Baldwins Travel has won £30,000 after securing funding at the opening round of a Royal Caribbean International’s Dragons’ Den-style competition designed to help agencies grow their businesses.
The Kent-headquartered agency’s idea centred on a social media competition set to run this summer in which consumers can win a cruise by posting a selfie in front of a buggy branded with Baldwins and Royal’s logos.
The aim of the competition is to create a buzz about the cruise line among the local community with the help of social media and radio, the agency said.
Baldwins has eight branches across Kent and East Sussex and 57 staff, who can also win a prize by actively encouraging people to post and enter the main consumer competition.
Emma McHugh, Atlantic Travel; Steve Philippou, Passion for Cruises; and Perfect Getaways’ Dave Palmer and Michael Blackburn also bagged cash to boost their Royal bookings at The Royal Pitch event held in the line’s UK offices in Weybridge on Wednesday (June 8).
The five shortlisted agencies pitched their ideas to a judging panel, featuring Ben Bouldin, Royal’s vice-president, EMEA; Stuart Byron, the line’s UK & Ireland sales director; and entrepreneur Levi Roots, who rose to fame by appearing in BBC2 programme Dragons’ Den in 2007.
Bouldin said: “[The Royal Pitch] competition is a way of us reconnecting with agents.”
Explaining why the panel handed the largest share of the £200,000 prize fund to Baldwins, Bouldin said: “We just thought it was a nice idea that was fun and light hearted.
“It would be a really nice story for a local newspaper in the area to follow up. It’s tangible. We looked at it commercially.”
Byron said: “It’s tough as you cannot please everyone but it’s about finding the real nuggets that can drive mutual business. The one thing that we pride ourselves on is innovation.
“Agents have had a particularly tough time as they’re absolutely on the frontline.”
Five of the 12 video entries submitted by the agent community went through to the in-person pitch at the opening round. In total, £44,000 was split among four agent entrants on the day.
“People were a bit nervous about doing the video,” Byron said. “But you just need to get excited about your idea and we’ll give you a ticket to the competition.”
Roots said: “It was a really inspirational day and this time I was on the other side of the fence.”
Entries for the next round of The Royal Pitch competition open on Monday (June 13). Royal will collect entries over a four-week period.
To enter, agents need to submit a video explaining their idea and requested investment via the Club Royal website. The video entry must last no more than five minutes.