The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Terschelling sold its dark sky to fill the empty season
An island famous for summer beaches marketed winter stargazing to 'adventure seekers'; €46k of media brought €1.29m in media value and direct bookings.
Terschellinger Ondernemersfonds
The solution
Terschelling, a Dutch Wadden island, saw 7.7% fewer visitors in 2023 than 2022 while rival Vlieland lost only 4.5%; the high season was full, but entrepreneurs had to earn most of the year's revenue in five months. The Terschellinger Ondernemersfonds, ferry operator Rederij Doeksen and partners wanted the September–April season to work.
The island owns a rare asset for that season: the Boschplaat nature reserve is an official Dark Sky Park, one of very few places in the Netherlands where the night is truly dark. Sherpa's Stories built a campaign around a childhood dream — becoming an astronaut — targeting 'adventure seekers' with media, and crucially also ran a pilot that converted awareness into bookings instead of leaving sales to island businesses.
On a budget of €46,126, the campaign reached 4,138,394 people, produced €1,289,230 in media value and €268,845 in measured economic impact; streetlights in Oosterend were adapted so the sky stays dark, and entrepreneurs received content and dark-sky packages to hook onto.
Why it worked
- The off-season's constraint (darkness) became the USP
- A joint campaign let one budget drive awareness and bookings
- Nostalgia made an abstract asset emotional
- Local streetlight changes made the promise physically true
What can be applied
A destination's slow season often holds its most distinctive asset: market the thing only that season can offer and pair awareness with a booking pilot so attention becomes revenue.
Aftermath
The campaign won the bronze Effie NL 2024 (Gedrag Kort) and was also a GPCM winner; Terschelling kept the dark-sky positioning as a year-round reason to visit.
Sources
- Dark Sky Terschelling: je hoeft geen astronaut te zijn om de sterren te bewonderen.
- Hoe maak je een 'Dark Sky' tot usp van het eiland Terschelling
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