Congratulations to travel brands Southwest Airlines, Holiday Inn Express, Jet Blue Airways, Marriott Courtyard, Marriott and Holiday Inn for making it to Bizjournal's top 25. A big congratulations to Holiday Inn Express for entering the list at number 4. No small feat.

About ten months ago, I wrote a post about the world’s first commercial spaceline, Virgin Galactic, and its initial marketing efforts for $200,000 flights into sub-orbit. It seemed like a good time to check in on the progress of the fledgling space program.

One of the advertising tools we use to create desire for resorts and attractions is “vivid mental imagery.” Carefully chosen words and images tell the brand story, and help travelers imagine what it’s like to visit a destination. They can also help define points of differentiation and elevate one destination above the rest of the category.

I read an article in the Times Union last week about increases in regional hotel occupancy and RevPAR numbers for the summer months. An excerpt suggests a run of good weather, warm temperatures and little rain may be at least partly responsible for the upturn.

At Wanderlust we’ve developed a clearly defined process for marketing destinations, resorts and attractions. One of the tools we use when developing a new position is the brand “mood board.”

Here’s a neat little graphic from a recent issue of the Wanderlust Report, titled Rethinking Outdated Travel Media Strategies. It’s a great reminder that we need to keep our customer’s needs in mind when selecting channels for our travel marketing messages.

Keeping travelers and search engines coming back to your site requires that new pages of content are added on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are a number of reasonably simple ways to create and repurpose content that can help accomplish this – without dedicating every waking hour of every day to the effort.

I was editing an article for a travel newsletter we contribute to, and thought our blog readers might benefit from this short section on search. Here are five easy to implement tips to help you improve the search rankings of your web content.

I saw an interesting story on boston.com about the recent increase in shark sightings off of Chatham, a quaint fishing village at the elbow of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A growing seal population has been attracting great white sharks, one of the seals’ only predators, to the waters around the Cape. You might think this kind of press would have a negative impact on tourism for the region. But it appears that it may actually be increasing visits to the town of Chatham.

At Wanderlust, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to increase the visibility of our clients’  destinations, resorts and attractions. Search-optimized web content is an important marketing tactic to dominate organic search, build web traffic and attract visitors. But there are times when great content must stand on its own – SEO be damned. Following is a case in point.

I’ve been thinking about the impact of the Gulf Oil Spill for destinations and travel marketers in the Gulf Region. These resorts and attractions depend on their natural environment to attract visitors: clear, blue water and white sand beaches are powerful draws for travelers. When environmental disasters strike – natural or manmade – these sensitive areas are the hardest hit. Yet destination and tourism marketers need to press on, through good times and bad.

You’re probably saying to yourself, there’s more out there than just Facebook and Twitter. It’s hard to stay on top of your presence in different social networks. In this post – the third in this series – I’ll review some outside tools that you can use to track your presence and determine how social media may be helping your business.

In part one of my Social Media Metrics posting, I discussed setting goals for your campaign. If you missed it, you can read it here. In this post, I’d like to share some ways that you can look at awareness in social networks. Let’s start with Facebook.

It's tough right now in the travel industry. Why would anyone try and make it even more difficult to attract business? But alas, there isn’t a day that goes by when I don't run into a destination website that I can’t view on my iPhone - because it uses Flash.

So, you’ve implemented your social media strategy. Your Facebook and Twitter pages are built and you’re off and running. Now what? I’m going to outline some strategies and tools in my next few posts to help you get the most out of your social media efforts.

When I stumbled across the “Extraordinary Taxi Ride” promotion, I was on board. I’m always on the lookout for great travel and tourism marketing and the “Experience Extraordinary” campaign from Western Australia has everything it takes to go the distance...

We are often asked by travel and destination marketers how much content they should plan for a new web site. The correct answer is “as much content as it takes to attract visitors,” but I’ll qualify that further by adding, “as long as it’s accessible and worthwhile..."

New travel identity reveals destination’s hidden beauty

In an effort to expand its tourism business beyond the pyramids and ancient ruins, Egypt has introduced a new identity for its travel marketing. The new logo hints at another side of Egypt including its little known beach culture. Yes, Egypt has beautiful white sand beaches. Not on the Mediterranean as you might expect, but along the shores of the Red Sea, the Sinai Peninsula and the Gulf of Aqaba. The brilliant blue waters of Egypt’s east coast are a far cry from the muddy Nile River, and seeing the moon rise over the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea from Nuweiba is one experience I will never forget.

Now, has this little geography lesson changed your opinion of Egypt’s new logo? How many of you were thinking that the color blue just doesn’t make sense for this arid country? Or were you questioning why they didn’t use any reference to mummies, a pharaoh, the sphinx, or the pyramids? A pyramid is such a great shape to own – and what other country could better capitalize on that than Egypt?

This new identity is not about the core experience we associate with Eqypt; they already own that market share. It’s about getting people to come back to Eqypt, to do something else there, or to divide a two-week vacation between touring cultural sites and relaxing on the beach. It’s about attracting people who are more interested in warm, sunny weather and beautiful beaches than history. Egypt as a beach destination? Depending on where you live in the world, it could be a viable alternative to the Caribbean, and this identity is designed to make you think twice about it.

Let’s see if the logo’s structure measures up

The shape of the word mark is not necessarily the strongest, but overall it has a nice form unusually balanced by so many descenders. It could be bettered rendered though, as some of the letters are a bit sloppy and too ragged. Case in point is the descender on the ‘y’ as it separates the stroke unnecessarily. The logo is not as choppy when it’s reduced, but is problematic at larger sizes. The ‘e’ could be a bit larger and wider to help balance the powerful ‘t’ which demands a lot of attention as it doubles for the ankh symbol.

Some of the people I queried felt that the ‘e’ looked too much like a ‘c’ and were concerned we would read ‘cgypt’. I would argue that not to be the case, as our brains will find a way to make sense out of this word. Studies have shown people can read and understand a paragraph of text without vowels because our brain is wired to create and anticipate the meaning. And let’s not forget that the logo will rarely ever stand alone out of the context of a brand message. For all those naysayers, look at the Lord & Taylor logo and tell me if you can actually read the letterforms clearly and whether or not it matters for recognizing this logo.

An unexpected use of color

I love the blue. It’s gutsy. It’s everything we wouldn’t expect. It beckons the question ‘why blue?’ which is exactly what you want people to find out. I’m not fond of the drippy texture inside the strokes -also too sloppy. As is the case of the shape, the color is more fluid when the mark is reduced. There has to be a better balance between the energy rendered from the immediacy of the brush stroke and a determined mark no matter what the size of the image.

A word about the logo’s content and style

It’s a wordmark or logotype, so we have to talk about its style. The hand done, non-computer generated font is a refreshing change. It hints at hieroglyphics and arabic script in a modern context while simultaneously hinting at the age of the culture without resorting to cliche typefaces like Papyrus or Trajan.

The tag line, ‘where it all begins’ has a nice double entendre message, but it looks terrible. The font style renders the letterforms too wide, so even though they are a light weight they feel clunky and childish. The paint splatter above the ‘i’ isn’t helping either. There is a fine line between playful sophistication and looking silly and trite. I believe the tag is set in Skia. Even if they kept the font, set it smaller and kerned out the letter spacing, it would have more cachet. The tag line design needs a quiet elegance for these words to resonate.

Logo as part of a bigger travel and tourism campaign

The logo was designed by JWT in Cairo. The ad campaign tries too hard to make Egypt everything-to-all-people and has a glitzy Vegas-like style. However, the TV spot is done fairly well and delivers the message of a core experience that few destinations can compete with. I can't say that the new logo delivers on just how stunning the 'other Eqypt' is, but at least it gets us thinking there might be more to this destination than our narrow view.

On the logometer of one to ten, I give Egypt’s new identity a 5. What do you think?

What are the symptoms?

Freud gave us a classic operating model for our mind. The conscious mind is the thinking portion of our brain that is self aware. The subconscious, which actually works at a rate of about ten thousand to one by comparison, does all of the rote or (autopilot) stuff that we need to live; running and managing the fifty trillion individual cells that make up our body.

The first to go is the cognitive thinking that shuts down; buried in a history of fear, self talk and belief. The little voice in the head saying they need me, I can’t take the time off, they may replace me and besides we all know work and increased production rates per employee is a God given mandated mantra in America.

In fact, 40% of women and 29% of men feel guilty about taking time off.

The voice continues: “What will I do with myself? I know I won’t be able to stand another few days at the beach, sitting out here in mountains with my family, playing another round of golf, set of tennis, another ride on the ski lift, or fishing for that big bass.” Clearly cognitive dysfunctioning at its best.

While this is going on the Subconscious auto pilot is taking all this data in as absolute immutable fact. Triggering an internal alarm releasing stress hormones into the blood constricting the vessels, shoving blood from the internal organs to the extremities getting ready to fight or flight and wrecking havoc on the body. All fifty trillion cells are stressed out under these chemical codes.

Why? Because of an idea or belief.

I don’t know what the revenue impact would be if as an industry we were able to add even half the time given back into the expendable inventory. My guess is it’s in the billions. Seems like a pretty big target that is already pre-disposed to vacationing.

What’s needed?

A more compelling emotional story than the one they are currently telling themselves.

As much as I love skiing, I have limited free time to pursue my favorite winter sports. My decision to hit the slopes usually depends on a convergence of child care, work flow and ideal conditions. I’m kind of particular about good snow and tolerable weather.

Current web content influences my decisions

I have a list of ski resort web sites that I check regularly for the latest snow conditions and webcam views. Snow conditions are ‘go-no go’ indicators for skiers like me:

• Good snow = good to go
• No snow = no go

Show me the snowfall

My favorite ski resort sites are very forthcoming with the snow reports. The site designs allow for frequent content updates – recent storm totals, current pictures, forecasts – all posted right on the home page. The best sites treat this content like it’s the most important breaking news in the world. And it is, to me. Nine times out of ten, these are the resorts that get my business.

Four feet of snow, buried under number of lifts

Sure, the other resorts have snow reports, too. Buried somewhere in a second tier navigation list, between ‘Season Passes’ and ‘Social Networking,’ there’s a link to some stats about the number of trails and lifts, total skiable acreage... Ahh, there it is: new snow... I wonder what the stock market’s doing today?

Fresh, day-old, what’s the difference?

To be fair, great ski resorts are great whether there’s new snow or not. Modern snowmaking can deliver a passable ski season even when Mother Nature balks. And die-hard skiers just go every day, conditions be damned. But for my precious few days on the slopes, I want it all: fresh natural snow, comfortable weather and, preferably, midweek crowds (or absence thereof).

Highlight your updates for travelers like me

So, here’s a tip for resorts of all types, from an impulsive, picky, fair-weather traveler: If you get new snow – or if the fish are running, the cherry blossoms are in bloom, the tournament is on, or the opera is in town – put it on your web site’s first page – because it’s that important to me or someone like me. And I’ll be there as soon as my schedule opens up.

Our experience shows us that there are four steps integral to uncovering truths and determining which contribute to a believable, differentiating, relevant, memorable and deliverable brand story:

1. Peel back the onion
2. Analyze the competitive idea space
3. Identify the true relationship drivers
4. Get intimate with the consumer

Peel back the onion

Take a good hard look at your brand, from an outsider’s perspective. Where did it come from? What does it offer of value? How has it been presented in the past? What is it’s current positioning and current market position? How about the people behind it? What are they thinking and saying? How do they act? What do they really believe? What do they think of the consumer? Tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

Analyze the competitive idea space

Take a look at all of your competitors. Reverse-engineer their communications to see where they are focusing, how they are positioning their brands. What are they saying? How is it different, and how is it the same? Is it the truth? After you’ve completed this, you should have a good idea where there is saturation and where there is opportunity in the world of ideas.

Identify the true relationship drivers

Identify all of the attributes in the category and do a gap analysis to determine which of these are the relationship drivers for the category, and for your destination. Are the drivers tangible or intangible? Which attributes do you need to do well just to be considered? Which offer the highest return on investment and which aren’t worth spending time or money on?

Get intimate with the consumer

Among consumers, what are their current perceptions of the category as a whole, your destination and those you compete with? What keeps them up at night? What interests them, makes them happy, and can improve their quality of life. Focusing on the relationship-building drivers, ladder up the list of attributes to get to the place that resonates with consumers emotionally. What they are willing to believe about your brand that is somehow different and more desirable than the competition?

The bottom line

It may not be so plainly evident, or as easy as telling a lie, but uncovering the truth is the key to finding a position that will differentiate your destination, resort or attraction.

At a birthday party not long ago, a few boys (my son included) made some harmless, but extreme mischief. The parent in charge offered them a deal: if they cleaned up the house, she wouldn’t tell their parents. Their response? “You mean like what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas?”

A while back, Starbucks ran a full page brand ad in the New York Times showing two interlocking coffee rings, with the word “hi” written in the place where the rings intersected. The headline read “Reconnect.” Looking at this ad made me nod my head and think about how the perfect cup of coffee would include spending time with someone I care about, having a relaxing conversation and catching up. It’s much more than about a great tasting product in a great atmosphere. The ad spoke to a higher order need and made me want to go sit in a coffee shop and spend time with a friend, maybe even at Starbucks.

There was truth in the heart of this message, and that’s why it was so effective. E-Harmony doesn’t get you a date. They race past all manner of foreplay and get right to the heart of what many people using online dating services are really looking for: a soul mate.

What makes Sanjay's sales pitch so ironic is that it’s the truth. Richard is the business manager of the financially troubled New Burbage Theater Festival, and he has a real business problem: his customers are old and dying and he needs to reach out to a younger audience before his business goes bust.

Inspiring and enigmatic, Sanjay convinces Richard to turn his back on convention and mount a brutally honest rebranding effort. Listening to Sanjay, Richard comes to the realization that consumers no longer buy hype, and are bored stiff by features and benefits. Honesty, authenticity, relevance and emotional appeal are the ways to attract the modern consumer.

When did telling the truth become the right thing to do?

Sanjay allows his new agency, Frog Hammer, to replace the expected high brow Shakespearian sales pitch with a multi-media advertising campaign that tells it like it really is:

“Macbeth was an ass.”

The result? A youthquake: the season quickly sells out to young audiences and Canada’s power and influence wielding Minister of Culture, who reluctantly financed Frog Hammer’s rebranding of the theater, had to sneak in because she couldn’t get a ticket.

A few years ago, Seth Godin wrote a book titled, “All Marketers Are Liars.” His point? Marketers are storytellers, and over the years their stories have become unbelievable, very predictable and no longer relevant.

How many times have you heard the vapid pitches “we care about you,” “personal service,” “ours is better,” “lowest prices,” or “100% guaranteed?” How many times have marketers claimed that their brand is “sportier,” “sexier,” “pure,” “natural,” “great tasting,” or “good for you?”

In the old days, marketers could use hype and exaggeration to get noticed and people would simply accept it. Not so anymore. Today, if you want consumers to pay attention, you better had be truthful. And if you want them to fondly remember your brand, you'd better be emotional. 

“Social media has completely changed the definition of what a brand is, don’t you think?”

If you know me personally or follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter, you probably have a good idea of where this conversation headed. While I won’t bore you with the he said she saids, I thought a brief review of the facts and how they apply in 2010 could be beneficial to those destination marketers not in attendance.

A brief history of “brand”

The origin of the word "brand" comes from the Old Norse brandr, meaning "to burn", the practice of producers burning their mark onto their products. Even back in those days, the mark was the symbol for the brand, while the brand was the reputation or perception of the quality offered by the producer.

Today, the word brand is still sometimes confused with a logo or trademark, although most marketers and many marketing-aware consumers understand that the idea of brand is defined more by meaning than by symbol.

David D’Allessandro, CEO of John Hancock, put it succinctly in his groundbreaking and still very relevant 2001 book, Brand Warfare:

The rise of social media and the widening reach of the voice of the consumer have not changed the meaning of brand one iota. Nor have they “completely changed” anything. However, these forces, combined with the recent recession, have had a significant impact on both the popularity and process of “branding” and the speed in which it is changing.

For the time being, at least, many marketers of destinations, resorts and attractions have responded by replacing “Creating an emotional connection” with “Learning to do more with less” as their biggest challenge.

They are facing smaller or inadequate budgets and, at the same time, charged with replacing the things that used to work with something that actually works.

As you can see on the chart, respondents who work in Enterprise and Large companies had similar results and mirrored the respondents as a whole quite closely. The notable differences are that more (22%) respondents in Enterprise organizations view their biggest challenge to be “Dealing with so many new options”, while more (30%) respondents in Large companies view it to be “Figuring out what sets us apart.” It appears that concerns about brand differentiation is on the minds of executives at larger companies.

By far the biggest difference from the group as a whole was with travel and leisure executives at medium-sized companies. A full 50% are concerned with “Learning how to do more with less,” and the other 50% rank “Creating an emotional connection with customers and prospects” as their biggest challenge in 2010. Available resources are clearly stretched with this group, but half of the respondents have challenges that branding can help address.

