Leisure, Media & Entertainment Sponsored by

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1 Leisure, Media & Entertainment Sponsored by Fáilte Ireland DDFH&B Right here, Right now Company Profile This case study is a joint submission between DDFH&B and OMD Founded in 1983, DDFH&B is one of the largest advertising agencies in Ireland. The majority of our company is owned by the Irish management team with the balance of 27% being owned by JWT, one of the leading international networks. We believe we combine the best of local insight and understanding with the systems and knowledge resources of JWT to provide the best service for our local and international clients. OMD, one of Ireland s leading media independents, is a division of the Omnicon Group Inc, the world s largest advertising/marketing communications company. Sharing very similar business philosophies, we soon developed a very close and effective working relationship. Introduction and Background Selling snow to the Eskimos was a phrase used more than once throughout this process, from the initial sight of the tender request document through the various subsequent stages. It seemed like the ultimate marketing communications challenge. Established in 2003, Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development 209

2 Authority is responsible for the development of a profitable and sustainable Irish tourism industry. A key responsibility of Fáilte Ireland is the development of the domestic tourism industry. In December 2006, DDFH&B and OMD pitched separately for its advertising and media account and were awarded the business just before Christmas. The account was a very exciting win for us both, not just because it was a much-coveted indigenous business but also because it represented a unique marketing communications challenge. It is a high profile account with many stakeholders and the success or failure of our approach would be very much in the public domain. Fáilte Ireland was faced with a challenging set of circumstances. The domestic holiday market was growing more or less in line with population growth but in the same period, trips abroad had grown by a significantly faster rate. The home holiday market was thus losing share, albeit in an expanding market. Part of this was due to the sheer scale of the advertising expenditure promoting foreign holidays. Although Fáilte Ireland had maintained a consistent share of voice, it was significantly outspent by the competition - airlines promoting trips abroad spent more than three times the Fáilte Ireland budget. The Marketing Objectives The business objective for the domestic tourism sector for 2007 was clear cut grow the value of the market by 5% i.e. approximately 50milllion. In an increasing competitive market, this was an ambitious target. The marketing objective was to force Ireland as a holiday destination back onto the list of holiday options, particularly among the key demographic grouping. The communications objectives were to present Ireland as a holiday destination in a dramatically different light to the Irish consumer and to make the Fáilte Ireland website an essential point of reference for those considering a holiday in Ireland. The Task As the first part in the development of our response to these tasks, we conducted a series of four group discussions among a variety of consumer 210

3 types, but with the bias of respondents consisting of those who claimed to be unlikely to take a holiday in Ireland in the next twelve months. Early on in the groups, the nature of the challenge facing us was clear our interviewees had generally holidayed in Ireland in the past, particularly as children, and felt they knew what Ireland had to offer. The era of cheap flights had made possible a huge variety of additional holiday destinations and there was a feeling that the world was there to be explored. A presumed familiarity, in this instance, had not bred contempt but had clearly relegated Ireland down the list of holiday options. A second feature of respondents comments was the belief that Ireland as a holiday destination offered little by way of things to do. The task was quite clear but challenging. In general, people do not like having their pre-conceived ideas questioned it requires a degree of tact to do so successfully. We had to, in as motivating a way as possible, persuade a significant number of Irish consumers that they did not know the holiday destination that was on their own doorstep. We also recognised at this stage that we would have to bring something new to Fáilte Ireland advertising. We looked back on the historical approaches to advertising by Fáilte Ireland and its predecessor, Bord Fáilte, and saw how they were right for their time. But we needed something that was relevant to Ireland in The Strategic Solution There were three inter-related elements to the strategic solution: 1. We needed a new advertising approach which would cause our target audiences to reassess how they saw Ireland as a holiday destination and crucially to act on that reassessment. We were thus looking for cut-through and consequent actions. We needed to consciously reject what we knew from our research had become the conventions of the genre e.g. golf, horseriding, pubs etc (and which tended to be interpreted as being aimed at the foreign tourist) and emphasise different and perhaps surprising aspects of the domestic tourism offering e.g. whale - watching, spas, surfing etc. Given its emotional power, the choice of music track was something that we considered in detail. Again, we rejected the obvious option of traditional music and opted for a high-energy track from an Irish Rock band, The Angel of Mons. This track, Highs and Lows became a powerful linking 211

