COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH PLAN GREATER TORONTO AIRWAYS

Transcription

1 1 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH PLAN GREATER TORONTO AIRWAYS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the past number of years, a growing demand for a faster commute route between Niagara and Waterloo and Niagara and Toronto has come about. A solution has neither been proposed nor implemented by the Ontario government or transit companies, such as Metrolinx, even as the demand continues to grow. Social media channels, such as Twitter, are regularly flooded with negative posts about the frustrations involved in taking the QEW to and from the Niagara region. The posts range from complaints about gridlock to collisions to regular service disruptions from accidents and construction. Some examples of such include the following: Just got a text from my boyfriend saying there are pigs all over the #QEW. Heads up, morning commuters #BurlOn Renee Lalonde, Oct 5 th, 2016 #Collision on the #QEW E/b app Mississauga Rd right lane blocked. Now jammed from Erin Mills CBC Toronto, Sept. 29 th, 2016 QEW at Dixie is at a dead stop Tim Keddie, Sept. 22 nd, 2016 Sitting on the #QEW. Always takes longer to get from Ft Erie to Toronto than from Erie PA to Buffalo NY. #neverendinggridlock #learntomerge Whiskey Girl, Oct 10 th, 2016

2 2 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 This has left the opportunity open for a private corporation, such as Greater Toronto Airways, to intervene and capitalize on this market need. Our recommendation for the first step of the research process is to ensure the need for this service actually exists. We recommend starting the research process with finding a similar company to see how their business is structured and who their primary clientele is. Following that, we d like to conduct research on our primary audience to discover their level of interest in the service, their budgets, and their issues and inconveniences with utilizing this service as their primary method for commute. Following the completion of that research phase, we d like to suggest surveying a secondary audience comprised of residents near impacted airports and all citizens within and around the impacted cities (including Niagara region, St. Catherines, Welland, Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge, and the Greater Toronto Area). Through this research we hope to discover how well accepted this service would be, where our primary customer base will come from, which routes, days, or times will be less profitable, who will be affected by this service and how, what our profit margins will look like, how to position our brand in the market, and who or what will impede or oppose our success. All research conducted will support achieving our key objectives, which is to launch Greater Toronto Airways routes from Niagara to Waterloo and Niagara to Toronto with bookings at 30% capacity by the first 3 months and then 60% capacity by the sixth month of operations. Our recommended discovery and research stage will help us to identify where

3 3 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Situation Analysis 2. Strategic Research Question 3. Suggested Research Methodologies 4. Target Audiences 5. Budget and Timeline

4 4 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 SITUATION ANALYSIS The route taken requires taking 403 east, Queen Elizabeth way (QEW) and Gardiner Express way. This route takes over two hours without traffic, however getting to and from downtown Toronto during business hours takes significantly longer. Additionally, there is always construction on the route, adding to the time it takes to get to work. This situation adds unnecessary stress to the drivers before their day at work begins. Due to high traffic volume, individuals have to leave their homes earlier to get to work, which means they re getting less sleep, and may end up skipping breakfast. News headlines such as Traffic nightmares on the QEW in Niagara this weekend (October 2015, CHCH), and Two crashes halt traffic on QEW (August 2016, St. Catherine's Business Standard) are very common. Additionally, there are often road closures which force people to make detours, thus adding time to their morning commute. Tweets regarding annoyance felt about the commute include the Annoying... what's annoying... the #QEW on a Friday. Traffic hazard on the #QEW E/b app Third Line - watch out for debris in the left lane. #MTO crews on the way to pick it COLLISION: #QEW Toronto bound before Mississauga - 2 vehicles blocking left TRAFFIC HAZARD: #QEW Toronto bound off ramp to North Service Rd #StCatharines - Debris across the off ramp