Respondents at small companies were also different from the group as a whole, but less in agreement. Fewer (33%) chose “Learning how to do more with less,” yet more (33%) chose “Dealing with so many new options.” Fewer (17%) were most concerned with “Creating an emotional connection,” but far more (17%) chose “Building consensus for my plan” as their biggest challenge. This subset appears to be slightly less concerned with brand related issues and more concerned with planning and execution.

Web content is a hot topic for the online travel marketing category. Why? Because so few web marketers are actually leveraging its capabilities to strengthen their brands. In the quest for top rankings in search engine results and travel broker sites, many destinations, resorts and attractions have forgotten the basics of branding and fallen prey to two distracting and potentially destructive patterns in web messaging: ‘the deal’ and ‘the lowest common denominator.’

Don’t sell your brand short with excessive discounting

Today, broker sites are dominating travel search. Aggregators such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Kayak are among the most visited sites for travel planning. While these sites are very effective at compiling information from wide ranging sources, they tend to focus on price as the distinction between travel options.

Price is a compelling decision factor, but remember that dollar signs are never sexy. Travel broker sites have no capacity to tell brand stories and can never compete with your own site for creating brand allure, drama and romance. Let the travel aggregators fill your vacancies, but make YOUR web site the place that tells your story. After all, a solid brand position can make your destination seem like a value at twice the price.

Don’t try to be everything to everybody

Another content trap that destination marketers fall into is the abuse of search engine optimization practices. Developing content that can fool search engines into high rankings for almost any travel-related search phrase can take your brand to a lowest-common-denominator status. It’s true that a laundry list of phrases on the home page can help your site rank for search phrases such as bed & breakfast, shuffleboard and monster trucks, but what portion of your site visitors would be attracted to such a combination?

Better to use your content to describe what you do best. Emphasize the aspects of your destination that differentiate it from the rest of your category. If you’re going to provide content on diverse offerings, organize it clearly and give it room. Don’t leave out the monster trucks; just keep them in their place (and probably not on the home page).

Use web content wisely and reap the rewards

Don’t let price and search engine tricks distract you from a sound, consistent web content strategy. A reliance on discounts can diminish the perceived value and equity of your brand, so use your markdown pen sparingly. And remember that each page of your site can be a search-term landing page; you’ll actually rank higher for providing deeper content on fewer topics than by name dropping hundreds of search terms with no support.

Maintaining a disciplined approach to your web content will pay off in the long run – creating a valuable site for visitors and a strong travel brand for you.

Here’s a quick follow-up on two recent tourism marketing campaigns that were featured in the Points of Interest blog.

Groundhog Day 2010 in review

Tuesday was Groundhog Day, and the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania enjoyed a big turn out for their 124th annual celebration. I watched live, streaming video of the festivities on the Official Website of The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Punxsy Phil, the Groundhog, was awakened to a sunny morning, and after seeing his shadow, proclaimed there will be six more weeks of winter.

My earlier excitement about the prospects of new “Groundhog vs. Shadow” videos for the 2010 tourism marketing campaign faded behind increasing clouds, however, as only one re-edited video was posted to the PAGroundhog YouTube channel this year. Oh well, only 52 more weeks til next Groundhog Day.

Countdown to Vancouver 2010

As the Winter Olympics draw near, I wanted to address a couple of points made in my last post about the Games.

First, it appears I may have jumped the starting gate when I reported a problem with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics website. At the time, the U.S. Athlete information for Alpine Skiing was missing from the site, but skiers were still competing for spots on the U.S. Olympic team, so it may have been premature to expect a final list of athletes then. My bad.

Second, at last check (2/3) the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Facebook page was up to 354,693 fans.... Two weeks ago, when the number of fans was 304,043, I predicted the page would reach one million fans, but sign-up seems to have slowed. We’ll see how this use plays out – as a social media success story or a Facebook flash in the pan.

And finally, my Olympic highlight this week was an amazing trailer that I saw on YouTube today, promoting the BBC's coverage of the Vancouver Olympics.

This animated masterpiece captures the excitement of the Games, the rugged beauty of the Pacific Northwest and elements of the local Inuit culture in an engaging story of victory against all odds. Check it out.

What was eye-opening in the results? The number of tourism pros still challenged with “Creating an emotional connection” with customers and prospects. Nearly a quarter of respondents feel this is their biggest challenge. Concerns with the commodification of the industry is evident here, as OTAs and discounting take their toll. The concepts of branding and connecting with customers have become a luxury for all but the strongest of players. This is supported by the 10% of respondents who chose “Figuring out what sets us apart.”

Could the number of respondents that chose “Dealing with so many new options” point to the confusion brought on by the rise of social media? In times of economic upheaval its a common reaction to abandon fundamentals and get distracted by anything that could offer promise. 

It will be interesting to see if this number grows or shrinks as we begin to look forward to more economic stability in 2010. What do you think?

Small but powerful

If you are in food and beverage, have a waiter or waitress offer a candy treat when presenting the bill to each customer in the group and then as he/she is leaving stop as though forgetting, reach in their pocket and quickly give everyone another piece of candy. This small strategy in the study increased their tip amount by a staggering 23%. Who would not want that?

One of the very basic tenants we have at our office is to tell many stories in many ways. They don’t have to be big or complicated, But they do need to be interesting and fun. It’s these small stories that can create the tipping point in the decision equation about your destination.

In case you haven’t heard, it’s an Olympic year. Beginning February 12, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, will host the Winter Olympic Games. I visited the official website the other day, and in my opinion, the Vancouver Olympic Committee (or VANOC) and their partners have created an amazingly well organized, effective and even beautiful destination marketing tool. Sure, the International Olympic Committee marketers have done this before; they’ve created websites for the last ten Olympics probably, but the sites just get better and better.

A website built for heavy-lifting

The Olympic Games are a very complex event, featuring 15 major areas of competition, hundreds of discreet events, and thousands of individual competitors representing countries around the world. The Olympics are big. The website required to communicate the specifics of such an event is equally complex, with literally millions of bits of data to compile, categorize and sort. Yet Vancouver 2010 is both user friendly and welcoming, with an appealing interface and easy-to-use organization.

You want content? You can’t handle the content!

To say there is a lot of content on the Vancouver Olympic site is an understatement. Each sport – 15 major areas of competition – is supported with breaking news, reports on competitors and venues, background information, athlete profiles, terminology, plus videos, photos, audio clips and more. I’m not sure I could navigate and load every page of content before the games end on February 28th, much less digest it all.

Olympic merchandise and adorable mascots

Retailing is another area that the Olympic marketers have down. The online store features hundreds of branded items for sale, from clothing to gifts and collectibles. Of course, the cleverly designed Vancouver mascots are sure to be big sellers. ‘Quatchi’ is a cute, cuddly – wait for it – Sasquatch (yep, that’s the local name for Bigfoot). ‘Mukmuk’ is a marmot (akin to our groundhog). I’m not sure what ‘Miga’ and ‘Sumi’ are, other than really cute. Many of the tchotchkes bearing their likenesses are already out of stock (including the 38” plush Quatchi that sells for $349). Ka-ching.

But can I book my hotel room?

I wondered how deep this site could really go, so I tried to make a hotel reservation. I was almost relieved to find that the “Accommodations” link went to a single page, which served up a very honest overview of tourism prospects. It said, in essence, that the Olympics are the largest event the region has hosted, demand is high, and visitors may need to stay in outlying areas. The page directs visitors to other websites to book accommodations (including VANOC’s tourism partners’ website and www.HelloBC.com). I believe that if the Olympic site tried to add booking capabilities, the Internet may have crumbled around us.

Well, sure, there are going to be problems

With all the information in this site, something has to give. When I went to the Athlete information for Alpine Skiing today (1/20), I was surprised to find that there were no athletes from the United States listed. Hmmm. Either the website has a problem or our highly-competitive team of ski racers chose to stay home and watch NASCAR racing. Maybe the web developers didn’t get the ‘U’s yet.

Too much for a single blog post

I could go on and on about the many strengths and seemingly few weaknesses of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic website and the marketing surrounding the games. I’d be interested to learn more about the logistics of such a site: the lead time, the manpower resources and operating budget. Then there’s the social media aspect to explore: Vancouver 2010 has 304,035 Facebook fans as of a minute ago (now 304, 043). I expect that number to top one million by February 1st (now 304,048). I may explore some of these topics in subsequent posts – but for now I’ll leave you with this: Rock on, Vancouver 2010, and GO USA! (Now 304,361 Facebook fans and counting.)

As someone who works in resort branding and marketing and who represents other ski resorts, I’m ultra sensitive to these things and so is my family.

The second day was a wash out.

As we ate our breakfast in our hotel, we could see the traffic jam of cars leading up the mountain out the dining room window. The cars didn’t move at all for the nearly forty-five minutes we sat there, drinking coffee and hot chocolate and socializing with the others in the dining room.

Since we couldn't get up the mountain, after breakfast, we headed to town to look for a few more warm layers. Eventually, the traffic dispersed and we made it to the Midway lodge a little before 1pm, far later than any respectable skier would start the day. There were less than twenty cars in the parking lot. When we got inside, Tony (the guy behind the lift ticket desk) regrettably informed us that, while they had received over a foot of snow overnight, he didn’t think anyone was on the mountain skiing or boarding. It was three degrees fahrenheit at the base, there were 60-75 mph winds on the mountain, and all but one lift were closed.

I looked at Tony with dissapointment.

“We bought three day lift tickets for Monday through Wednesday. What can you do for us?” Tony first offered to extend our tickets until Thursday, but we had to get home to co-host a New Year’s party. He could have offered us vouchers for a later day this season, but instead Tony did something totally unexpected: he offered to request a $332 refund for us. This must have been hard to do because the 2009/2010 season started extremely late in the east, and every mountain needed every dollar they could get.

As we drove down the mountain, my daughter reminded me that just the year before we had a similar experience at another mountain we’ve skied many, many times. She and I had gotten up early and driven two and a half hours to Killington, only to find the mountain a sheet of ice. After single run, we turned in our tickets. It wasn’t fun, and quite frankly, down right dangerous to be on the mountain. We asked for a refund, but Killington’s policy is “no refunds.” They gave us vouchers for another day, and we drove two and a half hours home without satisfaction. We never got back to Killington to use the vouchers, and haven’t been back since.

My family agreed that what Tony had done was extraordinary.

Even though we lost a day of skiing that we couldn’t get back, there was a chance we would get our money back. My son said, “Dad, if they refund our money, let’s make sure we get back to Stowe this year.” My daughter added, “And make sure you blog about it.”

Last week, I received an email from Thea Alvin, assistant manager of Guest Services at Stowe. She had credited my charge card for the $332. We will return that money to Stowe many times over in the coming years, I can promise you that.

Thanks to Tony and Thea for making what could have been a bad experience a great one. And thanks to the management of Stowe for giving them the authority to do so.

It’s almost Groundhog Day; time once again for a drowsy woodchuck to project winter’s duration. What a weird, quirky, fabulous basis for a holiday. Nowhere is this “observance” more significant than in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania – home of the nation’s largest Groundhog Day celebration and a tourism destination built around Punxsy Phil, the Groundhog, prognosticator of all prognosticators.

In recent years, marketing for this annual tourism event rode a tidal wave of viral web buzz, fueled by a series of edgy, comic videos  and websites acclaimed for their creativity and humor. After scouring the web for this year's "Groundhog vs. Shadow" content with no success, it appeared to me that the Pennsylvania Tourism Office was going to pull back from the edge and drop the ongoing series. I braced myself for a big let down.

Ah, but today I saw a familiar face on my Facebook page live feed. That's right, the Groundhog was back – with his Shadow lurking nearby – announcing the start of the 2010 campaign.

Viral marketing success stories

The original Groundhog Day viral videos began around 2004 and featured two people in oversized groundhog costumes (one brown, one black) chasing each other around as the groundhog looked for its shadow. The creativity and humor of these videos made Groundhog Day seem really fun and even cool: Punxsutawney was the place to be.

Each year, the Pennsylvania Tourism Office released an even more elaborate series of videos tracing the Groundhog’s escalating conflict with his darker side (er – Shadow), including a groundhog love triangle, a cross-country chase, a twisted parody of “The Shining,” and an extended hospital stay where we got a peek inside the delirious Groundhog Dreams.

The Groundhog meets social media for 2010

"Groundhog 2010" is the first video of the new year's marketing campaign, a quick recap of the set up, with the clever tag, "It's bigger than the weather." This could be a social media success story, too. Instead of a website, the video is delivered via a YouTube channel called PAgroundhog. The page contains ALL of the previous videos (The sheer number of videos might be a bit confusing for newcomers, but it makes an amazing catalog for fans like me). Another good use of social media is visitPA's Facebook poll to choose viewers' favorite series. This is going to be fun.

Am I excited about Groundhog Day? You bet, and the new videos just add fuel for my enthusiasm. Next year, my daughter will be four years old – just old enough to make the pilgrimage to Gobbler's Knob. I wonder if it will be an early spring?

I just sat through one of the more meaningless presentations on how consumers search and book online travel. It seems that Compete.com and Google thought it would be a good idea to slice and dice the numbers and attempt to tell us that all is as it should be. That search for travel is UP, and that more people are booking online! Just keep refining your search, and nerd out on 14 pages of analytics to keep your brand STRONG! That's all great, but it explains the obvious in a web-enabled world.

Search by itself will never be the silver bullet

Refining search will NOT save your brand from current doldrums unless you’re one of a handful of airlines, OTAs, or hotel chains. It won’t even come close. One of the more painful stats they pointed out was that consumers, purportedly in a blissful search mode, spent an average of 6+ sessions and hit an average of 20 sites. They gleefully point out that the people who search more, book at a higher rate! (Think back to the last time you booked. It's 1am, you have to work tomorrow, and you've been searching for three freaking hours to find a room on Cape Cod for a long weekend. As you click through to your TWENTIETH site, you say to yourself, "Screw it, we're staying at this one. I'm fried.") They say this all bodes well for the airlines and OTAs, yada yada.

Not every traveler can be bought

What they didn't uncover was the fact that search has been a disaster for travel branding. The "great rate" generation machine assumes that for $99, they can get in my pants before they ask me my name. They forgot that before I decide to even THINK of buying you, I have to LIKE you. One actually interesting note in the presentation: Travel review and planning sites were up 87% from 2008 to 2009. I think the reason you're seeing jumps like this is due to the fact that the rest of the search results are complete garbage, and review and planning sites are one of the few places consumers can go for [theoretically] real information about resorts, destinations and attractions. It's our last ditch effort to get something useful out of our 6 search sessions and 20 site visits. Hurray for the consumer.

A destination brand is more than the sum of its search

Search, as all sane marketers know, is one part of the challenge, and not, as Google and their minions would like to think, the whole shooting match. Attempting to boil down or refine any brand's existence and essence to search result smacks of an nerd-centric understanding of the notion of brand.

So before you charge your in-house search nerds to work even harder to play the google game (which you have to do regardless), remember this: Google stole your brand from you, and they're going to try to sell it back to you in the form of some sort of branding solution that will be pure hogwash. Take matters into your own hands, and get back to work on the basics of why brands are important, and fight back against the commodified search hell consumers are stuck in.

The New Year is supposed to be a time of reflection, right? A time to look back at accomplishments and failures, and think about how to start the new year on the right foot.

Reviewing the success of your media spend for the year is very important. Yes, you most likely have done your budget allocations for this year already, but it’s not too late to make a change (unless you’ve signed contracts you can’t get out of - though most people I have spoken to aren’t even close yet).

Analytics identify prime traffic sources

How are you measuring the effectiveness of your media spend? Google Analytics is a great way to do that.   The traffic sources tab is where I spend most of my time, looking at where people are coming from and what they are clicking on to get to my site.  By using their URL builder tool you can see what sites, ad sizes and creative are generating the most traffic.

If you bought ads on multiple networks and sites last year, this can help you determine which sites (or network) drove more traffic to your destination website, which you can use to help allocate your spend for 2010.  Make sure those conversion pixels are placed, too.  Those are imperative for measuring results and making sure your spend is worth it.

Pay per call connects the disconnected

Another great way to measure results is phone calls (pay per call).  The vendor I work with for search engine marketing offers, at no extra charge, a 1-800 number that you can use to track phone calls (keep in mind that not everyone will click through from an ad).  One destination that we work with received over 200 calls in a three month period.  Some vendors record the call, allowing you to go in at a later time and review the call, find out what they were interested in, what they bought and assign a dollar value. 

There are companies out there, such as Marchex, which can generate unique telephone numbers for use in whatever medium you would like.  This works well with a search campaign, but can also help you track print, radio and television campaigns, without someone having to remember a long, unique URL to get to your website.  As pay per call becomes more popular and as more vendors offer it, we could see print advertising make a comeback (for a little more insight on pay per call, check out this article from Media Post.

Refine media plans for a more profitable new year

So, destination marketers, it’s time to analyze and declutter that media buy and start the new year off on the right foot – and maybe add some new innovation into the mix.

Travel broker Expedia recently introduced a new logo and corporate identity. According to the Seattle Times, Paul Leonard, VP of brand marketing at Bellevue-based Expedia, described the new look as "less cartoonish.” “We were striving for a more timeless and classic aesthetic," Leonard said. "It's a little less whimsical and more sophisticated."

