For my sins, I have in a previous existence been exposed to "marketing". I express this in inverted commas as marketing can cover a multitude of sins, not all of them my own. Occasionally, one hears someone announce they are in "marketing" or they do "marketing", and one has a sneaking suspicion that it involves little more than a passing acquaintance with Photoshop and some form of blurb or slogan.
The "marketing" of my acquaintance delved into the mysteries of the recipient of marketing. This is the land of segmentation and psychographics, of behaviour, aspirations and lifestyles. It is its own world of profiling allied to, inter alia, the attributes of a brand and the consumer decision. It is a science, only some of which is bunkum.
Over the years this has produced an endless supply of consumer groups, defined by an apparent commonality of beliefs and values, often predicated on age. These groups can slot into the "niche", so beloved of the diviners of tourism products. A great deal is heard about these groups and niches, normally only by people who are talking to each other in this fantastical world of "marketing".
It's light years from where it was. The yuppie and the baby boomer were arguably the first time the general public became aware of this marketing mumbo jumbo, though there had been previous classifications, one of which took some time to be appreciated. In the 1950s, courtesy of Bill Haley and Elvis, the "teenager" truly began to emerge from behind the leather patches and frocks of parental hand-me-downs. A considerable time later there was the "child". The youngest members of the household had acquired the power to guide purchasing decisions. Seen and definitely also heard, when it came to the next holiday: "We want all-inclusive." Parental will buckled. Anything for peace and quiet, which of course they did not get.
Today, everything is micro-marketing-managed. The Canary Islands, highly innovative in understanding and using social media, have hooked up with Facebook in a personalised, customised marketing campaign. It is just one isolated case example of the marketing gold to be mined from Big Data. The technologies drive the marketing. This is a reason why the tourism industry in the Balearics is keen for the university to establish a tourism and technology combined degree. The tourist (and potential tourist) exists in a technological bubble, one often of the tourist's making, so incapable is he or she of switching off from the technology.
It is the data that determines the customising and the ever-reducing scale of the niche. Yet there remains the scope for the broader brush. We now, therefore, have Generation Z, and they are the ones to have inherited the Earth that was discovered circa mid-1950s. They are currently aged between twelve and twenty. The marketing genii are invading their collective consciousness via Snapchat and Instagram, and they - Generation Z - have and will have their own defined attributes and attitudes to mould tourism decision-making, just as the Millennials (Generation Y) and previous classifications had and have. The genii have decreed it thus.
While so much of this can appear to be overhyped, there has to be some merit to it or they wouldn't keep on coming up with classifications and their corresponding marketing approaches. There may be no more to it than - to use a now somewhat disgraced concept - "marginal gains", but if gains are to be extracted, then why not pursue them?
When it comes to tourism, and I'm thinking here of the bread-and-butter tourism of Mallorca and the Balearics, generations may have a tendency to coalesce. There is of course greater technology, sophistication, demand for quality, but aren't tourists ultimately as they have ever been, not least when they look at the cost, whether there's a good beach, whether the sun shines?
In the highly competitive market for the tourism bread and butter it is about emotional appeal as much as it might be price. Emotion is a powerful force in determining tourist loyalty, which Mallorca has had by the bucket and spade full, though is in danger of losing thanks to cack-handed anti-marketing like the tourist tax. If technologies, the customisation and the micro-marketing represent the panacea, then Mallorca needs to adopt them and use them with emotional force. It is failing to do so, and even with what can seem like a hit-or-miss approach of niche marketing, it is also failing.
Gastronomy tourism - you'll have heard of that niche - is its own little panacea for attracting the off-season and high-quality tourist. Want to know something? In a study of the demand for gastronomy tourism, the Balearics are rank bottom of all the regions of Spain.
Is there anyone in "marketing" or doing "marketing"? Maybe there is. Of course there is. They come up with slogans.
Showing posts with label Tourism marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tourism marketing. Show all posts
Friday, January 12, 2018
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
I Need A Slogan Change
When the "I Need Spain" slogan was launched at the start of 2010, I asked certain questions. Why does one need Spain? Was it some form of competition for which you had to add the missing words? I Need Spain like I need an enormous budget deficit, that sort of thing. Shouldn't the slogan be in a different order? Spain needs you, and at the time it most definitely did. As things turned out, I wasn't the only commentator to have considered that the slogan should have been Spain needs you. The reversal of the slogan's word order became something of a trade joke.
