SWT was responsible for creating and promoting a distinct regional identity. Their challenge was to match tourism suppliers with the most appropriate market segments.

In 2003, SWT identified seven main customer bands to the region, based on life-stage and socio-economic profiles:

1. Young, Free and Singles, aged 16–24, with relatively low budgets.

2. DINKS (double income, no kids) and SINKS (single income, no kids) are affluent and aged 25–35.

3–5. Families with either pre-, primary or secondary school aged children.

6. Empty Nesters, aged late 40s to 60s and affluent.

7.Third Agers, aged 70+ and affluent.

Each band varies in terms of length of stay, time of travel, lead-in time, use of the internet to research trips, type of attractions and amenities required, and budget.

SWT then matched the benefits sought by its leisure tourists to the relevant customer bands. They developed 10 clear market segments, including:

• Sheer Indulgence – Seek luxury and pampering. Require luxury accommodation. Activities include cuisine, art galleries, unique shops, spa treatments, golf. Target market: SINKS, DINKS, Empty Nesters, Parents (without their children).
• It’s Adventure! – Seek challenges, thrills and new experiences. Activities include surfing, sailing, paragliding, body-boarding. May camp, self-cater or stay in hotels. Target market: Young, Free and Singles, SINKS, DINKS, families with secondary school-aged children.

SWT’s promotional campaigns for each segment used images and words that conveyed the experiences on offer.

Tripadvisor was set up in 2000 to provide a forum for members to review their travel experiences and share them with site visitors. They now have 18 different review sites that are visited by 50 million monthly viewers (tripadvisor, 2011).

Tripadvisor’s stated mission is to ‘Help people around the world plan and have the perfect trip’. They do this by allowing non-members to read reviews of tourism products before making reservations themselves. Reviewers rate their experience on a scale from ‘excellent’ to ‘terrible’ and provide descriptions and photos. In the event of a poor review, proprietors can post replies with explanations and descriptions of remedial action.

Molesworth Manor, a family-run 13 room hotel in south-west England, has 43 reviews on tripadvisor; it’s average rating is ‘excellent’. Geoff and Jess French, the proprietors, consider tripadvisor to be a valuable marketing tool that communicates positive messages about their hotel to a very wide audience that they could not reach independently. They monitor their reviews regularly to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their product, and consider that the majority of their new customers check their tripadvisor rating before making a booking.

Disney operates cruises in the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Europe and Alaska. They own a Bahamian island, Castaway Cay, at which all Bahamian and Caribbean cruises call.

Disney promises that their cruises are ‘dreams’, ‘magic’, ‘enchantment’ and ‘paradise’, and targets the family and couples markets. To deliver these promises for each passenger, Disney augments the formal cruise product carefully. Customer segments are carefully managed to deliver ‘paradise’ to those with varying expectations.

On board facilities, activities, catering and entertainment are tailored for adults, teenagers, and children:

• Adults have an exclusive pool, spa, fitness centre, restaurant, pub, piano bar and nightclub, and group activities like wine tasting and cooking classes.
• Teenagers have a private lounge with activities and a nightclub.
• Children have a customised deck with supervised splash pools, games, age appropriate play areas, entertainment, Disney characters, and organised childcare from morning to midnight.

Families dine together in a different restaurant each night. Their servers are the same each night to encourage familiarity with the individual needs of each group. Castaway Cay is zoned as Serenity Bay for adults only, a family beach, a teenagers’ activity area, and a supervised kids/play area.

Source: Disney Cruise Lines (2010)

In 2003, Gatwick’s then owner, BAA, introduced a service guarantee to airlines operating at LGW. This Service Quality Rebate Scheme sets strict targets for service performance; if targets are not met, airlines will receive a fee rebate.

The scheme identifies key service process points that affect service quality for airlines and passengers:

• The availability of passenger sensitive equipment (lifts, escalators, moving walkways), baggage reclaim belts, runway capacity and airfield equipment (stands, piers, jetties, power supplies).
• Security queuing times.
• Passenger perceptions of the airport (seat availability in lounges, cleanliness, ease of wayfinding, flight information).

The ongoing Quality of Service Monitor Survey measures passenger perceptions of LGW and the airport’s own data measure equipment availability. Scores are calculated and published each month. If individual criteria targets are not met, airlines will receive a rebate. The maximum rebate is 7 per cent of airport charges, which equates to £17 million a year. In 2008, a rebate of £69,659 was given each month from April to September because the target for direct passenger access between aircraft and terminal building was not met.

The scheme also incentivises improved service quality by rewarding the airport with bonuses if targets are exceeded.

Source: Gatwick Airport (2010)

In 2009, Tourism Queensland (TQ) launched an innovative and ground-breaking interactive communications campaign to raise awareness in global experience seekers in eight international markets of the 100+ islands in Queensland.

Attractions include beautiful beaches, rainforests, coral reefs and wildlife, and experiences include snorkelling, diving, kayaking, sailing and walking. To create a distinct identity, TQ branded the region ‘Islands of the Great Barrier Reef’ and developed a communications campaign embracing digital marketing technology using social media, viral campaigning, and user-generated content.

TQ sought to increase global awareness of the islands through a competition, with one prize of ‘The Best Job in the World’. The job was Island Caretaker and the winner would write a weekly blog about the islands. They would live in a three-bedroomed villa with pool on Hamilton Island for six months, with a salary of AU$150,000.

The campaign was launched with small classified print adverts on newspaper recruitment pages in target market regions and online recruitment websites. The adverts presented the location as ‘Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia’, and directed interested readers to the website www.islandreefjob.com, which featured stunning images of the islands showing the attractions and activities there.

Applicants had to submit a 60-second video presentation explaining why they should win. Visitors to the website could watch the videos and vote for applicants. The applicant with the most votes would be interviewed, along with 10 applicants chosen by the judges.

The campaign was supported by a presence on YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, by banner advertising on websites, and through regular press releases updating TV and print media about the progress of the competition.

In the first weekend after the campaign launched the website received 200,000 hits, with 25,000 in one hour alone. Publicity for the islands gained momentum through viral messages as friends spread the details via email and social media networks. The caretaker job became a news item on major TV news networks such as CNN, BBC and ABC, and articles were written in magazines and newspapers globally. Internet discussion groups, bulletin boards and blogs were also set up by potential applicants, as well as a website to share ideas and tips.

Almost 35,000 applicants from 197 countries applied, and the winner was a 34-year-old British man.

TQ estimates that the campaign generated media coverage worth AU$400 million and reached an audience of 3 billion globally.

The campaign won six awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in 2009 and has been voted 8th in the top 50 PR stunts of all time.

TQ capitalised on increased awareness of the islands by setting up a competition for families to win a holiday there, ‘The Best Experience in the World’, issuing regular press releases about the winner’s activities and publishing his blog on the TQ website. They arrange regular fam trips for intermediaries from the eight target markets, to train them on the attractions of holidays there.

Source: Tourism Queensland (2009)

Reflective Questions

1. Which elements of the communications mix were blended in TQ’s campaign?
2. What advantages did TQ’s approach offer that could not have been achieved through traditional print, radio and TV advertising alone?