By Michael Carney
This little tale demonstrates how advertising can shape an image - and
sometimes send the wrong messages to consumers ....!
In Oregon, the Tourism Commission set out some years ago to "brand" the state to create an awareness that Oregon means a special quality of life where nature and the built environment co-exist; where "fresh" and "clean" permeate the food products and natural environment; where culture is alive and their heritage is showcased.
The Tourism Commission created campaigns designed to communicate this broad message, and invited other government agencies and the private sector to join in under the "Brand Oregon" umbrella. They created a slogan, "Oregon. Things Look Different Here" to express a special sense of place.
While the Tourism Commission created award-winning, "stand-out" ads that focused on Oregon's quality of life, they really didn't have a handle on how well their brand marketing efforts were working. Research was always a component of the planned tourism programme, but budget limitations resulted in only very general focus groups (both with travel professionals and consumers), visitor profile, and ad conversion data.
[WE NOTE: This is a typically short-sighted situation with any advertising campaign - let's rely on gut instinct to see if this works, because we spent all the research budget already!]
Eventually the Tourism Commission made a commitment to analyse their marketing efforts, and contracted a three-tiered research programme:
• an overnight visitor profile
• an advertising effectiveness study; and
• an image study
A key component of this research was to compare Oregon's image and product to U.S. regional and national norms.
While the Commission determined that their tourism advertising was indeed effective, generating 402,000 new trips at a cost of $1.22 per trip, they also found that Oregon's image is not as strong as Washington, British Columbia and California. They learned that Oregon doesn't stack up to their West Coast neighbours in terms of excitement, unique opportunities, and being entertaining. When they looked critically at their ads and messages, they indeed found that they all reinforced a pristine, beautiful environment, but one that offered little in terms of things to do.
Interestingly, they also discovered that people who had been to Oregon rated their experiences extremely highly, and that Oregon's actual tourism product is rated much higher than its image for those who have visited. In other words, Oregon's advertising-created image doesn't live up to the product!
As far as dilemmas go, perhaps this was a good one, as it required a communication solution, not a major infrastructure shift.
Armed with this new data, the Tourism Commission has moved to build Oregon's image in categories such as excitement, having cultural amenities and being a real adventure.
The first thing they did was to change their ad campaign to focus on "capturing the moment" and showing people having fun. Yes, Oregon is beautiful, and yes, the ads are still cutting edge, but they now communicate that there are things to do in Oregon.
Additionally, the Tourism Commission began building partnerships with cultural organisations & destinations in order to launch a cultural tourism campaign, with public relations and other marketing elements. Oregon has high-end resorts, world-class golf, fantastic regional cuisine, award-winning wines, 62 districts on the National Register of Historic Places, nearly 500 museums and art galleries, nine native tribes, and four National Historic Trails. All of these cultural amenities are backdropped by the incredible scenery and geographic diversity. The new challenge was to package Oregon's culture with this beauty.
The investment in research has demonstrated the importance of crafting a message that communicates what life in Oregon really is, not solely natural beauty.
A useful lesson.
You Can Contact Michael Carney on 021 1493 403 or editor@marketingweek.co.nz
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