Nearly four years on from the slogan's launch there is discussion of changing "I Need Spain". It is questionable whether four years is too short or too long a period for a slogan to be current, but the length of time isn't the issue. If the slogan has failed to do what it should do, then extending its lifetime isn't going to make it any better. In addition, four years in the travel and tourism industry is a long time. Markets change, products are launched; tourism is an industry in which it is necessary to stay one step ahead and to constantly be looking to the future.
Has "I Need Spain" failed to do what it should do? It's an almost impossible question to answer. While tourism has risen, to attribute this to the slogan would be ludicrous. Tourism has risen in part because of events in other countries. How much of it is even down to marketing (and not the slogan alone) by the national tourism institute Turespaña is anyone's guess.
"I Need Spain", as slogans for countries go, isn't by any means the worst. Very often they are no more than one-word slogans. Adjectives. It's hard to believe that there are in fact sufficient adjectives to enable all countries to indulge in this one-word sloganising, unless they borrow from other countries the lazy adoption of "inspiring", "incredible" or "magical". Indeed, "I Need Spain" was a vast improvement on what Spain had for two years between 2003 and 2005. Who can forget the slogan "Spain marks"? No, sorry, who can remember it? And what on earth did it mean?
Is it in fact essential that there is a slogan? If they're not much good and so are not memorable and do not convey a degree of emotion that would make the punter recognise the slogan and remember it, then it's probably as well not bothering. But the slogan is tourism marketing de rigueur; there has to be one, even if it doesn't really say anything.
In the marketing world there is a debate as to what constitutes a good slogan. One side says that it should be short, the other side says that it should be long (and by long, one means no more than ten or a dozen words). For tourism, though, there is a problem with longer slogans. One is getting the slogan onto banners at travel fairs (and I'm serious, this is an issue), another is how well it might translate. Though "I Need Spain" has been globally in English, it is reasonably understandable to many nationalities. Create a longer slogan, and it might not be.
Nike is a brand that has opted for the short slogan and used it hugely effectively. "Just do it" is not only simple, it is also strong and has an emotional element - one which says don't sit around thinking about it, get on and do it. It is a global slogan, even if it might not be readily meaningful in many countries, but its power as a global slogan lies with its role within the Nike approach to marketing as a whole. It is easier for a large business with deep pockets and with a focused set of products to brand itself effectively than it is for a country. And Spain as a country is a diverse set of products. One slogan that is representative of the whole country is a huge challenge.
"I Need Spain" isn't actually a bad slogan. The use of "need" is quite powerful. The problem with it has arisen because it has been so easy to take the mickey out of. But I'm not sure that it conveys anything and I'm certainly not sure that it has become particularly recognisable, except to those close to the tourism industry. For any slogan, short or long, to work it has to stick in the mind and to mean something, which is why "Just do it" is so good.
The slogan may be changed or it may not be, but there is a separate issue about slogans, one that tackles Spain's great diversity. Its individual parts, like Mallorca, could do with ones of their own, but given the track record with tourism marketing in Mallorca, I dread to think what someone might dream up. And more to the point, they would dream a slogan up and believe that it is the focus of the marketing effort. That it most certainly isn't.
Nearly four years on from the slogan's launch there is discussion of changing "I Need Spain". It is questionable whether four years is too short or too long a period for a slogan to be current, but the length of time isn't the issue. If the slogan has failed to do what it should do, then extending its lifetime isn't going to make it any better. In addition, four years in the travel and tourism industry is a long time. Markets change, products are launched; tourism is an industry in which it is necessary to stay one step ahead and to constantly be looking to the future.
Has "I Need Spain" failed to do what it should do? It's an almost impossible question to answer. While tourism has risen, to attribute this to the slogan would be ludicrous. Tourism has risen in part because of events in other countries. How much of it is even down to marketing (and not the slogan alone) by the national tourism institute Turespaña is anyone's guess.