Were they successful?

Let’s begin with a discussion about the logo itself – the new plane and globe. Are the new elements timeless, or of mixed decades? Classic or just boring? A little less whimsical, or with no whimsy at all? Sophisticated or generic?

The old plane had character, a voice and a personality, If you didn’t like the whimsical, somewhat cartoony illustration style of the yellow plane, you at least knew whose plane it was – Expedia’s. Cover up the name on the new logo and tell me you can’t think of a few possibilities of whose logo this could be.

The new icon is trying to appear dimensional, but it ends up looking flat; a result of the white plane bleeding both edges of the circle, the loss of perspective, and a poorly rendered gradient. The monochromatic palette isn’t helping it either. However, since I mentioned color, I’d like to understand why they changed the tonality of the text colors. The new text appears to be a different blue than the logo, but the colors are so close that it looks like a mistake.

The wordmark has some strange typographical configurations, too.

The strokes of the ‘x’ are unequal in width. The dot above the ‘i’ looks lopsided. I’m not against fonts that push the norm, but if the goal was a more timeless and classic aesthetic, this font is too contemporary to meet those requirements. The tag line typography is a common, boring, hand-writing font that doesn’t ‘speak.’ The two font styles do not mix well, and as a result, the tag line looks stuck on.


The scale of the wordmark in comparison to the logo is now much larger and the cap height is higher compared to the x-height. These typographical nuances make the wordmark appear more important than the symbol rather than balancing our read. The tag line looks forced up under the ‘p’ and because it is centered with a period, it looks unbalanced.

The new Expedia logo gets a thumbs down from me, and on the logometer scale of one to ten, I’ll give it a one. What do you think?

There’s a fascinating case study in tourism marketing happening right now. The world’s first commercial spaceline, Virgin Galactic, is ramping up marketing efforts for its fledgling space program. The story of Richard Branson’s quest for space has been unfolding for over a decade already, but with the December 7 unveiling of their newest space craft, Virgin Galactic’s vision of space travel for the masses seems close to realization.

It’s the journey, not the destination

Virgin is selling the opportunity to be among the first to visit a place so unique, so remote, that there is actually nothing there for travelers except a spectacular view and a trip home. Similar in concept to the sight-seeing flights over Antarctica, the chance to see the sweep of the Earth from space – its continents, oceans, mountains, even its weather systems – takes recreational travel a quantum leap beyond looking at ice fields from an airplane. (And just look at the cool suits the future astronauts will wear!)

A space age for the rest of us

Virgin Galactic is launching a new era for the travel and tourism industry – a second-coming of the space age – and everyone is invited (well, everyone with $200,000 for a ticket). Even with no actual flights scheduled yet, the waiting list for this remarkable travel opportunity includes over 300 individuals who’ve made deposits of $20,000 or more.

Inspiring belief in the reality of space travel

The challenges of marketing this experience, given its novelty and high price tag, are considerable. Virgin Galactic’s lead agency, Beattie McGuinness Bungay, described their job as two-fold: “Firstly to inspire people to believe in the prospect that space travel for the masses will become a reality in our lifetimes. Secondly to encourage high net worth individuals to become pioneers now.” (Of course, some will be inclined to go just because they can.)

The new Virgin Galactic website was created by UK digital agency, Outside Line. The site features images and illustrations of the space craft, news updates and a booking option. You’re invited to “join over 300 Virgin Galactic astronauts who will venture into space” by booking directly through Virgin Galactic or with “your local accredited space agent.” I was excited to see that there are four space agents here in New York.

This is going to be a wild ride

The language and imagery of Virgin Galactic’s marketing remind me of recruiting posters for some Sci-Fi space academy. And this is the perfect venue for some exciting and colorful brand story-telling. I may not be ready to make a deposit, but I’m really looking forward to watching this revolutionary advertising campaign take off over the next three years.

Every one knows we are swamped in advertising clutter. I can’t even go to the restroom in the office without reading an ad above the john. In Orlando, you can’t look up in the sky because some jackass is writing something with his airplane or there’s a huge blimp that looks like Shamu. Hell, with Southwest Airlines you can fly in the belly of the beast since they are a sponsor of Sea World.

Are you smarter than a Neanderthal?

If it’s good enough for the Neanderthals, it’s good enough for me. 

You know the key is a great story told in a very simple way with great graphics and few words. The Neanderthals had it down; stick figures throwing spears at Deer, Wooly Mammoths and some of their other favorite things. Signed with an air brushed hand. The stuff these boys and girls put on the walls of their gathering places has stood the test of time. Not decades but tens of thousands of years.

A very simple, message without one word.

Still speaking across time and cultures that are radically different.

Maybe we should stick with simple stuff we know works.

With the never ending onslaught of technology innovation in social media, digital marketing, and internet based “solutions,” chaos has replaced clarity when it comes to actually connecting with a potential consumer.

Take my recent search for information on places to stay in Virginia Beach. What a mess that was. Starting with a google search (as most of us seem to do) yielded practically nothing useful for me.

In fact, googling “Virginia Beach Resorts” offers up a bunch of hotel websites that look identical, save for a name swap, and a few photo changes. Is this supposed to be the ownable, differentiated brand position that inspires me to prefer one place over another? I understand multiple property owners desire to realize economies of scale on a web platform, but this creates chaos for a consumer, and completely ignores major tenets of branding, including differentiation.

Don't let technology distract you from the basics

Destinations, resorts, and attractions need to remember that even with a never ending tide of new things to learn and master (from twitter to gliider to google video), they STILL need to master the basic concept of branding before any of these other innovations make sense.

I’ll go one step further:

Only through solid branding can any of these marketing innovations be brought into order, and deliver your destination from the price-driven, commoditized hell that are travel booking sites, and useless search result pages.

Maybe the pendulum needs to swing back in the other direction, from the chaotic mess that’s been created in travel search, to a [somewhat] more controlled approach to branding, where we offer content, imagery, and inspiration to guide the perceptions that people form.

Today we are in the last year of the first DECADE of this new millennium.

The media continues to makes sure we have no reprise from fear or worry.

How are they preparing us for the second decade of the new millennium? Global Warming. That’s a really big one. I’m worried about my lights staying on and having enough baby formula and now I’ve got to worry that Aspen will be a beach town in about 20,000 years.

Hollywood’s already seized impending doom with the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. I know the accuracy of the calendar is legendary. But lets get real - these people never saw a wheel until the Conquistadors arrived.

So what can you do to maintain your sanity...

... and enthusiasm and dedication during those staff and committee meetings?

Close your eyes and mentally look around the conference table. There’s your Chairman, the County Manager, your corporate attorney, your department heads, individual board members and a few guests. The meeting opens and you can feel the panic.

The first words from one of your fear-mongers who loves his position and can speak with the passion of an evangelist in a tent meeting reminds you occupancy is falling, ADR, is down, and tax revenues are off. Once the first guy is done four others pile on.

When the blood bath is over there are 5 giant files of fear, anger, and frustration laying on the table right in front of you. What do you do?

Put on your HAZ-MAT Suit.

DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING. THEY ARE TOXIC.

These good folks have spent an hour desperately trying to give you their fear and frustration. The first step is to see what’s going on, it’s their fear, and frustration, not yours.

Listen to their pain. Turn up your regulator. Put your hands in your pocket, leave it right where they dumped it. If you pick up any of it you will never know peace or be clear enough on where to start attacking your challenges until business is running record gains.

By then you’ll be worrying about the next slide. If you still have the job.

I asked a friend the other day who’s the President of a DMO at a well known international destination if she felt in control. She asked, “In control of what?”

“How about work or your life?” Her reply: “Unfortunately, work is my life and no, I’m not in control of it.”

I sense our business is full of very talented people who are frozen in debilitating fear that spreads terror, dread, and trepidation, causing the brain to retreat into this grey cloud of uncertainly. Every day seems like a constant struggle of dissatisfaction, despite a life time of worldly achievements.

My friend continued,

‘I feel disconnected from my job, my board, my co-workers. When I walk down the beach and look at our visitors, I think to myself, “I used to know who you were, where you were from, what you liked, how long you were going to stay, how much you were going to spend, and where I could reach you.”  

'Now it feels like I don’t know anything. Tax revenues off 40%, the old way of doing stuff isn’t working, the hype from every pro-ported marketing guru is burying me in data, suggesting I pull out all the stakes we’ve spent millions of dollars and years to plant and dump it in a dozen different places that I’ve never heard of and trust some social media contacts who are a friend of a friend and may or may not say, “Hey! Why don’t you go to her beach for a vacation?”’

As her words sank in, I was stunned and depressed.

I easily slipped into an affiliation and then an assumption of her feelings. They felt horrible. I wondered if there there was a way to shed this mindset of fear, not just for myself, but anyone else locked in this prison. Could it be done without Prozac or some other serotonin active drug?

I regret to admit that it took me a week to sort my way through all this stuff. The catalyst for the elixir was an anonymous quote:

“Living is tearing up one rough draft after another.”

Reflecting on this, I thought of five things that I could offer her that can bring perspective.

1. Problems need to be viewed from a holistic point of view across time, not from a single point
2. Every problem already contains its solution: in other words, it’s not the problem, it’s our way of thinking about it
3. Integration is key to simplifying complexity
4. A strong platform of research is critical - its hard to argue with the facts
5. The key to connecting with customers is still an emotional story, regardless of what the number crunchers might tell you.

I feel better already.

You would think that lining up the information we’d need to make a fast decision would be easy, wouldn’t you? You would be wrong:

1. Google searching for travel information has become a mess, and the crap that ranks high in the search is close to useless for making simple decisions like “where should we stay?”
2. There was no lack of information, it was just that I didn’t believe a word of it. Maybe that’s why using the net to actually book a stay at a destination takes so long.
3. According to one source, the travel industry thinks it’s OK to force people to endure 9 different search sessions, and visit more than 20 sites before they book something. Can you imagine visiting 9 different travel agents and reading 20 different brochures before booking a trip?

That doesn’t seem acceptable, does it?

I was searching for a place that would make sense for two adults and two little kids. It needed to be:

• fun, close to the action, and clean
• clear about what it offered and why it was a better choice than any of the other places in Virginia Beach.

Only after I was satisfied that I had that information would I move to the next step of looking into price and availability.

Well, guess what.

As soon as they had a lock on where I wanted to go, all of these websites jumped straight to “looking for a deal in Virginia Beach?” I hadn’t even decided if Virginia Beach would be any fun for my family, and they were trying to close the deal.

"How about getting to first base before
you think about stealing home."

Don’t the resorts and destinations realize that they are missing a step in this process? The sites that come up at the top of the Google results page aren’t inspiring me one bit, because the resorts and destinations didn’t do their job.

Show me why your destination is desirable.

Show me why it’s different. Show me why it will be perfect for my family, and inspire me to book with you. The stuff they skipped is called branding.

Google, OTAs, booking sites, lead generators, meta search, and most travel planning and review sites have taken your eye off the only thing other than lowest price that can make your destination stand out from the rest: branding.

Without it, you’re less than a commodity, you’re an annoyance to someone who’s ready to spend their money.

What is Gliider?

Gliider is a Firefox plugin that helps consumer travel planners:

1. find and gather travel info from any site on the internet
2. share that information and collaborate with up to four people
3. gather travel advice from their social network
4. get travel deals specific to the trip plan
5. create a complete pdf of all their travel documents for the trip

How Gliider works

Gliider and emerging technologies like it sit in the vast void between content and commerce. Using simple drag and drop functionality, consumers can collect inspirational travel content, including:

• websites
• web pages
• text
• pictures
• video
• reviews
• ratings
• event calendars
• links

They can collect whatever content they find that can help them envision and plan their trip. They can share the information they gather with the trip decision makers and collectively weigh the pros and cons of each variable.

Gliider matches intention with inventory

Based on the consumer’s content selection, Gliider then serves travel deals from sites like Expedia and Travel Zoo that most closely match their selections.

Why Gliider is innovative

Currently, most travel planning websites start with the price of an airline ticket or hotel room. They completely miss the fact that consumers are looking for inspiration when contemplating a trip.

According to PhoCusWright, the average travel planning consumer completes 9 searches and visits 20 different sites before they book.

Gliider helps them organize the inspiration they seek, and find relevant deals to boot. And it incorporates social networking into the mix.

Why destination, resort & attraction marketers should care

Gliider and other emerging technologies like it feed on inspirational content. Companies like Google, TripAdvisor, Travelocity and Kayak don’t have the capacity to deliver the depth of content that consumers seek. But destinations, resorts and attractions are in the position to deliver it.

To take Gliider for a ride, visit the company's website.

For the sales manager, every meeting planner, tour operator and guest he sees is out to beat him up on rate. Everybody seems to be winning at his expense. For many, the hotel is in jeopardy as is the job. There seems to be no end in sight.

What in the heck is one to do?

Thirty five years ago in the midst of a recession, high unemployment, gas shortages, and staggering interest rates, a young man by the name of Harris Rosen purchased and opened his first hotel on International Drive in Orlando. At the time almost every hotel on the drive was plagued by the same problems the industry is facing today. Almost every competitor Harris had was in bankruptcy, operating under a court order, or so close to the edge they couldn’t even mow the lawn.

I have often wondered over the years what Harris did to make him competitive and profitable. So profitable and strong was his business that today he owns seven hotels, has 5,000 associates, and the University of Central Florida’s School of Hospitality is named after him. His assets are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here’s what Harris Rosen did then and is doing now.

He called it the napkin strategy. In the beginning he did not like negotiating rates. So what he would do is give his potential customer a napkin and say, “Why don’t you write down what you feel would be FAIR.” He would initial the napkin and that would be the contract.

The widget on his website today has replaced the napkin but the strategy is the same. Those who respect and want a good rate will get it. I’m sure this strategy has helped Harris and his staff close more business than his competitors in the current environment.

Why?

Because being fair is a powerful tool for both sides of the negotiating table.

Permission to come aboard

The emails came from Sport Fishing, a magazine to which I subscribe and have given permission to send marketing messages. The subject line, “Tie one on and get in a fight,” appeared on both (a mistake?), an obvious play on words with a fishing subtext... I opened both without hesitation. 

The right bait catches fishermen, too

Each message consisted of a large image – an advertisement for the Florida Keys (one for Islamorada, one for Big Pine Key) – along with a link to view the ad online, several social media icons, and a few text links for the publication. 

The ads were a pleasant surprise; featuring an attractive tropical fishing photo, a clever headline, just a few lines of body copy and a colorful, graphic signature. The fishing photos captured some of the beauty and excitement of saltwater fly fishing, especially of sight-fishing the flats and waiting for the perfect moment to drop your fly in front of a wary sport fish. The signatures for the Florida Keys showed aerial views of this iconic fishing destination: a string of islands with hundreds of miles of shoreline, a shallow, protected bay to the North and a quick drop off to deep blue water to the South... Mmmm, fishy.

Between the moody photographs, the promise of aggressive fish and the alluring geography of the islands, I was tempted to book my winter getaway on the spot.

Not a weak link in the chain

The emails were full of handy, functional links. Clicking the ads took me direct to the Florida Keys website, where I was served lots of images and links to places to stay, things to do, travel information and promotional offers. The social media links were a nice touch, too, as my second thought was to share the messages with my fishing buddies. Finally, the publisher’s text links gave me options to unsubscribe, change preferences, and add the sender to my address book (to ensure their messages get through my spam filter). And since I was already in a vulnerable state of mind, they gave me the opportunity to subscribe to three more saltwater fishing magazines.

Surprisingly good when well done

Sure, these emails didn’t take rocket science to create; they didn’t do anything groundbreaking or particularly innovative. But I enjoyed reading them, I clicked through to several links, and now the Florida Keys are on my fishing wish list. It has been a long time since junk mail put a smile on my face.

Some general observations:

On the value to DMOs, resort and attraction operators

While the three day event was jam-packed with valuable ideas and information for marketers of destinations, the representation from this sector was surprisingly small. I counted just thirteen DMOs worldwide, less than half from the United States. Resorts and attraction operators were in far greater number. I’m not quite sure why this is, because DMOs and their roles in travel marketing were the subject of many conversations.

On the topic of inspiration

Even though this was a technology-based conference, there was a lot of concern expressed about the lack of consumer inspiration in travel and the potential for further commoditization within the category. While online innovation has up until now focused mainly on the transaction (every trip plan starts with a cheap airline ticket), a number of high profile speakers (including Hugh Jones, CEO of Travelocity) addressed this issue directly. This is a huge opportunity for DMOs, but one I suspect will be fleeting if other sources find ways to fill the gap before the "official" providers do.

On the topic of search

Custom content for potential visitors is the future of search marketing. DMOs have a competitive advantage here because the big players can’t author custom content for each audience of each destination, resort or attraction. They’re looking for DMOs to provide “official,” customized content and find ways to distribute and syndicate it beyond the DMO website. Start-ups and the big boys alike need this content to help bring inspiration back into the travel planning equation.