5 5 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 These are just a few of many examples that are found on Twitter that help explain this situation. The government added High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes that are a pilot project and were implemented September 16, They are only located on specific sections of the QEW. The permits to use them cost between CAD $60 to $180 per month and are valid for a three year term. Permit applications are only accepted in February, May, August and November. The lanes can be used toll free if there are two or more people in the vehicle. Additionally, this lane is also used for busses. A key advantage to living in the Niagara region is that it has quick access to 56% of the North American industrial market place (according to Niagara Falls a global brand for business). It is a multi-modal network including road, rail, air, and water. Chris Nowrouzi, CEO of Greater Toronto Airways, wants to have a flight that commutes across Lake Ontario so that individuals can bypass traffic. The duration of the flight is 12 minutes. Depending on pricing and the business plan, this can offer a large or small-scale solution to the QEW commuting problem. The research approaches that we intend to use are both quantitative and qualitative methods. Surveys, informational interviews and focus groups will be conducted on our target audiences. The target groups we will focus on include executives and business people in specific target regions (such as in Toronto who work in the Niagara region, and people who commute to Toronto from said region) and general population.

6 6 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 COMMUNICATIONS OBJECTIVES Strategic Research Question: OBJECTIVE: To launch Greater Toronto Airways routes from Niagara to Waterloo and Niagara to Toronto with bookings reaching 30% capacity within the first 3 months of operations and then reach 60% capacity by the sixth month of operations. This is our recommended strategic research question because we need to understand if we have potential customers and what the influencing factors are for their interest in this service. We also need to know why certain potential customers aren t interested in this service and why. Furthermore, this strategic research question will lead us down a research path that helps us to understand how potential customers are getting to and from the Niagara, Toronto and Waterloo airports, what the traffic is like in these areas, how much time the flight actually cuts from their commute, whether utilizing this service regularly is affordable, whether this flight appeals solely to commuters or travellers as well, and whether this service is actually seen as beneficial or just slightly more convenient. The strategic research question will also help us identify flaws in our business plan and further develop who our target audience for public relations, marketing and advertising efforts is.

7 7 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES Research Recommendations: 1. Conduct review of available information: Activity 1: Business plan research - quantitative + qualitative - finding a like business and analyzing their business structure, marketing and communication strategy Suggested Research Questions: - Is there another business similar to this? - What is their business structure? - Who is there primary clientele? - How much do they charge per flight? - How much is this like company profiting? - How do they market themselves? - How do they position themselves in the transportation market? Activity 2: Commuter Research - number of commuters moving each way Suggested Research Question: How many people are commuting between Niagara region to Waterloo/Kitchener and Niagara region to Toronto? 2. Identify potential users (donors, commuters) by. Activity 1: Surveying primary audience - quantitative survey with a few qualitative questions Suggested Research Questions: - How often do you commute from A to B? - Would you be interested in taking a commuter flight from Niagara Airport to Waterloo or Billy Bishop Airport instead of driving? - How often would you utilize this service? - Would you be willing to pay (insert price) for this service? - Can you afford to make this service your regular mode of transportation? - How much do you make annually? - How much do you spend commuting annually? - How often do you make the commute from A to B? - Would you be interested in an annual membership for (insert price)? - Would you be interested in any of the following packages? 10 flights for $$/20 flights for $$/30 flights for $$ - How would you get from your location to the Niagara Airport? - How would you get from your destination airport to work? * question helps us to probe if there s enough methods of transportation to

