2013/2014 T-QUAL Accreditation Marketing Plan. Version 3.0

Transcription

1 2013/2014 T-QUAL Accreditation Marketing Plan Version 3.0 August 2013

2 Contents 1. Introduction Marketing Objectives Marketing Considerations Target Audience Marketing Approach Timeline of Activities... 8

3 1. Introduction T-QUAL Accreditation is the Australian Government s National Tourism Accreditation Framework (NTAF) developed by government and industry to promote quality experiences for tourism consumers by recognising sustainable and capable tourism operators nationally. Tourism Australia (TA) has primary responsibility for the development and implementation of the marketing strategy for T-QUAL Accreditation and its associated symbol of quality, the T-QUAL Tick. 2013/2014 will be the third year of marketing for T-QUAL Accreditation. The framework was first launched to the tourism industry at ATE11 by the Minister for Tourism. The consumer marketing activity then commenced in December of the same year with the subsequent marketing activity rolling out as follows: The objective of the consumer marketing has been to raise awareness of the T-QUAL Tick within the target audience of families. The marketing mix has consisted of advertising (digital and print), public relations (including social media), and search engine marketing activities. Additionally, upon the launch of the consumer marketing activity, Tourism Australia commenced the preferential listing of T-QUAL endorsed products on its consumer website, Australia.com, which now showcases the listings of nearly 6,000 T-QUAL endorsed products and services above those that are not T-QUAL endorsed. Furthermore, Tourism Australia has implemented an extensive program of industry communications to increase industry awareness of T-QUAL Accreditation and to provide stakeholders with the tools to communicate the framework through their channels. These communications have included the development of T-QUAL collateral, industry event sponsorships, industry presentations, webcasts, newsletters and the development and distribution of tools and copy to help the industry to talk T-QUAL. Consumer Research To enable the tracking of the progression of the consumer marketing activity for T-QUAL Accreditation, Tourism Australia has implemented consumer awareness research at the conclusion of each campaign. This consisted of a research agency conducting a study of 1,500 consumers who had travelled domestically in the preceding six months.

4 The objectives of the research were to: Measure awareness of the T-QUAL Tick; Measure what per cent of the target market had seen the marketing activity; and Investigate if there is emerging interest and intention to use the T-QUAL Tick for holiday planning. Consumer Research Results The results of each survey suggest that the consumer marketing activity has been successful with increases in awareness, sightings and intention to use the T-QUAL Tick % 59% 44% 31% 20% 35% 15% 15% Recall of marketing activity Intention to look for the T-QUAL Tick Recall of sighting the T-QUAL Tick Belief that T-QUAL is important This marketing plan outlines the proposed strategy for the 2013/2014 marketing activity for T-QUAL Accreditation. 2. Marketing Objectives The marketing activity will be measured on its impact on consumer awareness and intention to use the T-QUAL Tick, along with the satisfaction levels of the T-QUAL endorsed Quality Assurance Schemes (QAS). As the marketing budget is significantly less than for previous years, the focus will be on minimising the erosion of consumer awareness and QAS satisfaction levels, as shown below. Objective 1: Increase consumer awareness of the T-QUAL Tick by 2% Objective 2: Maintain consumer intention to utilise the T-QUAL Tick for holiday planning Objective 3: Maintain QAS satisfaction of marketing communications and delivery Each objective will be measured at the completion of the 2013/2014 campaign through the provision of consumer and QAS research.