"I Need Spain", as slogans for countries go, isn't by any means the worst. Very often they are no more than one-word slogans. Adjectives. It's hard to believe that there are in fact sufficient adjectives to enable all countries to indulge in this one-word sloganising, unless they borrow from other countries the lazy adoption of "inspiring", "incredible" or "magical". Indeed, "I Need Spain" was a vast improvement on what Spain had for two years between 2003 and 2005. Who can forget the slogan "Spain marks"? No, sorry, who can remember it? And what on earth did it mean?
Is it in fact essential that there is a slogan? If they're not much good and so are not memorable and do not convey a degree of emotion that would make the punter recognise the slogan and remember it, then it's probably as well not bothering. But the slogan is tourism marketing de rigueur; there has to be one, even if it doesn't really say anything.
In the marketing world there is a debate as to what constitutes a good slogan. One side says that it should be short, the other side says that it should be long (and by long, one means no more than ten or a dozen words). For tourism, though, there is a problem with longer slogans. One is getting the slogan onto banners at travel fairs (and I'm serious, this is an issue), another is how well it might translate. Though "I Need Spain" has been globally in English, it is reasonably understandable to many nationalities. Create a longer slogan, and it might not be.
Nike is a brand that has opted for the short slogan and used it hugely effectively. "Just do it" is not only simple, it is also strong and has an emotional element - one which says don't sit around thinking about it, get on and do it. It is a global slogan, even if it might not be readily meaningful in many countries, but its power as a global slogan lies with its role within the Nike approach to marketing as a whole. It is easier for a large business with deep pockets and with a focused set of products to brand itself effectively than it is for a country. And Spain as a country is a diverse set of products. One slogan that is representative of the whole country is a huge challenge.
"I Need Spain" isn't actually a bad slogan. The use of "need" is quite powerful. The problem with it has arisen because it has been so easy to take the mickey out of. But I'm not sure that it conveys anything and I'm certainly not sure that it has become particularly recognisable, except to those close to the tourism industry. For any slogan, short or long, to work it has to stick in the mind and to mean something, which is why "Just do it" is so good.
The slogan may be changed or it may not be, but there is a separate issue about slogans, one that tackles Spain's great diversity. Its individual parts, like Mallorca, could do with ones of their own, but given the track record with tourism marketing in Mallorca, I dread to think what someone might dream up. And more to the point, they would dream a slogan up and believe that it is the focus of the marketing effort. That it most certainly isn't.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Love Croatia: More Mallorcan marketing failure
ABTA's decision to not stage its annual convention in Mallorca next year is surprising insofar as the intention to return two years after the emergency relocation to Mallorca in 2011 had been signalled at last year's convention. But, and lest anyone forgets this, there are plenty of other destinations that ABTA can choose from, just as there are plenty of other destinations that tourists can choose from.
From a personal point of view, the decision is disappointing. While there are plenty who look upon an ABTA gathering as one big photo opportunity, it is - for those who can be bothered - an occasion to learn about what is happening in the world of travel and specifically about what is at the cutting edge.
Tourism and travel are nothing without good marketing. While most within the travel industry would understand this, a perception persists that marketing equals something specific - the glossy approach, the magazine, the expensive advert, the hyperbole of a clichéd article or brochure description. This is the glamour part of a supposedly glamour industry. There is a place for glamour, unquestionably there is, but there is also marketing which is as important if not more so - it is the geeky, nerdish part: the systems, the operations, the technology.
Last year's convention was dominated by technology: by the use of social media, apps, voice recognition, search facilities, you name it. For the technology savvy or the gadget freak, it was convention heaven. For the technology indifferent or technology sceptic, it was hell on Mallorcan earth.
When it comes to technology, there are those who get it and those who don't. As a consequence, prejudices and assumptions are created depending upon which of the technology poles one is connected to: the positive or the negative. The result is that tourism marketing is either technology-driven and little else or it is technology passive, if that. The truth, of course, lies somewhere between the two poles.
One example of this is the use of mobile apps. At one extreme, there is a view which suggests that apps are the only game in tourism marketing town; at the other, there is no view - apps may as well be invisible. Neither view is correct. All the technologies that have sprung up in recent years have created a sub-category of one of the 4Ps of marketing; promotion has its own marketing mix of a multitude of media, none of which can be neglected.