8 8 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 make this a simple commute route for people may need to look into cities getting more bus routes - Would having a shuttle bus from a main transit hub to the Niagara Airport be a service you would use? - For business owners: would you use this service for commuting employees to and from business meetings if offered a discounted business price? Activity 2: Surveying secondary audience - quantitative survey with a few qualitative questions Suggested Research Questions: - Do you ever commute from A to B? - If so, how often do you commute from A to B? - Would you be interested in taking this service for a vacation? - Would you be willing to pay (insert price) for this service? - Would you be willing to pay (insert price) for a full flight group rate? - Would you be willing to pay (insert price) for a couples rate? - How often do you take a vacation to Niagara? - How often do you take a vacation to Waterloo? - How often do you take a vacation to Toronto? Activity 3: Focus groups with primary audience - qualitative study Research Questions: - What are the wants, needs and expectations of those interested in taking this service? * (E.G. refreshments and snacks available on the plane) - What type of service experience would you expect on these flights? Activity 3: Focus groups with secondary audience - qualitative study Research Questions: - What are the wants, needs and expectations of those interested in taking this service? * (E.G. refreshments and snacks available on the plane) - What type of service experience would you expect on these flights? - Would those wants differ if the flight was taking you on a vacation? 3. Identify PR and communications opportunities by. Activity 1: Identifying the market void * during this process we must discover how to brand and position ourselves in the transportation market based on market void and interested consumer market - quantitative + qualitative Suggested Research Question: - Who is most interested in utilizing this service?

9 9 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 * discovering our public 4. Identify the best strategic communications approaches by. Activity 1: Discovering the best way to inform people of our new method of transportation? - quantitative + qualitative Suggested Research Question: - How can we best market ourselves to that public? * discovering how to reach our public

10 10 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 TARGET GROUPS Business people in Niagara Region The plan is to do a survey to see how many people who live in the region work downtown Toronto. We would then want to find out how much time they generally sit in traffic during their commute. It is important to find out what time they have to wake up at everyday to be on time, and that if waking up later and having a shorter commute to work would interest them. This will help us see how many people could potentially find the flight service useful. People who commute daily from the Niagara region to downtown Toronto for work is one of the main target groups because our service is aiming to take the stress of their commute off their hands by shortening their journey. Companies Downtown Toronto It is important to find out how many of the employees from each company commute from Niagara region. A survey can be conducted to find out how many employees from this region are often late for work. We could the see if the company would be interested in using the flight service as a perk for their employees who come from the Niagara region. This could potentially lead to the company to subsidizing the flight, or have a shuttle that would take employees who use the service from the airport downtown Toronto to the office. Companies downtown are an important target group because by having this service it could lead to more productive workers, who are not frustrated from their long commute in the morning. It could lead to employees coming in refreshed from their relaxing journey.

11 11 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 Companies in Niagara region We need to find out how many employees are coming from the Toronto area and discover how long their commute takes in the morning and the afternoon. It would then help us determine if the company would charter planes for their employees, and provide them with a shuttle from the airport. We will heavily focus our attention to the beer and wine market in the Niagara region as it s likely the source of a lot of business that comes from Toronto. By having a faster way of getting workers to companies, it will result in less frustration of workers and increase their productivity. This would lead to an increase the flow of business to the region. Potential business partners might hold back due to the idea of the long commute and heavy traffic, but the flight provided by our client by-passes all the traffic and makes the commute short and easy. Companies in the Niagara region are important because they are largely controlled by the beer and wine market, and could potentially have many workers that are coming from Toronto. Having this flight opens up the flow of traffic which could lead them to new opportunities.

12 12 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 TIMELINE AND BUDGET: Research Activities Implementation Date Estimate Discovery finding a like business structure December 1, 2016 $2,000 Gathering contact information for primary and secondary December 1, 2016 $10,000 research audience Commence business plan research January 1, 2017 $8,000 Survey primary audience January 15, 2017 $20,000 Interview primary audience (small focus groups) February 6, 2017 $20,000 Survey secondary audience February 27, 2017 $15,000 Interview secondary audience (small focus groups) March 15, 2017 Evaluation of research April 3, 2017 $15,000 $2,000 Filling the gaps in research (further research with any April 24, 2017 $10,000 audience group needed) Research Report May 22, 2017 $2,000 TOTAL ESTIMATE $104,000

13 13 SENECA CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 747 CONCLUDING NOTES We believe our suggested research plan is the best way to ensure the success of Greater Toronto Airways in its new business endeavor. We encourage you to contact us if you seek clarification or if we ve in anyway misunderstood an objective Greater Toronto Airways needed us to explore. CONTACT INFORMATION Mackenzie Cohen Tel.: (416)