On the topic of social media

The impact of social media on travel marketing is game-changing, but we have only begun to understand how destinations can use social networks to their advantage. What is clear is that those who truly engage their audiences in a transparent, honest way using social media are far more likely to convert prospects into customers than those who are just going through the motions. Tourism Queensland’s “The Best Job In The World” campaign, which integrated traditional and online advertising with social media to drive visitations, is a notable example because they have metrics and have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. Look for an in-depth review in an upcoming issue of The Wanderlust Report.

On the topic of innovation

There weren’t any game changing innovations presented at the Travel Innovation Summit this year, but there were some very promising ideas that destination marketers should keep in mind as they make their plans for 2010 and beyond. Over the course of the next few months, I will be posting more in-depth reviews of those innovations that have the potential to impact destination, resort and attraction marketing.

Here's how it works.

Users click on your ad, say from an ad they saw on About.com.

They visit your website, peruse around, look at prices and conditions, then they close their browser window. According to Adroll, an 

advertising platform, 98% of users who click on your banner ad will leave your site without purchasing. But that doesn't mean you have lost them.

This is where behavioral retargeting comes in. You want to lure those users back to your site to close the deal (whether it's for a lift ticket, a hotel room or a full vacation). With some simple steps, you'll be on your way.

You will need to place a pixel on your website, which is really quite simple. Your banner ad network will provide you with the pixel, which you will hide in the code on your landing page. If you aren't sure how to do this, contact your site administrator. The pixel is a tracking code, which is now embedded on the landing page.

When a user clicks through from your banner ad to the landing page, the tracking pixel leaves a cookie on their computer (please note this cookie does not report anything about the user like name or address, only the location of their computer). The next time said user visits another site within the banner ad network, they are served an ad based on the pixel placed. The ad can be tailored (like if the user put a certain product in their shopping cart and didn't complete the sale) to entice the user to come back and complete the purchase.

All of the major banner ad networks are able to work with you on this, such as Undertone, Burst and Yahoo. If your budgets are smaller, you also have options, like Adroll and Casale, whose monthly minimums are more reasonable for smaller brands or those with smaller budgets.

The field of competition was broad: companies in the mobile space, translation solutions for marketing across borders, new and innovative search and booking engines, web metrics analysis solutions that extend the value of Google Analytics, innovative online advertising solutions.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be posting detailed reviews of the solutions I found to be most interesting. Stay tuned.

We’ll start with shape. The shield is a rise above the old rectangle. Shields are emblematic. They act as a heraldic devise - a distinctive badge - for a nation, organization or family. Most Killington skiers are die-hard fans so they’ll love the badge concept and the badge. I suspect we’ll see some actual patches on jackets this coming season. 

While the old logo had a version in the positive, with a black wordmark, we mostly saw this heavy, dark, blue rectangle with the reversed type. The new palette is reminiscent of a bright, sunny day on the slopes with gleaming white snow. But look again and you’ll also see the industry-wide color reference for trail terrain - green for easy, blue for more difficult and black for expert. While many ski resorts use this nomenclature in their logos it tends to look trite. But not here, because what you see is not the only thing you get. The colors create a three- dimensional mountain peak and if you turn the logo sideways you’ll notice that the big Killington “K” is still there. 


Talk about packed powder, this symbol is packing it in.

I could have done without the script typeface or at least this particular script. Its use could be a nod to Beaver Creek, symbolizing they can compete with the Colorado slope, who also sports a script. Killington’s script is a little retro, due to its weight, but it falls short. I can’t decide if it is cool or if it looks like a wedding invitation font. That’s the problem with using scripts. It’s hard to get away from that cultural association. 

All in all this is a big improvement. A thumbs up from me and on the logometer of one to ten I’ll give it an 8.5.

What do you think?

We’d like to welcome Paige Williams, Director of Tourism for the Chickasaw Nation, to the Wanderlust family. And we want to send out a special thanks to Bob Holt, General Manager at Howe Caverns, Tim Woods, President of Windham Mountain and Elizabeth Young, Director of the Troy Downtown Cooperative for your generous recommendations.

Look for an official news release shortly.

In the meantime, Woo Hoo!

Inspiration: Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t

Sure, there are moments of inspiration and concepts that write themselves, and we always joke about our computers’ amazing one-touch functions, with buttons labeled, ‘retouch photo’ or ‘write brochure.’ If the creative process were this simple, agency billing efficiencies would go through the roof, and a lot of talented slackers would be forced to look for real jobs. 

Most days, the creative process is just plain hard work (for most of us it’s a labor of love and a lot of fun, too). Coming up with hundreds of ideas, recognizing the diamonds in the rough and polishing those gems ‘til they sparkle, all with a deadline looming large – this is the challenge of ‘creative on demand.’

And then, there are those times when nothing comes to mind. So, how do you overcome writer’s block? And more importantly, how do you deliver a successful marketing campaign on time and under budget? It’s simple: just press the ‘generate award winning campaign’ button. Okay, the IT group is still working out the bugs on that one, so here are a few more suggestions to get you started.

The deadline is looming. Where to begin...

When struggling with a creative challenge, ask yourself: What am I selling? What makes this product different or special? Who is the audience? How can I make my message more relevant to the viewer and medium? What’s the single most important idea I want to get across? (That’s often the nudge that gets me back on track.) Once you’re grounded in the parameters of the task, you can turn loose the creative mind.

At the concept stage, that means coming up with ideas. Lots of ideas: big ideas, small ideas, strategic ideas and ridiculous ideas. When brainstorming there are no bad ideas, so don’t self-edit, and write everything down. The first 50 may seem obvious, but the next 50 may be ideas that can change the game.

For a writer, it’s time to write. Write anything, write poetry, write in someone else’s voice – just write. Don’t be concerned with the finished draft, just get the words flowing. The secret to great writing is rewriting, so the first draft is just that; likely followed by a second, a third, and sometimes many more versions. So write.

For the designer, it’s time to get visual. That may mean searching photo sites, creating thumbnail sketches to organize visual elements or experimenting with composition, scale or color. 

You have an idea. Where do you go from here?

The key to being creative on demand is simply to get started. Look for insights, have fun, see where your ideas take you, then make sure it fits your brand and your strategy. Great ideas rarely come preassembled, so it’s the creative team’s job to bring together all the pieces, arrange and refine them to create something that’s never been seen before, something that resonates with the customer and makes a connection. (And if you can do all that, say by noon tomorrow, that would be great.)

Take Destination A, for example. 

They ran one campaign this past summer, utilizing a major banner ad network and a PPC campaign with Google, Yahoo, Ask and Bing. To better track their PPC campaign, unique URL’s were created for each major market that they were reaching out to.

With the URL builder, they were able to differentiate each geographic market they were targeting by using Google’s URL builder tool and creating a unique URL for each. The unique URL is then reported into the Google Anayltics account, where marketers can dig deeper into the PPC campaign and results.

By turning to your analytics, you can see not only how many clicks you’ve received, but you can see how many pages per visit on average people who have clicked are viewing, the amount of time they are spending on the site, as well as the number of people who have never been to your site before.

With these additional insights, you can see what markets are performing better than others, allowing you to gauge how your ads are performing and whether what you are paying per click is actually worth it.

Here are a couple of links for those of you, like me, who have long forgotten learning about the concepts of Individualism and the social contract and stored them away in your brain for future cocktail party banter. 

As a parent, I was encouraged that my daughter was being exposed to ideas that had such an influence on the development of the fledgling American democracy. As a destination marketer trying to make sense out of the adolescent, yet burgeoning social networking space, I found great wisdom in Erin’s recounting of Benjamin Franklin’s words:

"Franklin argues that the virtue of silence would help him “to gain knowledge at the same time that (he) improved in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit (he) was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking...”

"In his silence, Franklin stopped making trifling comments and jokes and thus, no longer wasted the time of other members of his society. In addition, he improved his individual self by gaining knowledge from listening to others in conversation. In consenting to be a part of his society, he granted himself the right to this knowledge. However, as an individual within said society, he was obligated to then give back and share that knowledge with the public."

In Franklin’s day, there were no online social networks where he could listen, and then share the knowledge he gained. So he went to meetings, pubs, parties and other community spaces where people discussed the matters of the day. And when he was ready to share his thoughts, he wrote them down and published them in an almanac, which he “endeavored to make both entertaining and useful.”

It seems to me that we destination marketers, and for that matter, all other marketers in the social networking space, could learn something valuable from Franklin: the concept of the social contract applies to marketing on social networks, too.

If we're smart, like Franklin, we will all embrace the virtue of silence a bit to listen and learn from those we want to network with. And when we have something entertaining or useful to add, we'll share it.

Lucky for us Franklin's words of wisdom can be found on the internet. If you run into them, don’t forget to tweet them.

An exerpt:

One of the first questions we ask the owners and marketers of the destinations, resorts and tourism attractions goes something like this: “What is the one thing that you don’t have today, or don’t have enough of, that could provide you with an undeniable competitive advantage?” Two of the top three answers are usually offered half jokingly: money and time. But the third most common, more serious, and far less elusive answer is consumer insight.

With battered budgets and new distractions at every turn, its easy to overlook generally accepted “best practices” and miss out on the wealth of consumer insight virtually every destination already has in their possession. Even more so in a recession, its important to remember your best marketing opportunity—the customer information database.

[get the full story]

Here’s what I mean.  During my travels early this fall I visited one of my favorite destinations; a huge resort with a business base of leisure, group, meetings, and conventions. The economy has driven them to discount heavily, dragging down their average room rate and RVPAR. These barometers have been reduced to the point that it has drastically changed their market mix to an entirely lower segment, thereby changing the basic dynamics of their property.

So here’s the problem.

You’ve got a great resort with a tremendous awareness that transcends generations for leisure guests. A Meeting and Conference Center that’s a perfect environment for groups to stay focused and still have a lot to do.   

As a management team trying to cover expenses, you do the obvious and slash prices to generate cash and ride out the slide until you can recover your losses.  

But now, the unforeseen has happened: a shift of your business base that threatens the very foundation of your positioning. You know you can’t sustain the business at its current business mix and rates. You’ve lost what used to be your prime market, a group who’s now reluctant to pay the rates you once commanded.

What's the right solution?

For those of you who are professionals and students of marketing, it would be interesting to hear what you would do to turn this product around. Would you start now while the leisure market is still soft but showing some signs of growth – and the meetings and convention business is more than soft, it’s way off – or wait until the market has fully rebounded?

The unlikely social state

Before Pure Michigan, my perception of the pleasant peninsula began and ended with Michael Moore’s 1989 documentary, Roger & Me. I will never forget the anti-social treatment Moore received from Roger Smith, then CEO of General Motors ("the company that destroyed Flint"), nor will I the poor woman who raised rabbits in her back yard to put food on her dinner table. Nor her boarded-up neighborhood. It was a striking portrait of a desperate place, with a decaying community, and the stranglehold on the people who failed to escape before the state's economic Armageddon.

This perception has been reinforced over the last five years by the number of people trying to flee Michigan who’ve applied for jobs at Wanderlust. The recent government bailout of Detroit’s auto industry and the disappearance of several Michigan-based iconic US auto brands haven’t helped.

Desperate measures for desperate times?

First launched in 2005, the momentum for Pure Michigan has been steadily building. Then came the “economic downturn”. Just about the time things couldn’t have looked worse in Michigan, with the great recession of ’08-’09 fully underway and the auto industry down for the count, something wonderful happened:

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm's economic stimulus program included $30 Million to support the Pure Michigan campaign in 2009.

The entire plan included both in-state and out of state programs, traditional media, a website and online advertising. $10 million of those dollars went for a brand new, very inspirational, Hal Riney-esque coast-to-coast cable advertising campaign directing people to the Pure Michigan website.

At the top of the website, social media bookmarking tools and links to Pure Michigan’s accounts on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. They’ve got a very active blog, an email newsletter, a photo contest, and a place where visitors can share their Michigan travel experiences for others to see. All in all, it’s the type of well thought-out, highly-integrated, content-rich, on- and offline strategic philosophy we advocate here at Wanderlust.

Considering Michigan’s timing (when most destination marketers were slashing budgets, hankering down hoping to survive the storm), it took a considerable amount of courage to pull off. The fact that the governor got behind it with record level funding is as admirable as it is visionary.

But is it working?

20,000 Facebook fans is a lot for a tourism office to attract. But does a social following justify $30 Million spent by a desperate state in a terrible economy? Official reports suggest the answer to be a resounding yes. $1.1 Billion in new tourism revenue is being attributed to the campaign. While the state’s next year’s budget will see severe cuts across the board, it appears that the Pure Michigan campaign may escape the knife.

I asked our production manager, Lynn White, what she thought of the Pure Michigan campaign. Lynn was born and raised in Michigan, having escaped many years ago, vowing never to return.

“You know,” she reminisced, “I had forgotten how beautiful it is North of Flint. Maybe someday soon I’ll take my kids there.”

I suspect others are thinking the same thing, too.

In years past, I hired fishing guides when I traveled. But the guide did all the work, and the pay-to-fish approach left too much of the adventure in the crew’s hands. Now I like to do the work myself. So for three weeks, I read maps, checked tide charts and prepared my gear. And for two days, I was out on the ocean catching large, wild fish – much the same way Cape Codders have since cod fisherman still used hand lines – and doing it all myself. That’s pretty authentic.

Pay to play vs. do-it-yourself

For some people, hiring a sherpa is the way to go. Many travelers don’t have the time or inclination to pursue a truly authentic experience on their own. They pay for the convenience of guided trips with a knowledgeable local resident. For a price, they get easy access to spectacular places, all the gear they need, and it’s usually a safer, more satisfying experience. Especially for those with limited time or those traveling with children.

But for a small percentage of travelers, do-it-yourself trips, or ‘roughing it’ adds to the adventure and provides a richer, more memorable trip. An authentic experience of a traditional past-time, a local culture or a natural wonder. An experience they might come back for, over and over, until they get it right. (I’m already making plans for kayak-fishing Cape Cod Bay next Spring.)

Make the do-it-yourself option part of your story

If you’re a destination marketer, ask yourself if there are ways to attract the do-it-yourself traveler. Could you offer tips on planning and executing their own adventures? Provide educational opportunities, or excursions to out-of-the-way places where they can go their own way? Maybe it’s just adding the do-it-yourself angle to your brand storytelling.

There are lots of ways to experience a destination. Give consumers a choice, and you may be surprised at what they come up with.

Rene Welti, a tourism marketer that I know, told me that a recent National Geographic study found that there are 55 million Americans who could be classified as sustainable tourists.  This represents one out of three USA travelers who took at least one 50 mile or more overnight stay, representing 30% of US travelers.

Their travel habits are guided by their high awareness of the world around them.  They have ceaseless expectations for culturally authentic travel experiences that protect and preserve the ecological and cultural environment.  They want different experiences when they travel and have a set of unspoken requirements of destinations, lodging establishments, tour companies and even transportation companies.

This group of travelers is a segment that is related to sustainable living, or “green” ecological initiatives.  It is a market of $300 billion.  There is a demand for these products and services.

So what do they look like?

• Age 44 - 70,  representing 50% of the baby boomers
• Average Household Income of $68K, with 40% at $75K +
• 54% female
• 60% college, 25% graduate degrees.
• 32% holed professional/speciality/management positions.
• Travel History includes domestic trips 5 to 7 per year.

What are their expectations?

• 72% say that educational experiences are important when they travel.
• 81% prefer small scale accommodations run by local people.
• 81% travel to experience people, lifestyles and cultures different from their own.   
• 80% visit small towns and rural areas.
• They like outdoor adventure travel, offering challenging risk and excitement.
• They like the outdoors with comfortable accommodations, I.e. soft-adventure.
• The like outdoor recreation, sports, read or watch shows about nature and environment.
• They are generous and donate money to environmental organizations.
• They likely belong to a political party, alumni association, or professional organization.

Sounds like a sustainable opportunity, doesn’t it?

Here’s part of what Roy said:

In my secret trove of things that I keep, there is just one page of the December 10 Issue of Sports Illustrated, the one with Brett on the cover announcing his award as Sportsman of the year. The story on Favre about his daddy’s death and his wife’s breast cancer and his class, went on for at least eight pages but I only saved the last one.

You see the writer had brilliantly shown the deep devotion Brett inspires from everyone who knows him and not until the end of the story did he mention which of Favre’s many golden moments on the football field were his best ones.. But the writer raised the question to those Favre holds closest to his heart rather than those with whom he shared a huddle and their individual responses were simply magnificent. To see such and insight into such a man was so special and so wonderfully done.

But the reason I saved the last page was because I never want to lose what was the very last of the story. I think you’ll agree as I share it why I put a one-word label on Favre when he retired from pro football.

Here’s the way the magazine article ended:

“ask Favre for his own favorite memory and he is quiet for a moment. I’ve got so many plays running through my mind he says, finally. “The funny thing is, it’s not only about the touchdowns and the big victories. If I were to make a list iI would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. “Those times when I’ve been down, when I’ve been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I’ve ever had, because that’s when I’ve found out who I am. And what I want to be.”

How about you?

This is the toughest season I’ve seen in my 20 plus years in this business. I’ve seen the gas crisis in the mid 70’s ,with it’s long lines, getting gas based on odd and even tag numbers, and a maximum of 5 to 10 gallons at a time, recessions, stock market crashes, and major financial fiasco’s.