But many of these media, if not neglected, are nevertheless treated less than well. Moreover, a lack of appreciation as to what these different media can do creates a marketing disadvantage, and it is not as if this appreciation needs to be marketing rocket science.
Take Facebook. ABTA is going to stage its convention in Croatia next year. It is one of the destinations that is a key competitor for Mallorca (some would say its biggest). As a simple experiment, I typed "Croatia Facebook" into Google and then typed in "Mallorca Facebook" and "Majorca Facebook". Try it yourselves if you want, but if not let me tell you that the first Google entry for Croatia led to a "Love Croatia" Facebook page; 788,634 likes for the "official" Facebook page of Croatia. The Mallorca ones? The results offer absolutely nothing similar; they are fragmented and inconsequential, and fragmented is unfortunately a synonym for Mallorcan tourism marketing.
Four Pillars, the UK hotel group, has just issued the results of a survey into the use of social media. This found, among other things, that 52% of Facebook users said that friends' photos had inspired their holiday choice. It also found, and so confirming previous research which has pointed to the diminishing importance of established media, that 92% "trusted" recommendations above all other forms of advertising (only 47% "trust" TV, magazine or newspaper ads).
This survey emphasises the importance of Facebook and of review sites such as Trip Advisor. These social media have supplanted conventional websites and established print and broadcast media as the main means of travel and tourism communication. It's the reality. There can be no scepticism any longer. Yet in Mallorca, there is a lousy and outmoded web presence provided by tourism authorities (and others) who should know better by now. There is an absence of an official and coherent use of social media and an apparent absence of anyone directing tourism marketing who appears to appreciate them.
ABTA knows all about technology and all about the importance of media technologies for today's tourism. It has decided to give Mallorca a miss next year. But in preferring Croatia, there may be more to the decision than it simply being a case of Buggins's turn. 788,634 people can't be wrong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
From a personal point of view, the decision is disappointing. While there are plenty who look upon an ABTA gathering as one big photo opportunity, it is - for those who can be bothered - an occasion to learn about what is happening in the world of travel and specifically about what is at the cutting edge.
Tourism and travel are nothing without good marketing. While most within the travel industry would understand this, a perception persists that marketing equals something specific - the glossy approach, the magazine, the expensive advert, the hyperbole of a clichéd article or brochure description. This is the glamour part of a supposedly glamour industry. There is a place for glamour, unquestionably there is, but there is also marketing which is as important if not more so - it is the geeky, nerdish part: the systems, the operations, the technology.
Last year's convention was dominated by technology: by the use of social media, apps, voice recognition, search facilities, you name it. For the technology savvy or the gadget freak, it was convention heaven. For the technology indifferent or technology sceptic, it was hell on Mallorcan earth.
When it comes to technology, there are those who get it and those who don't. As a consequence, prejudices and assumptions are created depending upon which of the technology poles one is connected to: the positive or the negative. The result is that tourism marketing is either technology-driven and little else or it is technology passive, if that. The truth, of course, lies somewhere between the two poles.
One example of this is the use of mobile apps. At one extreme, there is a view which suggests that apps are the only game in tourism marketing town; at the other, there is no view - apps may as well be invisible. Neither view is correct. All the technologies that have sprung up in recent years have created a sub-category of one of the 4Ps of marketing; promotion has its own marketing mix of a multitude of media, none of which can be neglected.
But many of these media, if not neglected, are nevertheless treated less than well. Moreover, a lack of appreciation as to what these different media can do creates a marketing disadvantage, and it is not as if this appreciation needs to be marketing rocket science.
Take Facebook. ABTA is going to stage its convention in Croatia next year. It is one of the destinations that is a key competitor for Mallorca (some would say its biggest). As a simple experiment, I typed "Croatia Facebook" into Google and then typed in "Mallorca Facebook" and "Majorca Facebook". Try it yourselves if you want, but if not let me tell you that the first Google entry for Croatia led to a "Love Croatia" Facebook page; 788,634 likes for the "official" Facebook page of Croatia. The Mallorca ones? The results offer absolutely nothing similar; they are fragmented and inconsequential, and fragmented is unfortunately a synonym for Mallorcan tourism marketing.