5 3. Marketing Considerations With a smaller budget we need to be focused How do we effectively target industry and consumers but not spread ourselves too thinly? How do we continue to build relationships with QAS and develop them as advocates of T-QUAL? What opportunities are there to leverage Tourism Australia s other marketing platforms? What were the most successful channels utilised in the 2012/2013 campaign? Consumer media consumption and travel purchasing behaviours 4. Target Audience The 2013/2014 marketing campaign for T-QUAL Accreditation will focus on both consumers and the tourism industry as outlined below. Consumers Families (age range 30-54) Industry/International Families are the demographic that is travelling and spending the most domestically, Quality message resonates as reassurance around safety, comfort, variety, choice and options for supervision is important; Halo effect within older and younger demographics will ensure the greatest reach. The focus of the marketing spend will be on consumers however industry communications will be delivered through an industry communications plan that utilises the existing channels of: QAS, Tourism Australia, STOs; and International distribution partners (i.e. international wholesalers/retail partners who sell Australia to the international market) who will be targeted via TA s 13 overseas offices. Family Media Consumption Provided below is a snapshot of how the consumer target audience of families is currently consuming media (Source: Roy Morgan September 2012 Heavy, medium, light media consumption). Outdoor Cinema Internet Radio TV Magazines Newspapers incl NIMS Heavy Medium Light None 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% The findings of this study suggest that: Families are heavy digital users with 40% spending up to 15 hours per week online 25% are light readers of newspapers, with over 40% not reading a newspaper at all 35% are light magazine readers Please note, the Internet category on the graph above refers to how many hours consumers use the internet in an average week and includes utilisation of all websites including online news and social media.

6 5. Marketing Approach To reach the audiences outlined above, the marketing activity will be executed through advertising, public relations and Industry Awareness activities. Advertising The advertising for T-QUAL will be focused on reaching domestic consumers in the planning phase of holiday booking and will be delivered through digital channels. The diagram below provides an overview of the advertising strategy which is followed by a top line breakdown of the details of each channel. Re-instate TripAdvisor micro site (as this is the most visited travel site by our audience and their go-to site for verification and booking) from November 2013 April 2014 Implement behaviourally targeted ads (MRECs and Leaderboards), in the key holiday planning months of November December and March April, to users who have shown intent to travel domestically (using browser and search data) Capture demand and direct consumers to the TripAdvisor micro site with Search Engine Marketing The development of this strategy was based on the following considerations and learnings: Utilising the most successful digital advertising channel from the 2012/2013 marketing campaign (TripAdvisor), and the No 1. travel site for Australian s (reaching over 2 million consumers every month) Leveraging of equity established through existing content (which represents significant cost savings as there is no need for additional creative development) Reaching audiences outside of TripAdvisor through behavioural targeting Increasing the investment in Search Engine Marketing to allow us to increase our search presence at the key times that consumers are utilising the internet Roy Morgan research that identifies the target audience as heavy consumers of digital media.

7 Public Relations A specialist tourism PR agency will be contracted to develop a comprehensive media relations plan to assist in maintaining consumer awareness of T-QUAL, and to encourage consumers to book T-QUAL endorsed products over non T-QUAL endorsed products. Storylines and media angles that cite why the T-QUAL Tick is beneficial to consumers will be developed and pitched to consumer media to encourage the target audience to look for it when planning their Australian holidays. A media matrix that identifies angles and story lines that will be released to the media throughout the year to ensure continual messaging in industry and consumer media outlets. Industry Awareness The domestic and international tourism industry will be targeted via the following marketing communications activities: Direct mail of: o T-QUAL newsletter, o Marketing collateral; and o Marketing reports. Distribution of media releases to trade publications Distribution of T-QUAL messages for inclusion in industry newsletters Leveraging of presentations/events attended by TA colleagues, QAS, and industry stakeholders Collaboration with Convention Bureaus to distribute T-QUAL messages to operators Marketing update presentations to the Tourism Quality Council of Australia and QAS Delivery of two industry webcasts Promotion on Aussie Specialists Program website Key to the successful dissemination of marketing communications will be the continued development of stakeholder and industry relationships. Due to the reduction in budget, the T-QUAL team at Tourism Australia will no longer include a resource dedicated to industry communications. Tourism Australia s channels will therefore be leveraged to assist in the dissemination of information to the tourism industry.

8 6. Timeline of Activities The table below presents the key events and milestones for the campaign. Activity Project 2013/2014 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Planning Agency briefing and the development of the marketing plan Sign off TQCA approval of the marketing plan Advertising TripAdvisor micro site Advertising Behavioural targeting Advertising Search Engine Marketing Public Relations Ongoing media relations Marketing presentations to the TQCA Marketing presentations to the T-QUAL endorsed Quality Assurance Schemes Marketing report T-QUAL newsletter T-QUAL webcast