Some of the best playing I’ve ever experienced has been watching how creative people in our business manage their offensive game plan by penetrating the opportunities the defense gave them. I’m reminded of a man from Atlanta by the name of Cecil B. Day the founder of Day’s Inn. His wife Dean Day told me the story of how he saw the seam in the defense of the gas crisis and built a company that provided lodging and guaranteed access to a tank of gas.

Has your offensive plan uncovered the holes in the defense?

If you have great. If not do as Favre has done: cherish and remember the interceptions, sacks, and painful losses you’ll find out who you are and what you want to be.

We are a social network of storytellers.

From the beginning of time, information has been passed mouth to ear, generation to generation through the fine art of storytelling. Most stories worth paying attention to have a point, a moral or lesson, a reason beyond just being. Your personal stories, and those about your destination, are no different.

Imagine, for a moment, that you have moved to a new town and joined the chamber of commerce. Or a new trade or industry association. Or taken on a new job. You attend your first meeting and the host asks you to step up in front of the audience and tell everyone a little about yourself. What do you say that will make others in the room the least bit interested in getting to know you better?

Will you talk about why you joined and came to the meeting? Do you have a story, core values, a mission or goal in life? Do you tell them about your career and company, your family, personal interests, hobbies and your favorite pet? Or do you just stand there, fumbling for the words?

If you’re smart, you’ve taken the time to think about what you’re going to say before you get put in the spotlight. It helps you to differentiate yourself from the rest of the people in the room (beyond the nice tie or pumps you picked out for the event) and gives everyone clear expectations of the value you bring to the table.

As they get to know you better, and you them, their experiences with you help to shape their perceptions of your character. How well you listen and show genuine interest in their points of view. Your actions and how well they align with how you talk about yourself. Do they talk about you to others the way you intended? Are they complimentary about what you bring to the table? Or do they dismiss you, or worse, talk poorly about you behind your back?

The same social rules go for your destination.

Positioning helps you to determine your core messages, which stories help to communicate them, and which are irrelevant, likely to be misinterpreted or best kept to yourself. If you listen to your customers and prospects and relate to them in their terms, they respond positively. If you live up to your promises, you make friends. If you make your destination relevant to their human condition, you gain advocates. If you fail to set realistic expectations, promise something you can’t deliver, or succeed at attracting a customer that will never be happy with what your brand has to offer, you will lose.

And they will talk about your brand behind your back. On social networks, in plain view of everyone who cares to pay attention.

While Matt admittedly failed to find the identity of the agency that created the work (Wanderlust), we forgive him. After all, his review is rather flattering.

An excerpt:

“By "well-placed," I mean it was well-timed (summer Saturday morning) and well-targeted (shown to me, someone within driving distance, on a highly reputable national news and opinion website).  And by, "well designed," I mean that it was visually stunning, attention-grabbing, and inviting of discovery.”

Thanks Matt, for the praise. And thanks to our attentive media buyer girl, Amanda Wheeler, for pointing out and correcting the omission.

First off, I bet families realized that the price tag of the vacation doesn't have much to do with it's value. As a result, I can see destinations thinking long and hard about where they sit on the value chain. If they can't deliver an emotional benefit, or a story that will be told a decade down the road, they might rethink their brand, and their approach to marketing.

Second, I think marketers of travel destinations, recreation, and tourism will be scared straight, and develop better strategy, better plans, and better marketing. As will always be the case, good work works. If creative is treated like a commodity, it will remain uninspired (which is exactly how consumers acted: uninspired.)

Lastly, I think the best thing to come from what is hopefully the last of down seasons, is the prospect if an up season. I'm already thinking snow.

Winter vacation is right around the corner.

Who will help me dream up something big for my next family trip?

We recently completed a video shoot for a client here in the Northeast. We created a :30 television spot, as well as two longer videos: one to show customers prior to their tour, the other to be sold in their gift shop and to be used for educational purposes. Our task: to come up with a creative way for the client to be able to leverage the video footage at a low cost.

Our first stop: a cable media buy. You can’t beat the reach and frequency that you can get with cable, especially in the summer months when most broadcast shows are “on vacation”. With our cable buy, we were able to negotiate a great rate for an on-demand video, where consumers could either click through from the commercial to the pre-tour video or view the pre-tour video on their travel on-demand channel. This gave viewers a way to learn more than we could possibly fit into a :30 television spot. The result? Almost 10,000 views across the Northeast - for little additional investment.

Our next stop: web video. We planned on running a banner ad campaign with a large network in feeder markets around the region, but didn’t think we could afford the hosting fees of doing video-in-banner ads. A little research and we found our solution: Spongecell. Spongecell allowed us to not only serve our commercial to a large web audience (in markets where television wasn’t affordable), but it also allowed us to add to our Facebook fan page and newsletter mailing list. Click here to take a look.  A double win.

When all was said and done, we added over 20,000 additional views of our commercial and video, within our media budget. All it takes is a little research, a little negotiation and you can make your video investment go that much further.

What do we hear from some of our congressmen?

We hear fear....Most of them during the summer recess wanted to avoid the raucous town hall meetings. I find all of this inspiring because Americans are now engaged. They know they have to balance their checkbooks every time they make an expenditure and they have a sense that Congress may be spending our country into oblivion by adding Trillions of dollars in debt. Literally stealing the future of our next generation.

Remember this quote from that great old movie. “I’m Mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” It seems fitting. The giant has awakened.

The media and the nation seem stunned by what some consider incivility. How in the world can the major networks be surprised since they have led the charge? When you watch fair and balanced news they have participants that don’t bother to listen to opposing points of view and then cut each other off, by shouting their opponents down. Why in the world is Washington and the media surprised?

So what does all this mean to our industry?

It means that we hold our own future in our hands. Some tourism entities that I have met over the past several months are off by as much as 40%. You know what I found frightening? Many of them are just hunkering down waiting on some outside miracle to arrive and save them. I’m afraid it’s not the governments responsibility since closing any of our facilities does not disrupt national security. I don’t think there will be a big bailout coming for what is one of this nations most important business sectors.

What are the really smart companies in our industry doing?

They are investing heavily in their product and business positioning. Getting ready to drive and then attract pent-up demand. At Universal Orlando they will be rolling out a new theme park within a theme park “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a new $200 million dollar plus investment that should have a tremendous positive effect on all of Central Florida’s battered economy.

What is the Monster of all Theme parks Walt Disney World doing? The same thing. They are seizing their future and investing heavily to prevent erosion of market share and drive incremental attendance. How? By taking a really bold step and redesigning Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom — the biggest overhaul in the park’s 38 year history. Can you imagine the courage it took in tinkering with one of it’s most popular attractions attested to by the sheer millions of people who have enjoyed it for the past three decades.

We should all pray for the miracle and buckle down using the best tools we can to create the future we want. Great opportunities always come packaged in what appears as great risk. Mitigate the risk make the decision and don’t look back.

Social media and the internet in general are supposed to put an end to that, placing me (the consumer) in control. No more interruptions. I choose the content I want to consume and ignore the rest. And best of all, its still free. LinkedIn still works this way, as does Facebook, as long as I am selective with who I follow and follow back.

When I first signed up for Twitter a year ago, it worked pretty much that way. I chose who to follow and everyone else could decide whether or not I was worthy of their attention. Very democratic, very social, and a very productive use of my time. No interruptions to speak of.

During those early months, I met a number of people who I would have otherwise not had the pleasure of knowing. Before I attended industry events, I tweeted with others who were going. When I arrived at the events, otherwise complete strangers would know me. I felt like part of the network. I even met a new business partner through Twitter. Those early days were great.

Twitter has changed.

The vast majority of tweets are not one to one communications, but shouts — dare I say interruptions? I have to read between the noise to look for the tweets I really care about. How did this happen?

Building a social network on Twitter takes a lot of work. I try to be selective. I follow the people and organizations I want to have a relationship with, hoping they will follow me back. I listen to their tweets, most of which are outbound pitches or overheard conversations that I’m not a part of. These are all interruptions, like commercials on TV — only there are a lot more of them.

To combat the interruptive nature of Twitter, I have been automating my tweets for the past few months. Less work and more time for listening for me, but more interruptions for others. Recently, I decided to try automating my network building. I’m able to add between 80 and 100 followers a day from a group I have identified and those who follow me, but the quality of the followers is poor compared to the early days and kind of like the wasted audience in a mass medium.

It’s a land grab and it seems like everyone is participating.

Guy Kawasaki, one of the top personalities on Twitter, offers these tips on building your network on Twitter. His strategy seems it will result in a large, superficial group of followers, not a small, meaningful group of like minded individuals.

IMHO, this land grab has turned Twitter into more of a mass medium than a social one. And now, it should be treated as such.

The total cost was forty five bucks, and I don't think anyone in the family would have swapped for a weekend at the Ritz Carlton. Then, we headed to a quaint little two bedroom cottage in Chatham, and settled in to one of our favorite beaches and towns for three days. All told, we spent less on that vacation then we have on some trips to the grocery store. We didn't enjoy it any less. In fact, it was one of the best we've taken.

But our behavior, and the behavior of many families like us, has delivered exactly what our industry feared the most: a down season.

In an industry where "down 15% is the new flat" as one colleague mentioned, it's hard to get a firm grip on how bad it is. It seems that the industry has completely abandoned advertising in the traditional sense, and either cut back the marketing plans so drastically or stopped planning at all. It stands to reason that if destinations stopped trying, the results would show it.

Sure, the idea of trying to swim against the current and convince American's to spend more when their collective heads were telling them to spend less might have proven futile. The flavor of the month, infatuation with social media, has certainly distracted marketers of all stripes, our industry included, but reality on this point should set in as soon as they finish counting the beans and measure whether this was a meaningful alternative to real planning and marketing strategy.

But if we look at the Cape Cod statistics, and weigh my family's behavior as typical of the consumer spending groupthink, we're seeing recession-like statistics starting us in the face. Some numbers to digest: Even though unemployment on the cape is down from it's 11.5% high of January, to 6.9%, it's still way higher than the 4.2% for the same time last year.

Sales tax collections are down by more than 6%, and loading is steeply down, according to the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce Tourism Statistics. July lodging was down 13% from the previous year, and June was down 10% from the previous year. Visits to the Cape Cod National Seashore were off 7% in July '09 compared with '08, with June showing the only noticeable increase, up 2.7% year over year.

Added up, numbers like these put some big hurt into Cape Cod's local economy, which is driven by tourism and vacation travel.

Sure I’ve written tons of travel and tourism advertising – billboards, transit posters, radio spots and the occasional airline magazine ad – but I realized there are travelers out there who might be slipping under the travel marketing radar. I started thinking about unconventional travelers who are virtually invisible as they pass by on their way to somewhere else.

The traffic no one seems to notice

Here’s an example. The Wanderlust offices are located a hundred feet from the Hudson River, one of America’s original and historically significant transportation routes. Two miles upriver, the Erie Canal and the Champlain Canal begin; waterways that carry boat traffic across New York State to the Great Lakes and North to Canada.

Every year, thousands of recreational boaters travel these waterways. Their yachts, sailboats and cabin cruisers display home ports spanning from Chicago and Toronto to the Carolinas and Florida coasts. Yet, except for an occasional comment about an extraordinary vessel (like the 182’ Lady Christine that passed through last June), most people hardly notice these affluent and transient travelers.

Reaching out across the water

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised recently to discover a resourceful marketer reaching out to the boaters. I was kayaking on the Hudson with Wanderlust President, Mark Shipley, one night after work. We had launched near the Erie Canal entrance, and were paddling North in the Champlain Canal. I noticed a dock along the East side of the river that seemed oddly out of place. There was no marina there, no riverfront restaurant or upscale home; just an aluminum dock with a walkway leading up the bank to the back of a large commercial building. A small vinyl banner hung on the dock, advertising Arizona Iced Tea. Across the bottom of the sign were the words, “Boaters Welcome.” Hmmm. Was this marketing?

The red zone is for yachts and sailboats only

Upon closer inspection, I determined that the building was a Price Chopper food market. It appears they constructed the dock to allow transient boaters to tie up and shop for provisions, a cold beverage or a week’s supply of groceries for their long boat trip.

Admittedly, the signage could have stated the benefit more clearly, but the offer of free dockage and the convenience of riverside groceries for travelers with limited mobility was both thoughtful and genuinely customer-focused. As word of this small convenience spreads, savvy Price Chopper may become a planned stop for many of the canal travelers and earn far more in good will and profits than the small expense of installing and maintaining a dock on the river.

If my kayak was a bit bigger, I might consider shopping there myself.

Fine tune your radar for new opportunities

How many travelers are slipping by us unnoticed? There are certainly countless groups moving around the country in relative anonymity: long distance cyclists on a popular scenic route; hikers on the Appalachian Trail; even conference attendees with some time to kill. Directing some thoughtful marketing in their directions may provide the bump in market share that travel brands need to thrive.

They’re usually in premium locations. We’re talking about a six to seven figure investment from the media company-these boards aren’t going to just go up anywhere.  You’re going to see a high DEC (Daily Effective Circulation) and they’re going to be the most prominent billboard on that stretch of road. You’re also allowed flexibility. Running a special this week on hotel rooms or a special package? You can purchase digital on a monthly, weekly, and, in some cases, a daily basis. Have more than one offer? Many digital boards will allow you to upload up to six creative units at a time-maximizing your buy even further. Have an offer that only lasts four hours on one day? No problem. You can manage your creative from a website back-end and take your expired promotion down and replace it with another.

There are some downfalls. Locals in this market aren’t very pleased, writing letters to the Department of Transportation, claiming they create a distraction to drivers. Some states (Massachusetts is an example) haven’t been able to pass a law allowing the digital boards in their area.

They may cost more than a rotary board, but there are many things working in their favor (less waste, premium locations, flexibility). If you’re a travel or destination brand, this medium may be your new best friend. It’s a great way to communicate special offers to commuters in your market.

Collectively, consumers, including many of us that work within the industry adopted an attitude of forced entrenchment, whether we needed to or not. Notions of frugality and thrift overtook spending and consumption. We thought about saving more, cutting back here and there, and putting off purchases of many stripes, from luxury products to family vacations. Out of solidarity with our hurting brethren, we went without. That's life in a recession. Having a more sane (and sustainable) approach to consumption will likely do this country some good over the long range, but it's bad for an economy that's driven by spending.

But I can't help but feel I'm partly responsible for sorry state of the industry.

I could have done more, but I didn't. Recession or not, my wife was hellbent on getting out of dodge a few times this summer, her last at home with the kids as a full time mom, as she migrates toward full time employment. We all dream of what we would do with our precious vacation time (which, as Americans, we don't seem to do enough of collectively), and make grand plans in our heads about how we will spend it.

I, for example, fancied a Costa Rican surf camp, with hammocks and tents on a beach, and lessons for me and the kids on how to ride waves. My wife, I'm guessing, pictured a two month stay at a grand estate, on the Cape, dinners out every night, with casual visits from friends and their families who would stay in one of several guest quarters. It goes without saying that we enjoyed neither of these fantasies, and likely never will (although I'll hang tough and save hard for Costa Rica some day.) But we did get away, like most families, with an abridged, recessionized version of vacation.

The difference between our delusions and reality were easy to imagine. Rather than Costa Rican action, we settled for a few weekends away. A few water parks for mom and the kids within a few hours drive, and a nice weekend at a lake in the mountains, camping with neighbors, the whole family this time. Neighbors see all sides of you when you're camping. No walls to muffle yelling at your kids, or roofs to keep the rain off your stuff. We all paid the same rate, felt the same rain. Nothing posh, no pretense.

Florida, after an extremely difficult spring which included hard lobbying, and a critical reorganization to prevent massive budget cuts prevailed with a leaner meaner and much more relevant organization. The state of Florida’s tourism marketing arm operates as an independent entity with subordinate funds from a rental car tax in the state. Additional revenues are generated via membership dues. Their marketing, and advertising, budgets are augmented through a very creative cooperative advertising, publicity, and promotion package for members which gives them incremental reach and frequency. Through this difficult period Florida’s industry rallied to capture an advertising budget of $25 million to make sure the state’s number one economic engine remains competitively placed.

Georgia on the other hand has a department of Tourism under the states umbrella of economic development making it much more vulnerable to other competing interests when it comes to funding. Their legislature cut the state’s already modest budget on tourism budget by 60%. The tourism staff has done some very creative things to minimize the impact but let’s be real it’s an incredible blow to the states number two and most important industry.

Is there anything good about this recession?

In my opinion the answer is yes if you consider this as a cleansing where the market is driving change. Change not only in the way people purchase but change in the way our industry operates.

Those who embrace this change with a solid plan will survive and thrive.

Because no matter what; with only two weeks a year on average for vacation compared to Europe with 4 weeks Americans will continue to travel.

Sonny Purdue, the Governor of Georgia, called on the industry in his great state to present them with more public private opportunities in which the state it’s citizens and the private sector can create win win situations.