Four Pillars, the UK hotel group, has just issued the results of a survey into the use of social media. This found, among other things, that 52% of Facebook users said that friends' photos had inspired their holiday choice. It also found, and so confirming previous research which has pointed to the diminishing importance of established media, that 92% "trusted" recommendations above all other forms of advertising (only 47% "trust" TV, magazine or newspaper ads).
This survey emphasises the importance of Facebook and of review sites such as Trip Advisor. These social media have supplanted conventional websites and established print and broadcast media as the main means of travel and tourism communication. It's the reality. There can be no scepticism any longer. Yet in Mallorca, there is a lousy and outmoded web presence provided by tourism authorities (and others) who should know better by now. There is an absence of an official and coherent use of social media and an apparent absence of anyone directing tourism marketing who appears to appreciate them.
ABTA knows all about technology and all about the importance of media technologies for today's tourism. It has decided to give Mallorca a miss next year. But in preferring Croatia, there may be more to the decision than it simply being a case of Buggins's turn. 788,634 people can't be wrong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Then We Take Berlin
Another holiday fair, another chance for the Mallorcan tourist roadshow to hit town. Now they take Berlin, as every year for the ITB fair, perhaps the most important of all the holiday trade fairs given that Mallorca is almost a state of Germany. All the VIPs are pitching up, including Balearic Government top man Francesc Antich, who has been putting it about at these fairs. Respect to him, and so much for those who have criticised him for not placing tourism at the heart of his agenda. As far as I'm aware, there has been nary sight of nor guitar-chord from the current "face" of Mallorca, Paco de Lucia. I did wonder what being a face of Mallorca did actually entail. Not much it seems, but if he does turn up and does a swift karaoke spot, then my apologies.
Noises from Berlin suggest that this year's German invasion will be every bit as good as last year's. With the Brits also holding their own, and despite the gloom surrounding the economies of Europe, the soon-to-start season would seem to be in reasonable shape. The main concern is mainland Spanish tourism, but as I've pointed out before this is of minor consequence for the north of the island.
At the fair they are still banging on about what Mallorca has to offer all year; still banging on about the same old stuff. Someone told me that some 25,000 German cyclists come to Mallorca over the late winter and early spring. This may sound a lot, but when you consider that the whole visitor "population" for the year is around 11 million, you get a sense of the perspective. Nevertheless, cycling is one of the all-year attractions Mallorca is parading in Berlin together with the other usual suspects and now also Nordic walking. They keep on adding these other bits and pieces to the whole non-high season mix. A little bit of this, a little bit of that; it's like Del Boy and Rodders. Mallorca courtesy of Trotters Independent Trading Company, Peckham and Berlin.
QUIZ
Yesterday - Supergrass. Today's title - this follows "First we take Manhattan". Which Canadian recently returned to a musical career after a stretch as a Zen Buddhist monk?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Noises from Berlin suggest that this year's German invasion will be every bit as good as last year's. With the Brits also holding their own, and despite the gloom surrounding the economies of Europe, the soon-to-start season would seem to be in reasonable shape. The main concern is mainland Spanish tourism, but as I've pointed out before this is of minor consequence for the north of the island.
At the fair they are still banging on about what Mallorca has to offer all year; still banging on about the same old stuff. Someone told me that some 25,000 German cyclists come to Mallorca over the late winter and early spring. This may sound a lot, but when you consider that the whole visitor "population" for the year is around 11 million, you get a sense of the perspective. Nevertheless, cycling is one of the all-year attractions Mallorca is parading in Berlin together with the other usual suspects and now also Nordic walking. They keep on adding these other bits and pieces to the whole non-high season mix. A little bit of this, a little bit of that; it's like Del Boy and Rodders. Mallorca courtesy of Trotters Independent Trading Company, Peckham and Berlin.
QUIZ
Yesterday - Supergrass. Today's title - this follows "First we take Manhattan". Which Canadian recently returned to a musical career after a stretch as a Zen Buddhist monk?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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