I’m a little bit confused about the spend figures mentioned around these tourism initiatives of late (I won’t comment on the creative as everyone else is well and truly doing that) but, I am wondering about the spend levels.
I thought I had misread, but went back and checked - and the Digital Nomads initiative targeting Asia & US had a $100,000 spend referenced. (Have I misread that?) The latest Everyone Must Go campaign has a $500,000 budget mentioned. I’m assuming this is largely media spend - and a little production - if (as has been indicated) spend is largely radio and digital - then production could be small, tactical in nature - but still - it’s a very modest campaign spend to reach a global audience and convert them to book.
I know we must be very prudent with our spending, particularly from the public purse - but we also need to achieve outcomes. (These figures might sound large when mentioned in news articles - but everyone who has worked in media planning knows they are not).
How far will $500,000 get us in AU? After all, it needs to do a lot of things. It’s been a while since I poured over visitor data - but, one of the key aspects I noticed (and concentrated on) back when working full time in tourism (pre-covid) was that the huge arrival number from Australia (New Zealand’s largest source market of visitors) - included all international travellers who visited Australia before heading to NZ. That is - arrivals from Australia were not necessarily Australians.
So, for a start, we need to speak to both international travellers in Australia (who might be tempted to add on to their Australian visit) - AND Australians (who hopefully have been warmed up as Active Considerers through other means - and now are ready to convert, being told they “must go” - and (assuming the digital is going to link to irresistible pricing all over a dedicated landing page) book immediately. Fingers crossed. That said, it means we’re (as the ad suggests) “on sale now” - that is New Zealand is “on sale”.
Do we need to be?
I guess that’s another story.
I have spent a bit of time delving into this and now understand that the $500,000 mentioned for "Everyone Must Go" is essentially a 4 week govt funded boost to drive urgency, building on $3million+ already spent on "If You Seek". This $500,000 campaign is tactical and runs for 4 weeks - switching from brand (Seek) to performance (Must go). As annoying as it must be to have commentary from the cheap seats - this is effectively a live case study in tourism marketing that the whole country should be invested in. Tourism is a huge part of New Zealand's economy - before COVID-19, it was our largest export industry, delivering $40.9 billion to the country and creating jobs and opportunity throughout all regions.
(📤 Given These Guys I Know’s passion for and interest in the New Zealand tourism sector, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the coming months. Want to stay updated? Subscribe here!)
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