A shining example of this is the State and Lake Lanier Islands. A public, private investment with each partner contributing $30 million dollars to refurbish and relaunch one of the states premier leisure sites. The state supplying key infrastructure and maintenance and the private side building and upgrading accommodations, and the water park.

This recession is forcing the industry not only into better targeting, and media choices but also in seeking ways to develop and launch cooperative opportunities in order to extend their reach and frequency. If you’re not doing this and just hunkering down to ride it out you’ll get run over.

1-800-IGNORE-ME

Just about every company on the planet has a customer service phone number. When the customer calls, more often than not, he is met with an automated attendant. If he is successful navigating the phone system (gate keeper), which usually involves listening to several long-winded prerecorded messages and pushing a lot of buttons on the phone keypad, he finally reaches a human being. Chances are that the human being who answers is not an employee of the company at all, but employed by a call center or service bureau contracted to handle customer calls. Typically, this person is incapable of executing a proper rebound - in other words, turning the customer complaint or dissatisfaction into a brand advocate.

ENTER TWITTER

Now, if you need the company to pay attention to you, try using Twitter. If they’re listening, they will respond to your negative tweet in record time. No phone trees to navigate, no powerless customer service agent at the end. You get both satisfaction and immediate gratification.

Why is this happening? When you call the customer service number, you are just a single person with very little clout. If they treat you badly, you are the only one who will know…

...unless you resort to social media.

In the days before social media, if you told your friends about your bad experience, the company would never know. They could remain blissfully in denial as their brand reputation became tarnished, one customer service call at a time.

Right now, social media (and Twitter in particular) are all the rage. Everyone is joining the bandwagon (to compare adoption rates to other media, click here), and smart companies are listening for any comments (particularly negative ones) and responding before they get out of hand. For consumers, it’s a new and very alluring power.

An unprecedented opportunity

For the companies who are are listening and responding, it’s an unprecedented opportunity to do the rebound publicly. Fixing a customer’s problem on the phone often turned a complaint into an advocate for life. Fixing a customer’s problem in front of hundreds, if not thousands of Twitter users could turn far more into advocates. If each advocate tweets, and others retweet, a simple act of kindness can have an enormous impact.

Oh what a wonderful time to be alive.

Should have been here yesterday

One of the greatest challenges for the traveling fisherman is determining what kind of fish are biting at a specific destination, and how and when you’re going to intercept them. Most regions have seasonal fisheries that are influenced by fish’s spawning habits or local water temperatures and success is often just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. The Northeast’s annual striped bass run and the Pacific salmon migrations attract over a million visitors to coastal towns every year, often from hundreds of miles away. When the fish are biting, it’s worth the trip.

Here’s the hook

So what does this have to do with travel, tourism and destination marketing, you ask? It’s all about the ebb and flow of information on travel web sites. I can’t count how many times I’ve searched local tourism and CVB sites for information about local activities (fishing, for instance), and been unable to find even a clue to what’s available in the area. No hints at local fishing access, no recent fishing reports, no lists of boat launches, no guide services, no bait shops. And I’m talking about destinations known for great fishing.

Is fresh fish really worth $280 per pound?

What amazes me most about this destination marketing oversight is the missed financial opportunity. Traveling fishermen, besides being prone to exaggeration and sometimes smelling badly, tend to leave a trail of cash behind them. In their quest to catch just a couple of fish, they will spend absurd amounts of money at tackle shops, gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, marinas, hotels, motels, lodges and resorts. They’ll bring along their friends and families to witness their prowess. And if the fishing is good, they’ll come back, sometimes year after year. What destination wouldn’t want to attract visitors like that?

Reeling them in

The secret to attracting fishermen (and almost any other group of avid sportsmen, hobbyists, collectors, gourmands, or patrons of the arts), is to get the word out. Put current information on your web site, tagged with appropriate keywords. If your local CVB or destination marketing organization doesn’t have at least one serious fisherman on staff, simply add a link to a good local online fishing report. Check it once in a while to make sure it’s updated at least once a month, and if not, look for another. With the right search terms to make it visible on the web, this simple addition will attract visitors to your site and your destination.

Put this in your chum bucket...

Remember that your web site acts as a hub for relevant information. Don’t overlook local activities that can add to the appeal of your destination. After all, the fisherman’s family may also be interested in shopping, educational activities, history or just a good restaurant where they can meet at the end of the day. If they find all this from your web site, it’s all the more reason to visit your destination.

When you think about it, attracting visitors is a lot like fishing: You need something to draw them in (information) and you’ll catch more with fresh bait. Good luck!

Hold on a second.

When I was a little kid, I would often say to my mother something like, “Scott always gets to do what he wants! You never let me choose.” Her replies were patient and educational: “Mark, there are always exceptions and I never place your brother above you.”

In high school, I received a particularly harsh grade on a paper on which I had worked very hard, about a subject I was rather passionate. My teacher had circled every “always”, “never” and “absolutely” in my paper with the notation: “These are merely formed opinions based on known information, which do not in and of themselves translate into irrefutable facts. For each one there could be exceptions, and I can think of many.”

What my teacher and my mother before him were trying to explain to me is that there are no absolutes, except in religion and mathematics. If you are a person of faith, God exists. That’s the rule, there are no exceptions. 2+2=4, except in George Orwell’s 1984, where 2+2=5. Everything else is pretty much debatable, negotiable and refutable.

So when I read or hear someone say that everything that has contributed up until now is no longer valid and the snake oil they are selling is the only formula that will work from now on so help me G*d, I have to laugh. The facts just don’t support it.

Let’s take a look:

• The sky is not falling. We are in a recession. This, too, shall pass.
• It’s still hard to see the connection between traditional advertising and results. Yet, just because you can't always see the connection doesn't mean there isn't one.
• Bad advertising still doesn’t work, and there is a lot more of it out there than ever.
• Internet marketing has metrics built right in, so we can see what works and what doesn’t. Just like direct mail.
• Social media activity is growing exponentially. You’d have to be living in a cave not to notice.
• Social networks use advertising to monetize their business models. Did they say “advertising”?
• Gap ditches TV advertising to launch new jeans on Facebook.

Meanwhile…

• Continued consumer engagement in social networks can be fleeting. Consider Twitter’s drop rate. 
• While engagement is greater, social media reach is still limited. There is still no single Twitter user or Facebook page with as many followers as the top rated television shows. For most businesses, you can't reach enough people on social networks to put a head in every bed.
• Google has turned to traditional advertising to take Google apps head to head with Microsoft Office. What's with that?
• While they have a huge social network, Apple Discussions, Apple Computer continues to advertise computers, iPods, iPhones, operating systems AND TRAVEL in traditional media, too. And they are gaining market share. Hmmm.

And our recent experience…

Howe Caverns is having a great year. While we’ve introduced them to social networking and they’re getting their feet wet, the bulk of their budget is going to traditional and guerrilla advertising media. Cable and cinema advertising, both offline, are a huge part of their media spend. Attendance increases are greatest from where we are advertising. Something's working, and it's not social media.

Bottom line:

In marketing, there are no absolutes. In travel marketing, every situation is different. Social media is not a silver bullet. It’s just another tool in the toolbox. Think long and hard before you go ditching advertising completely.

Don't get me wrong: I love technology.

I embrace it to enhance my productivity, to connect with the world, and streamline communications. But there's a point when too much "connectedness" begins to narrow your perspective and diminish human interaction. I don't want to take phone calls while in my kayak. I don't want to weed through junk emails while on my way to the ski lift. And I don't want to restart my computer while I'm meeting with a client. Sometimes, I'd rather be offline and live in the moment, connected only to the people I'm with and world around me.

Am I out of touch?

Outdated by my pre-Skype view of the world? Fortunately, in the midst of my inner conflict, this posting on Seth Godin's Blog reinforced my belief that sometimes it's better to leave technology out of the conversation.

"we are not doing any branding advertising. It's just not working."

Pardon me, but IMHO all advertising is branding advertising. Whether its in traditional media, online, mobile, whatever. There is no rule that says that advertising which includes or leads with an offer isn’t branding advertising.

When Starwoods Hotels advertises that they are slashing their room rates 50%, they are branding. Devaluing their brands (and the entire industry while they’re at it), yes, but they are branding nonetheless.

Branding is not just something an advertising agency sells its clients.

Branding is everything you do (and don’t do) that comes in contact with the consumer and those who influence the consumer’s perception of your brand. It’s your logo, the way you answer the phone (or the way your auto attendant answers), the way you treat your customers, whether or not you're on Facebook, Twitter, whatever.

Emil is a modest man, quick to point to others or chalk it up to chance when kudos come his way.
As we talked about his life, from his childhood in Buffalo, his service in Vietnam to his many successful business ventures, Emil shrugged off his good fortune as luck. “People say I’m smart. But the truth is, I’m no smarter than the average guy. I’m just lucky. I could have gone to the left or to the right. Left felt wrong, so I went right. When I’m faced with tough choices, I just make a decision. There’s nothing heroic in that.”

Listening to Emil reminisce, I couldn’t help but to think back to the day when we first met. It was a little over a year ago, right after they hired us to rebrand Howe Caverns. We were meeting with the Howe Caverns management team to gather input for the Baggage Check. Emil, in his classic “go with my gut style” said to everyone in the room:

“I don’t know anything about marketing.

I’m a simple businessman. You’re the marketing experts. But what I do know is, what this place has been doing up until now hasn’t been working. Times have changed. Our customers are different than they used to be, so we’re going to change, too. You tell us how and we’ll do it.”

Stats

In the first two weeks, we saw well above our (and Time Warner Cable's) expectations for click throughs. However, this past week (week 3) saw twice the click throughs as in each of the first two weeks — and Time Warner Cable informed us that on a number of occassions last week, demand for the long form video exceeded their system's capacity. According to an unnamed source, "our system was not designed for this level of activity."

Meanwhile, the high definition footage is not the only thing in demand. This past Friday, we received a phone call from Howe Caverns informing us that their daily visits were WAY UP for a sunny Friday in the high 70s in July. Typically, the cavern does better when it's raining or when it's blistering hot: The underground temperature is a comfortable 52º Fahrenheit / 12º Celsius and 70-75% humidity.

See the TV spot:

Today, Charles Snyder posted this interview with me from the event on PhocusWright Connect:

Are DMOs up to the social networking challenge put forth by OTAs?
Mark Shipley, president of Wanderlust (a travel and destination marketing firm) explains the challenges facing DMOs. Mr. Shipley cites their multitude of varied stakeholders (government, hotels and other local businesses) and their complex political ties as factors that may put public destination marketing organizations at a disadvantage when competing for consumer mindshare. This public versus private debate is growing considerably as technology has shifted the way travel is marketed. Now, OTAs and private companies that have revenue at stake may have an edge on driving consumers to destination markets. Does this signal a shift in how destinations are branded and promoted?

At Wanderlust, we have some interesting things in the works to help DMOs address these issue.

Stay tuned.

"we are not doing any branding advertising. It's just not working."

If we don't show the consumer price and/or value, he's not going to buy.

As a barometer, all you have to do is look at the large attractions in Orlando and the discounting they are doing in this recession. Sea World is currently selling buy one ticket and get one ticket free at any of their other regional parks. Wet & Wild, buy one ticket come back the rest of the year free. Even the mouse is in the act with discounting, which is something almost unheard of. They have offered extra nights free, and value added food & beverage options.

Combine this with the near war for room nights by the hotels and it's clear that this recession has driven deep into our industry.  

 
What we're seeing is a weeding out of the destination industry’s marginal operators. This is not a new phenomenon: it also happened in the mid 70's when we had the energy crisis driving long gas lines and high inflation. Believe it or not, for those of you that know Orlando, almost every hotel at the time on International Drive was in some form of bankruptcy or receivership. All this while Disney was still a relatively new attraction and there were a lot fewer hotel rooms in Orlando. This very same thing is happening right now. I know of one destination that I can't name that has over 20 hotels in or on the edge of bankruptcy. These are not 25 or 50 unit properties, either.

So what are some of the smart operators doing?  

They are not sitting back, ducking down and looking to ride it out. They are aggressively reevaluating everything they have been doing and plan to do. Developing short and mid-term plans that they can quantify, while doing everything they can to mitigate the risk of damaging their brand positions in the long-term.  

We've all heard that knowledge is power. Some of these players are spending more on things that might be harder to quantify with a direct ROI, like research. Yes, some of them are even moving money into new market development and have been successful. They're looking at inflation proof businesses and driving their penetration of those markets that they perceive they can service.

What are you doing to stay relevant and attract business?

Coke trumps the low cost value brand every time. In the cigarette world, Philip Morris is still winning over generic, low cost and no-names. McDonald's beats the no name roadside stand every time. To most people, Comfort Inn is more enticing than Betty and Bob's roadside motel.

However, in tough economic times, consumers trade down to low cost options or do without temporarily - and then choose their desired brand again/more often when times get better.

Social media will make it much more difficult for brands that don't have their act together. Each mistake they make will be visible to a much wider audience. Consumers will become experts that others look to for advice on the brands they are considering. Brands will still be viable and important, but how they succeed is changing dramatically. They will need to be more buttoned up, but also transparent.

If you think about how the independent restaurant cycle works: a new restaurant opens and gets buzz, does great while it is new and then begins to fade with age. This could happen / is happening to the travel industry as a whole - at an accelerating pace. It could potentially destroy the current brand-based business model and make the whole idea of inspirational travel disappear - if the entire market goes for low price, there is no sustainable business model for a high quality, branded experience.

Fortunately, there is no precedent for a complete collapse in the value a brand brings to the table. And while I do think marketing is undergoing a major revolution, in my humble opinion the idea of brand as a mechanism for choice will survive. How a brand manifests itself will change and has changed dramatically.

Those consumers who have traded down or done without as of late will choose travel brands again. Those that position themselves now for the upturn that will eventually come, will reap the benefits. Those that do not will be at the mercy of external forces for their very survival.

The top dogs at The Four Seasons say protecting the brand is more important than heads in beds. The recession will end eventually, and there's too much to lose from devaluing the product. Many of their hotel real estate owners feel otherwise, some resorting to behavior unbecoming of a luxury brand.

Which side are you on?

This article in today’s Adweek reports on how Kayak.com’s co-founders are eying the the successful launch of online video sharing site hulu as a model for their own growth. Eighteen months ago, hulu didn’t even have a name. Today, it’s the second most popular video sharing site, thanks in part to a 60-second television spot on the superbowl - followed by a very aggressive television spot buy.

According to the Adweek article, other brands eyeing traditional media include Zappos.com and Amazon.com. Strangely absent from the article is Apple’s iTunes, the online music store linked to the iPod and iPhone. While Apple does market extensively on the internet, they continue to rely on traditional media, too. And it is paying off. Apple continues to dominate the music market and is gaining market share from Windows PCs.

(when consumers choose a destination)

and they have the most work to do in this area.

The challenge is that consumers are looking to DMOs, more than any other online source, for inspiration. Consumers go to DMO websites in search of wanderlust - a compelling story behind the destination that create desires, and depth of information to help them plan their trips. Their website feature usage patterns confirm this.

The disconnect is that DMOs are increasingly finding themselves having to justify their existence by finding direct links between their marketing efforts to actual visits. This is in direct conflict with what consumers are looking for from DMOs, and could be setting the DMO up to look like the role they play in the travel planning process is of limited value.

Consider this:Even though many DMOs have invested in adding booking engines to their sites, those investments had limited ROI. When it comes to booking their trips, the vast majority of consumers choose to use OTAs, hotel sites and offline booking over DMO sites - except when packages and deep discounts were offered.

Over the past year, I have been experimenting with some of the automation tools to reduce the amount of time I spend starting conversations so I can direct more time listening and responding to the conversations of others.

Some would say that these automation tools are bad social media etiquette.

Under certain circumstances, I would whole-heartedly agree. However, I believe with proper thought and care, these automation tools can help cut down on the spam I create and focus my attention on being a meaningful participant in the conversation.

In the past, every time I had something to say, in a blog post for instance or a comment on something I read on Google Reader, I would spend a couple of hours going through the process of alerting my various social networks manually. With the help of automation tools, I can now write a blog post or comment on an article in Google Reader and let my entire network know about in seconds.

Is this spam?

I suppose if I set these automation tools to randomly spit out alerts, the answer would be yes. Or if my posts and comments were on subjects not of interest to my followers, again yes it would be spam. But now that I am using these automation tools (very judiciously and only when warranted), I can spend more time listening. As a result, my posts and comments are now more relevant to what my network is interested in hearing from me. How do I know this?  

The number of comments I am receiving on my blog is increasing and the number of meaningful relationships within my social network is growing.

They are all facing a significant drop in hotel room tax revenues. 

This problem has also been exacerbated by the heavy discounting of their hotels in an effort to motivate consumers. Many have been forced to cut budgets and reallocate expenses. Fear is probably one of the dominate emotions that these industry leaders are experiencing.  Some have slashed budgets and are hunkering down for the duration.

Others have begun reengineering their strategic plans.
It’s these forward-thinking executives that are peeling the old paint off the billboard and reevaluating everything they've been doing.  More importantly they have enlightened board members who now realize that slashing budgets and hunkering down is a decision that will not stop the hemorrhaging and likely prolong it.