4 communications device as the campaign developed. Our approach to the development of this advertising can be summed up in the desired response in the creative brief we want to create a sense that this is a different country and want people to go to that country. 2. The second element of the strategic response was to directly address the perception that Ireland offered little to do in comparison to other holiday destinations. The approach in the first instance was to highlight the scale and range of activities, events, festivals etc that take place in Ireland and in second, to promote the particular appeals of a number of key destination regions e.g. South West, West etc. especially in the crucial April to September period. Again, the ambition for the media plan was to create a sense that there is always something on. 3. The third element of our approach, which underpinned the other two elements, was to drive traffic to the DiscoverIreland web site. We recognised that the web is increasingly the engine for international tourism, that it also had an increasing role in domestic tourism and this trend is likely to accelerate. In these circumstances, it would be crucial that the domestic tourism market had a web-site which was recognised as the first port of call for information. The Idea and Communication Activity The campaign idea was summed up in the campaign line i.e. Right Here. Right Now. This captured the essence of what we were trying to achieve i.e. create a new sense of relevance for the domestic holiday market. It also proved to be a flexible umbrella idea under which the variety of necessary messages brand and product could be effectively communicated. Qualitative research carried out by MillwardBrown/IMS on behalf of Fáilte Ireland at the creative development stage vindicated our approach and provided useful executional guidelines, particularly for the print elements of the campaign. From the start, we had a clear view of what needed to be done for Fáilte Ireland from a media strategy perspective. We recognized that our key 60 second brand TV advertisement needed the right setting and accordingly placement centred on key iconic programmes. We also strongly believed in the need to communicate a sense of things to do in Ireland as a key element in increasing its appeal and consequently developed a robust events platform. In the third week of each month, a full page colour ad appeared in the main national newspapers highlighting the forthcoming events for 212

5 BRONZE Bronze Award - Leisure, Media & Entertainment Bord Fáilte DDFH&B 213

6 the following month. This was supported by a combination of national and relevant local radio highlighting what was happening in the following month. Lastly, it was important that the various regions promoted should not be seen to be competing with each other but as contributing to the overall appeal of Ireland as a holiday destination. This was a creative issue but we saw that it was also a media issue and structured the media plan to ensure that helped showcase a total Ireland offering. The multi-media campaign thus consisted of TV, radio, press and some outdoor, with the vast majority of activity taking place between 16 th April, when the campaign was launched with a 60 second TV ad, and the end of September. TV The TV campaign consisted of a 60 and a 30 second brand advertisement. In addition, three 30 second ads with a regional focus i.e. the same creative approach as the brand ads but with specific regional references ran also. The total spend on TV was 1,028,991. Radio This medium was used exclusively in support the second element of our strategic approach i.e. to specifically address the perception that Ireland offers relatively little as a holiday destination. Accordingly, a number of radio executions highlighting the scale and variety of events, activities, festivals etc ran over this period. In total, 1,159,867 was spent on radio. Press Press was also used mainly to support the events messages and a variety of sizes including full page colour, key colour placements and lineage ads were used. The total spend on press was 956,555. Outdoor A limited use of outdoor was used during this campaign but a number of visitor-focused executions were developed. The total spend on outdoor was 175,843. Results The results of the domestic holiday campaign were outstanding. In the context where the target was to grow the overall market value by 5%, the market grew by a very significant 18%. In real terms, this meant an increase 214

7 of 155,400,000 i.e. more than three times the original target. (Source: Central Statistics Office). This campaign faced one factor which was outside of our control and which could have had a very detrimental effect i.e. the Irish weather. Met Éireann reported that the Eastern region, which contains almost half the population and thus half of our target audience had the wettest summer in 50 years in 2007 with Dublin alone experiencing 33 successive rain days. Almost all of its stations reported the coolest summer since This would have been less of an issue in previous times but latterly the trend for both domestic and the foreign holidays, has been to delay booking until the last minute. The fact that domestic market actually achieved significant growth in 2007 is all the more remarkable. But how much of this great story can be attributed to the advertising? Advertising tracking was carried for Fáilte Ireland by RED C market research in three phases in 2007 February/March i.e. before the campaign launch: May/June in the immediate post-launch phase; and crucially in October/ November i.e. after the campaign ended. Spontaneous awareness of Fáilte Ireland brand advertising increased by increased threefold among the total sample (8% to 23%) between February and November and fourfold among the key target market (7% to 28%). Traffic to the Discoverireland web site, a key objective of the campaign increased significantly throughout the period, especially among those who recalled seeing the advertisements. Throughout this period, the only support for the website was the prominence given to it in our various executions. Looked at Website February November Total Sample 12% 26% Target Market 14% 33% Seen Advertising 13% 39% The proportion deciding to take a holiday in Ireland after seeing the advertising also increased for all cohorts but again most dramatically among those who had seen the ads. 215

8 Decided to take a holiday February November Total Sample 25% 34% Target Market 24% 32% Seen Advertising 29% 46% The perception of Ireland as a holiday destination also improved on a number of key dimensions among those who had seen the advertising. February November Offers good many good value breaks 61% 92% Suitable for all ages 91% 96% Suitable for families 85% 87% How could we be sure that it was our advertising that was having this effect? The cut through for Fáilte Ireland advertising in the immediate post-launch period was higher than any competitive activity and four times that for any other Irish tourist destination. Return on Investment As mentioned previously, the domestic holiday market for 2007 grew by 18% in value or 155,400,000. In terms of media and production, the investment was of 4.500,000. Obviously, our campaign cannot claim sole responsibility for that increase but the argument of this case history is that it played the key role. What s more, evidence of a longer term effect was detected by the November Advertising Tracking. Likelihood to take a short break and a long holiday both showed increases of 13% and 2% respectively over the precampaign period which suggested that the basis for a longer-term rejuvenation of the domestic holiday market had been laid. One of the incidental results of the campaign was that the band behind the music track, who has actually disbanded, spurred by the impact which the campaign was having, reformed, albeit under a new name and re-released Highs and Lows as a single. 216

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