to a proactive, digitally-enabled business.
A Unified Commercial Engine: We connected sales and marketing with a cohesive B2B and B2C growth system powered by CRM and AI.
Activated B2B Network: The new workflows strengthened relationships with over 4,000 trade agents, resulting in a higher-quality pipeline.
24/7 Lead Capture: The AI concierge captured and qualified every inquiry, eliminating lead leakage and improving response times.
A Scalable Future: The brand is now a digitally-ready luxury safari property, positioned for global growth.
Key Takeaway: A Great Story Needs a Great System
Our first case study focused on creating a market for a new destination. This case study addresses the next challenge: equipping an established brand with the systems to capitalize on its story.
A strong brand story requires a robust commercial system to scale. Sustainable growth happens when the two are integrated, ensuring a brand's legacy can power its future.
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