Can you imagine how counter intuitive it is during this recession to actually invest in the development of new and emerging markets when every fiber of your being screams caution.  Knowing that if it doesn’t work there will be a plethora of marketing experts saying I told you so he/she’s not qualified for the job.

One of these leaders, while slashing traditional spending, actually moved money into several new and emerging international markets with international representation and commensurate advertising support. That bold decision made last fall has generated a strong ROI, showing double digit growth year over year.

Another enterprising executive slashed budgets and then reallocated spending to a strong regional television campaign at what had been considered a bad time of the year.  They developed a series of new and compelling 10 second spots strategically placed to maximize resident exposure.  It paid off by garnering a larger share of the shifting resident market.

Experienced marketers, when faced with these challenges, start from a zero-based budget and reevaluate everything including the research upon which they are making media, and creative decisions. They are looking for those threads of opportunity that already exist within their network and how they might be manipulated for their benefit.

Whether it be the development of promotional programs, events, strategic partnerships, or staged publicity events, once you start the process of peeling the paint, it’s amazing the opportunities that begin to emerge.  

If you’re having to peel the paint off your billboard, a good place to start is by looking for those connections and threads that already exist.

According to participants in the focus groups and follow-up quantitative study, Twitter usage is not an effective medium for reaching Gen Y. When you ask these folks who uses Twitter, they will tell you “old people.”

When I returned home, I asked my 18 year old daughter if she uses it. Her response?

“Are you kidding? I don’t have the time with going to school, homework, preparing for college, working at the YMCA, doing my chores at home, updating up my Facebook page, text messaging, socializing (in person) and shopping. Besides, I don’t know anyone my age using it.”

Does Gen Y know something about this medium that we older folks don’t know, yet?

“I'm looking for ROI stories for travel marketers using Twitter for an upcoming issue of The Wanderlust Report.”

While I received numerous stories of how people are using Twitter to market their destinations, I was surprised that just one of the 50 plus respondents could claim a measurable return on investment (two bookings with a staff investment of $50) - not much of an ROI.

The vast majority of respondents asked that I share any ROI stories with them. If you are one of those, I’m sorry to say that, so far, ROI stories are elusive.

I did receive two comments related to ROI that are worth sharing:

From anonymous, via our personal network:

"There is a company (can’t tell you who or I would have to kill you) that is developing a method to measure ROI from a variety of Social Networking tools including Twitter. While they are still in beta, they have discovered that the vast majority of conversions they are tracking from Twitter are current brand users. In this case, it appears that the Twitter platform is not a terribly effective tactic for attracting new customers, but is great at encouraging repeat business from existing customers - as long as you do not erode your revenue base via excessive discounting.

From Samantha Rufo, via LinkedIn groups:

Most companies are still developing their strategies. This is still very much early adopter marketing. The measure we use for Twitter is ROE (return on engagement) or how many people can we get to respond, refer, and/or react.

 The return will be very organization specific and may be more satisfaction successes than hard number successes. 

Some examples of social media return on engagement that we have used with clients include:



• Promotion. Able to offer season long and “last minute” special offers to guests to encourage sales during slower time periods.
• 
Reason to come. Able to drive people to their website using less paid advertising due to more interactive tools and content.

• Competition. Able to be more competitive by offering unique info or options with as little upfront cost to the resort as possible.

• Feeling from the marketing team of getting tremendous value from their efforts. Unlike traditional marketing where most marketers “feel” like it’s wasted. Efforts can be easily seen by the social media activity.
• 
Able to kick-off multiple “last minute” promotions in just a few days since a targeted network is already in place. This will not only enable marketers to spend less on direct mail and other forms of traditional marketing but also cut the lead time that would normally be needed using traditional marketing methods.

• Online analytics for campaign management also makes it simple for marketing staff to manage and track how many people are acting on information or clicking on links. NOTE- Return rates are directly affected by the quality of content, if incentives are used and the timeliness of what is being Tweeted.

From me:

I currently have 731 Twitter followers, more than 400 of them marketers in the travel & tourism industry. I didn’t receive a single response on my tweets of the query. In comparison, I received over 50 responses from fellow LinkedIn group members and the balance as a result of my question showing up in organic google search results.

The full page ad for Las Vegas features a photo of Vice President Joe Biden above the headline, “Mr. Vice President, if you had said it here, no one would have known.”

Very clever, on brand and a very smart way to make light of Mr. Biden’s suggestion that Americans should avoid commercial airlines during the Swine Flu scare.

Last week, the state of Wisconsin launched a new branding campaign that features the slogan "“Live Like You Mean It." What makes this stand out isn't the lack of meaningful promise. Its the high profile online social discussion around the fact that they bought a $50,000 slogan that has been used before - by Bacardi.

Moral of the story: Always, and I mean always, do your due diligence.

Get the complete story here.

Logo Design For Travel and Destinations
The Competitive Logo Review
Avoiding Logo Design Fads
The Role of Shape In Logo Design
The Emotional Impact of Color Logos
The Use Of Language In Logo Design
Logo Design: Suggested Reading

Our tournament is a simple single bracket elimination format. Two peeps joust per bracket, the one to poke the other first goes on to the next round. We all make s'mores from the spoils.

This year's competition was, well, competitive. But in the end, Patrick Reilly was victorous. Here's a playback of the final round.

The navigation is clear and concise, appearing at the very top of the page. The brand promise is focused on the natural beauty of Switzerland. Social media tools include bookmarking, email a friend, Facebook fans, video posting and more.

I am particularly fond of the consumer competition revolving around the "We do whatever it takes to make your vacation perfect." The surprising concept is a updated, real-world adaptation of the Keebler elves (those people you never see who make the magic possible).  The embedded videos from YouTube are charming, quite funny and have a reality tv / documentary tone to them. It's hard not to smile and think fondly of Switzerland.

Room for improvement

No site is perfect, and MySwitzerland.com is no exception. Text content is light on many of the higher level pages, well under the 200-300 word minimum we recommend. SEO is weak, too: URLs are database jibberish instead of incorporating likely keywords for search.

However, we suspect this site will get its share of traffic nevertheless. It's different, it's fun and it makes you want to pay attention.

Is it working? While the financial impact has yet to be reported, attendance figures are up 200%. Here's the good news on Arts Journal and another, more personal one one on SLOG.

Resembling an Apple Store that has run out of iPods, the room is empty except for five billiard-size tables and the underlit supergrahic i's — for informiaton — that float above them...

... Visitors start by placing a cardboard puck in the middle of the electronic tables. Then they create their own itineraries by zooming in and out on the map, and send themselves the results via e-mail or text message. Black-clad reps stand by, ready to help. Guests can also carry their pucks to the back of the space and set them on one of two white pedestals, which cue either a printout, or a Google Earth fly-through projected on a video wall, of their soon-to-be-real journeys.

It's now on my places to go.

Below is a list of headlines.

From what you know, a) see if you can match the headline with the destination (key is at the bottom of this post) , and b) figure out what makes each destination different.

Destinations

Austin | Birmingham | Santa Fe | South Padre Island | Reno-Tahoe | Galveston | Washington State | Texas | Virginia Beach | San Antonio

Headlines

1. Discover a _______ adventure!
2. Play 140,000 yards of the best public golf on earth.
3. Gaslight. Neon. Luminarias. What will the river reflect for you?
4. It’s like taking a gigantic vacation happy pill.
5. Relax. You’re in ________.
6. Liveforusingsickdays.com
7. Big, bold & beautiful.
8. Be yourself. In a place you want to be.
9. You’re can’t-miss play list.
10. Live large. Spend small.

Answers

1) Galveston 2) Birmingham 3) San Antonio 4) Washington State 5) Santa Fe 6)  Virginia Beach 7) Texas 8) South Padre Island 9) Austin 10) Reno-Tahoe

In reality, a brand is something a bit more complex and a lot more valuable. In my opinion, David D’Alessandro, former CEO of John Hancock Insurance, said it best in his classic book, Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand.

“A brand is whatever the consumer thinks it is.”

A brand is the meaning behind the name, logo or tag line. Its the net result of every single interaction every consumer has had with the brand name up until now and into the future. Its the perceived value you have to offer, how the way you communicate with the world is heard and viewed, what your customers think you think of them, how you rebound when a customer is dissatisfied, how the press talks about you.

With the current power and reach of word of mouth and peer to peer networking, its also how your customers talk about you to your prospective customers - offline and online.

What comes to mind when you think of the following brands:

Ritz Carlton?

Killington?

The Greenbrier?

Southwest?

AIG?

Meaning can be a powerful thing.

The U.S. Travel Association today launched the "Meetings Mean Business" campaign, a major initiative intended to push back against the political demonization of business meetings and events. The campaign comes as companies - most of whom have not received taxpayer assistance - cancel thousands of meetings and events, often out of fear that they will be singled out by politicians.

All business trips are not boondoggles.

To most businesses, travel is a necessity. Trade shows, conferences, trips to meet with clients face to face: these are the ways business creates more business. And once in a while, a reward to an employee for a job well done.

I know there have been some abuses to business travel in the press lately: top executives at troubled companies taking extravagant trips at the expense of tax payers who have been called on to bail out their corporate mismanagement. The executives at AIG and others should be, at the very least, ashamed of themselves and ultimately held accountable for taking our money and squandering it.

However, for politicians, regardless of party affiliation, to suggest that all business travel is an extravagance that we Americans can not afford is ludicrous, irresponsible and sure to send our flailing economy even deeper into recession. It’s this kind of finger pointing that ultimately lost the last election for the GOP.

But just for kicks, let me do a little of my own pointing.

Isn’t traveling abroad to meet with foreign dignitaries, heading home to meet with constituents, hitting the campaign trail, traveling to political rallies and attending party conventions a huge waste of our money? Shouldn’t all politicians stop the travel they do for their business and just pick up the phone?

Think of the money they will save us.

And the jobs that will be lost. And the poverty that will result. If we all stop traveling, we can make a real difference.

"I really do not know how to use this type of network effectively. If you do, we should get together sometime and you can help me figure out how / if it can be effective for me." - Ted

Here's my response for anyone who is interested:

This network is pretty easy to use. Think six degrees of separation. If you upload your contacts and connect to them, you will be one step away from their contacts, and so on. If you have enough contacts, you can be connected to a lot of people.

I have 191 contacts, 19,000+ one step away, 1,628,500+ two steps away, etc.
From a marketing standpoint, this allows people who wouldn't necessarily know you exist to see your profile, your clients, what you've done. If you participate in Q&A, you can build credibility as an expert in your area.

From a sales standpoint, LinkedIn gives you access to people at the companies you want to do business with. With the least expensive paid version, you can search for people at companies and contact them directly. Be careful, though, as people will let you know in their preferences whether or not they want to be approached. If you are connected to a person through others, you can request an introduction - which turns a cold call into a warm one.

And you can see who is checking out your profile.
If you participate in groups, you can have online conversations with people who share your business interests. If you don't find an appropriate group, you can start one and then invite total strangers to join. Once in your group, they are no longer cold prospects and now warm contacts.

This all sounds pretty cool, right?

There is one caveat: it takes time to build your network and the payoff could be months or years away. I have yet to land any business from it, but I have had two very solid leads in the past month. One did not pan out, the other is a long-shot but a project with a company from the west coast. We would have never connected without LinkedIn.

Another benefit I have found is that my network thinks more highly of me because of my activity on LinkedIn. My clients frequently check out my profile and send me messages, old contacts find me and connect, I get thank-you notes from around the world for the content I provide (our company newsletter and blog posts that I market on LinkedIn). Our website is showing steady growth and is now in the top 3% in terms of traffic of all websites tracked by Alexis, the authority on such things.

Not bad for an ad agency that specializes in travel marketing and destination branding.

My team, which included a driver, brakeman, Steve Kieselstein and myself, clocked the second fastest time of the day: the mile long track in just 43.23 seconds.

Not an Olympic record, but quite the rush.

If you haven't done it and like to go fast and turn nearly upside down, I highly recommend it.

• One family (from Saratoga, NY) is upgrading their spring break travel plans and heading to England, thanks to a deal offered by British Airways that includes two nights lodging in London with each round trip fare.
• The other family (from NYC) just got back from Switzerland, where they spent winter break at a small inn, skiing “because it's The Alps and the package price was a lot cheaper than just spending the week at Okemo.”

With increasing pressure coming from well positioned competitors who are putting together creative packages to lure away customers, what are you doing positioning- and packaging-wise to stay in the game?

Last week, Marcus Osborne, Co-Owner of FusionBrand, wrote this comment on the Tourism 2.0 post:

“IMHO the concept of positioning has no relevance in today's market place. The idea of positioning a product in the mind of a consumer so that they will buy it may have had merit 30 odd years ago but in today's crowded market place it has no merit.”

He went on to site examples of poorly positioned destinations to support his point of view: television commercials filled with predictable images of white sandy beaches, blue skies and azure seas from places as diverse as Turkey, Thailand and Greece.

His comments highlight the fact that so few marketers actually understand what positioning is and how you can use it to differentiate a destination.

What Marcus was objecting to, ironically, was marketing that lacks positioning. This is the single biggest threat to destinations today and the whole point of this issue of The Wanderlust Report.



Consumers go online, looking for a place to go. If a destination cannot articulate why it is different in a meaningful way (sandy beaches, blue skies and azure seas are not meaningful differentiation), it will be viewed as merely a commodity in a sea of similar substitutes. Without positioning, if you don't have the best deal, you lose. And someone else is bound to come along with a better deal. 



Clearly Marcus did not read The Wanderlust Report before he commented on it. If he had, he would have understood that in Tourism 2.0, positioning is more relevant and important than ever before.

1. On a brief stopover in St. Lucia, our plane hit a wind shear right before landing and caused the plane to tilt hard to the left. Looking out the window, I was face to face with the tarmac until the pilot successfully righted the plane and stopped it right before we reached the end of the runway (the ocean). When the pilot came back to the cabin, he was visibly shaken, but told us all he had trained for this kind of landing on aircraft carriers when he was in the Navy.
2. Right before landing in Detroit (about six months after 9/11), our plane dramatically began to climb, all engine full and banked hard to the left. Turns out another plane moved onto the runway in front of us just as we were about to touch down.
3. Taxiing to the runway, again in Detroit, our plane was hit by a tug which exploded and sent fire across the left wing of the plane. TSA had the plane stopped immediately and surrounded us with bright lights while we watched the tug burn behind us. About half an hour later, the plane was towed to a gate so we could exit and board a later flight home. Turns out the tug took a big chunk out of the left wing.

The first flight was on British West Indies Air, the second two on Northwest. In all three cases, we boarded the next flight and made it home safely.

1. When something you did causes people to take notice and act in a manner that is favorable to both them and the company you are marketing, and
2. When the client acknowledges your success.

The third greatest high, and the most inspiring thing for me personally, is when I come across something someone else did that moves me. I think to myself, “I wish I did that” and then go out and try to do something as noteworthy.

Today, Seth wrote this.  I wish I did that.

Nanna and Pop Pop weren’t poor.

They lived in a comfortable home, in a very nice neighborhood. Nanna owned her share of jewels and keepsakes, given lovingly by Pop Pop. They ate steak several nights a week and always served it with cream corn when we came for dinner (I made the mistake of saying I liked cream corn once - today I can’t bear to eat it). They had a nice car and took us on trips to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Hershey and into the surrounding country to see what we could see. They would tell us stories of what it was like back in the 1930s, when so many people had nothing. But in our childhood, the 1960s, life was good.

When my grandfather died many years later, we discovered a decade’s supply of toilet paper, can goods (cream corn, mostly), and various other sundries neatly hoarded in the basement of their home. Turns out, whenever something went on sale at the A&P, he stocked up. He was going to make darn sure his family never did without. That’s how he could rationalize buying Nanna all that jewelry. And why we could afford to eat steak.

When my grandmother died, she left my brother and I money for college. And she left my parents enough money to purchase a 30 foot sailboat they named the Peggy G in her honor.

They were products of the Great Depression.

My wife’s Aunt Mildred was famous for getting at least two or three cups of tea out of a tea bag. She saved her nickels (many years later, she would bring them to my kids in bags for them to roll and take to the bank). Another product of the Great Depression and daughter of immigrants, she nevertheless found a way to live two blocks from the beach, regularly go to museums and the theatre, and travel the all over the US and Europe with her friends.

Wharton has just published a new study that suggests we all might become just like Pop Pop, Nanna and Aunt Mildred. Once things start to get better, they say, we will remain frugal. We will make choices of where to scrimp and save, and where to spend lavishly.

If they're right, we will all still travel. But travel marketing will get a lot more difficult.

We left Troy, NY at 7pm on Tuesday night.

Geneseo is a good 4 - 4.5 hour trip. On Sunday night I searched for Geneseo hotels online related to how far they were from the college. I looked at the Quality Inn and a B&B, the Oak Valley Inn, because they were only a mile from the campus. After researching their prices, Oak Valley Inn was less expensive and seemed more interesting. My husband encouraged me to stay in the interesting place.

I called and spoke to Marilyn Hollis, one of the owners. I was able to choose the room I wanted to stay in based on the pictures on the website. Upon telling Marilyn that I would probably not arrive before 11:30pm, she said they would be fast asleep and gave me instructions on where to find a key and also stated a note would be left for me on the front door with these instructions.

After inquiring what time we would be getting up in the morning, she said they would be long gone, but breakfast would be waiting for me in their dining room and a note would be left with instructions on how to check out. She also informed me that at this time of year, in the middle of the week, that I was the only person staying at the inn. A little creepy feeling, but I went with it. I gave her my credit card over the phone and she sent me a confirmation email.

We arrived Tuesday evening at Oak Hill Inn at 11:45pm.

The note with my name hand written on the envelope was left on the front door. We got the hidden key, let ourselves in to find another note on the banister with a key in the envelope to our room. The room was lovely. I especially appreciated the simple stenciling on the smooth plaster walls. The mattress was a bit uncomfortable and the TV had terrible reception for cable, but the place was very quaint.

The next morning we went downstairs to find a large assortment of cereals, breads, yogurts, fruits, jams, etc laid out for us for breakfast. Coffee was brewed, and hot water was in an urn. The dining room walls had been painted by an artist with a folk art style scene, apropos for the age of the building and nicely done.

The note on the buffet table stated that after we were done to please turn off the coffee, sign the the paper work waiting for me in the envelope on the table and instructions on where to leave the key after we left. We had a lovely breakfast in this old mansion all to ourselves. We followed the instructions before leaving, left our dishes on the table, signed the guest book and made sure we closed the door tightly behind us so it locked.

We never met Marilyn Hollis or saw anyone associated with the Oak Hill Inn during our entire stay.

Designed by Bang Communications, the updated interface and content is intended to make the Queen’s online presence “more informative, accessible, and interesting.” While I subscribe to the more informative and interesting arguments (the site is content rich), calling it accessible is a bit of a stretch.

There are two things missing that suggest the developers (and client) are a bit out of touch with what is considered by most authorities mandatory in website design in 2009:

1. Persistent navigation (so visitors can easily find their way around the site and back)
2. Smart URLs (to help Google and other search engines index the content accurately)

There is one more thing missing (I couldn't find it) that would make both the site and the monarchy appear highly accessible:

Directions.

Which sites can I visit? How do I get there? How much does it cost (I've heard the royal family could use the cash)? Can I purchase tickets online? If only they had read this before proceeding with the redesign.

It would be interesting (and very telling) to see the results of a usability study and Google Analytics reports once enough data has been gathered.

“It’s far easier to sell an experience than it is to sell a pillow. With an experience I can appeal to people on an emotional level. With a pillow, all I’ve got to work with is feathers. How do you convince someone that your feathers are better than their feathers? You can’t.”

What struck me most was that the comment came not from a marketer, but from a sales guy who had worked on the front lines for two decades. When he had a brand with a rich story to sell, he was a rock star. Without a story, he couldn’t succeed.

So what’s your story?

1. Keep your work and personal Twitter selves separate. While your clients and prospects are compassionate and caring people, they probably don’t want to know how you are feeling RIGHT NOW or see the pictures of you snowboarding in your underwear. While your friends do want to know what’s up and are probably tagged in the picture, they aren’t likely interested in the great article you just wrote on revenue management.
2. Don’t become addicted. Unless you’re being paid to Tweet, spending more than five or ten minutes a day Tweeting in the workplace will eventually get you fired.
3. Follow the people you want to have follow you. Chances are, they will see you following and follow you back.
4. When someone follows you, acknowledge it. They’ve decided you might have something important to say, so thank them for the compliment. And then do your best to live up to their expectations.
5. When you Tweet, offer something useful. Share a great article you have read (or written). Point out a neat site you’ve StumbledUpon. Tell us about a place you have gone or something you have seen. Have an opinion and a point of view, positive or negative. We want to know, even if we don’t agree.
6. Please, please, please don’t just Tweet about yourself. In real person this gets annoying really fast. On Twitter, it gets annoying even faster.
7. Don’t forget to Tweet about yourself. That’s why people started following you in the first place.
8. Link Twitter to your accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and any other social media sites you use to promote your business. This way, your Tweets become content for a much larger group of people interested in what you have to say.
9. Use Twitter add-ons and applications to automate and simplify the process of Tweeting, so you can squeeze the most value out of your five to ten minutes per day Twitter Time (more on this in an upcoming post). 

That’s it for now. I’m almost out of fingers and it’s time to go Tweet.

While LinkedIn Polls does not offer true random samples (a necessity for true statistical validity), the program is useful to get a quick gut-check read on simple questions. You even get simple demographic cross tabs from LinkedIn's personal profiles, including results by job title, company size, job function, gender and age.

Check out this poll by Guillaume Therenot, Founder of Hotel-Blogs.com.

1. Moving away from brand-focused Flash site design and toward consumer-focued, information rich HTML text-based site design
2. Providing meaningful, inspiring content that can help move site visitors closer to purchase
3. Keeping sites updated regularly so that visitors have a reason to come back

Cam Beck over at Chaos Scenario supports this point of view. In his post, he makes a great point: in the old days, the act of branding was creating marketing fluff. Today, branding is making it easy for consumers to purchase by providing honest, transparent and relevant information in an inspiring manner.

On the way back, when we were boarding the plane in Fort Lauderdale, my seventeen year old daughter Erin noticed an ad in the jet way. It was promoting the functional beverage Monster on all Southwest flights. She asked the flight attendant on board if Monster was included in the complimentary beverage service. His response: “No, it’s three dollars. But I have more of these free beverage coupons than I need. Why don’t you take one.”

As we were settling in our seats, preparing for take-off, Erin looked at me and asked, “Hey Dad, are you going to blog about Southwest Airlines? Because you should.” I suspect my daughter will tell all of her friends what a great experience she had on Southwest. In person, on Facebook, MySpace and wherever else she socializes. She’s part of that generation.

It appears that so am I.

Meanwhile, in Buffalo, a couple flying US Air were bumped from First Class to economy to make room for a crew member. At Wanderlust, everyone knows that our best customers get First Class treatment and we fly coach. The couple are understandably irate and have taken their complaints all the way up the ladder. The execs basically gave them the brush off and now their story is making the rounds on blogs. Get the details at Elliot.org.

Will they never learn?

So what is a French brand to do? Last month, the French government unveiled a new brand to help attract more tourism revenue. The effort features a new logo, tag line and advertising campaign. According to the press release:

The logo features a young woman symbolizing Marianne, an allegorical figure and national symbol since the French Revolution, as she looks toward the future. The dreamy tagline, "Rendez-vous en France," is designed to seduce visitors to the land of fashion, food and fine wine. Marianne invokes what the tourism authority, the Maison de la France, labels the traits that make France unique: adventure and spontaneity, a rich history, and of course, romance.   

Word has it an earlier and more seductive version of the logo featured the r and a forming Marianne’s naked breasts, but was vetoed because of concerns that it was too racy for international markets. So this is what they settled for. C’est la vie.

Two shows that, while not favorites, first instilled wanderlust in me were Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Love Boat was goofy and corny, but people were always going places far away from our living room and having a good time.

Fantasy Island gave me a glimpse of the magic you could find on your adventures, on a island that people would travel to and live out their dreams. The show was extra exotic because of the to main characters, the little Frenchman Tatoo (played by Hervé Villechaize) and the Iconic and mysterious Hispanic Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban).

This morning, it was announced on the BBC news that Ricardo Montalban died at age 88. Ricardo, thanks for the memories and the wanderlust.

LAST CHANCE to JUMP IN THE LAKE! Join Joyce Maynard and special guest Ann Hood in Guatemala for a writing workshop on the shores of Lake Atitlan: March 15 – 22, 2009. Or, act quickly, and dive into the ONE SPOT LEFT in February’s Master Class with special guest Laura Lippman (2/7 - 2/15). Either way, we invite you to escape your winter’s writer block by attending daily workshops, by editing your novel on the beach, or by reading your recent work at the nightly fireside gatherings. Come soak in the creativity that flows from the volcanoes and waterfalls surrounding Lake Atitlan.

While the dominance of the web in travel decision-making is not news, there are interesting new findings in this study worthy of attention:

1. Americans trust online reviews more than the advice of friends and family.
2. Country of origin also has an impact: Americans trust fellow Americans first, Canadians second, followed by British, Germans, and Italians.

According to the Boo.com press release, "It's no secret that online review and booking sites have lead to a revolution within the travel industry" said Niamh Ni Mhir, Chief Marketing Officer of boo.com. "However, the results of the Travel Trust Index indicate just how dramatically the industry has evolved in such a short period of time. The consumer has spoken and it's clear that the web represents the dominant influencer when it comes to travel decisions."

1. Search engines can't index flash content at present, and
2. There is currently no way to give someone a link to specific content on a Flash site except the home URL.

Today, newly released data points to another compelling reason to avoid Flash-based websites - the rising popularity of netbooks, those small inexpensive mobile computers that are designed primarily for web surfing and email. Turns out they are selling a quick a clip - 5.6 million were shipped in Q3 of 2008, compared to 4.7 million iPhones.

iPhones currently do not support Flash due to the high processor requirements. While netbooks will run flash, their processors are pretty slow and easily stressed when forced to run rich media applications.

For details on the new data, go here.

Dictionary.com's Word of the Day for Thursday, January 1, 2009

wanderlust \WON-der-luhst\, noun:
a strong desire to wander or travel

There are as many explanations for acute wanderlust as there are Travelers who suffer from it. But common to them all is the desire to break through the protective bubble that surrounds ordinary tourists as they move from one homogenous, CNN-wired hotel to another.
-- Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post, 1998-12-27

Life in Ardmore suited him-the slow pace of it, the sweep of sea and cliff, the roll of green hills that went shimmering toward shadowed mountains. The wanderlust that the Gallaghers were famed for had skipped over him, and Shawn was well rooted in Ardmore's sandy soil.
-- Nora Roberts, Tears of the Moon, 2000-08-13
by 1902, from German Wanderlust, literally "desire for wandering"

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for wanderlust

Considering the state of the economy and the slowing of the travel market, we decided to skip the card entirely. Instead, we’ve created something we call The Wanderlust Holiday Project to help create a little wanderlust this year. And you can participate.

Simply go to The Wanderlust Holiday Project website, pick a place you would like to be this holiday (or, if you happen to have a place you’d like others to come to, by all means…), place a marker on the map, upload a photo and a brief description of what makes it special. Then pass it on by emailing it to anyone you know who could use a little wanderlust.

Happy holidays.

This morning, I had the pleasure of making a presentation entitled How To Get Discovered On The Internet: A Primer for Travel & Destination Brands.

In a little under an hour including Q&A, I was able to give a pretty thorough overview of the relationships between website content strategy, search engine optimization, paid search, organic search, social bookmarking, video and podcast distribution, new release distribution, social networks and the blogosphere. To be honest, by the time I reached the subject of micro-blogging, I was expecting giggles. After all, the name Twitter just sounds funny.

But something wonderful happened: no one scoffed, laughed or dismissed. Instead of being skeptical, they were humbled and enthusiastic. “I guess its time we start taking this stuff seriously,” was their reaction, followed quickly by “How do we get started?”

Happy Thanksgiving.

It's about time.

Over the course of the past several years, the biggest complaint I hear from both consumer and business travelers is the fact that they have to pay for wireless access in hotels, or that it's simply not available.

At Wanderlust, we have a wireless network that is available to every client that walks through the door. It cost us less than $100 to set it up, and is used by every client when they come to the agency. In contrast, when I travel, I usually find that I have to pay a pretty stiff fee to use the wireless network at the hotel I'm staying at. Login, and they stick it to me. This can do damage to their brand story, and as this post demonstrates, work against them in social media.

Last week, I was at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. I was paying for two rooms, and staying with a business conference group meeting at the University of Chicago's downtown campus. The reasons for two rooms was that my daughter is considering applying to the University of Chicago for college.Wireless internet access was a double digit premium in the hotel. It was free at the University.

Chicago is my favorite US city and I travel there often. If my daughter goes to UC, I will likely go more often. Should I stay at a Marriott Courtyard the next time I travel to Chicago, or any other destination for that matter, or pay for wireless internet at the Intercontinental? 

Not much.

Destinations and resorts are definitely losing the competition for organic search rankings. I hadn't the heart to drive up the cost per click by clicking on the sponsored link.

I asked her what she thought was the biggest challenge she and other destinations would be facing in the coming year, fully expecting her to echo much of what has been written in the travel press of late. Instead, she zeroed in on my favorite subject - telling the brand story. "We all have bed skirts and pillows and pictures on the wall," she said, "but it all comes down to the kind of experience our customers will have when they get here. We need to stop talking about amenities and learn how to tell that story in our marketing."

I couldn't agree more.

In contrast, if your site is built in Flash, it's a self-contained application. Google and other search engines see it as a single page, relevant to a single set of keywords and search phrases.* Most often, these Flash based sites rank high in Google for their brand name only. If the person searching for a place to go doesn't know the name of the resort or destination, its almost impossible to find it on the web directly. For obvious reasons, this is a huge disadvantage over the competition's sites written in html.

Another compelling reason to avoid building your site in Flash is the inability to reference any specific page. If an agent or sales person, or brand loyalist for that matter, wants to send a potential customer to a specific page on the site that holds the key to closing the deal, they can't. They can't email a link directly to the content, they can't bookmark it using one of the social media tools like Delicious, Digg, Technorati or StumbleUpon. The best they can do is send them to the home page, with instructions on how to navigate to the page with the relevant content. Most people won't bother.

However, there is an even more compelling reason to avoid building a Flash site. Since Flash sites are applications, they can become inoperable when Adobe upgrades the Flash player. Let me illustrate. Earlier today, we were discussing the sale of The Sagamore Resort on Lake George to Ocean Properties. I had visited their website a several weeks ago when the deal closed to see if anything had changed. They still had the same Flash site the previous owners had built.

Last week, I had to upgrade to Flash 10 player on my computer to accommodate a recent upgrade in the software we use to manage the agency. When I pointed my browser to The Sagamore Resort site today with Flash 10 installed, this is what we were served:

A Flash detector error page. This is classic. Not only could I not view any content on the site, but there was no way given for me to contact The Sagamore Resort to let them know that their Flash site has been rendered obsolete by the release of Flash 10.

Most consumers would simply give up. Since it was after 5pm on a Friday, we went to a computer still running Flash 9 and found an email address to let them know. On Monday morning, we'll call them to make sure they got the email.

* At the time of this post, Google has announced that it will, in the near future, begin indexing the content of Flash sites. While this is a step in the right direction, we have no idea to what extent the content will be indexed, when it is complete. And it does nothing to solve the issue of not being able to point someone directly to the page with the relevant content. For the foreseeable future, destinations and resorts with Flash sites will remain at a significant disadvantage over their competitors.

The by-invitation-only event featured presentations and discussions around a number of subjects of great importance to travel, tourism and destination marketers: web design best practices, web content strategies, RSS, search engine optimization, blogging, web 2.0 marketing, social media marketing, internet advertising, SMS and MMS, mobile phone applications and widgets, metrics for measuring ROI and a host of other new and emerging marketing media.

While many of these topics were not entirely new, what was discernibly different from my perspective was the conference’s focus: how to use these technologies in a cost-effective and affordable manner to build awareness for, drive business to, and create consumer loyalty for travel and tourism destinations.

The timing for this event couldn’t have been more opportune. We are now in a recession and, as travel and tourism marketers, we need to find ways of accomplishing more with less. These new media options give us ways of doing just that, and they come with tools to measure our ROI to boot. Up until now, the power of many of these technologies have been understood and available to only the largest of advertisers. Today that has all changed. Even those with modest budgets can take advantage them, too.

Over the weekend, I mentioned to a number of people my speedy flight and my observation of the passengers. The typical reaction was something like “Hmmf. My flight was ten minutes late, and our gate wasn’t ready so we sat for ten minutes on the tarmac” followed by complaints about the $60 cab fare from O’Hare to Michigan Avenue. On occasion, someone would comment “Southwest Rocks.” Everyone agreed, even those who had never flown the airline. That had little to do with my thirty five minute early arrival and more to do with their overall impression of the brand.

Henry Beckwith wrote in Selling the Invisible that, contrary to popular opinion, there is no long-term gain from exceeding the customer’s expectations in a service business, only long-term loss from not meeting them. As I recall, he had no empirical data to support this position, but just maybe he was right.

When I stay at a bed & breakfast or small inn, there is usually a book or log where guests can sign in, say where they’re from and write comments about their stay. Like the log book at the trail head, these comments help tell the story of that b&b or inn. I find it fascinating to see, first, the far away places from which people have come to stay at this little known shelter. I often read two or three pages of the comments to see if my experience is similar, better or not on par. I also look for an indication of how someone from Australia finds a b&b in Keene Valley, New York. Most often, it is either by happenstance or word of mouth.

Imagine how powerful it would be if every destination, hotel, resort and attraction had logs like these and they were online, where anyone and everyone could see them.

Grab the low hanging fruit first.

In web 1.0, website were things marketers used other media campaigns to point to. Today, particularly in travel and tourism, upwards of 90% of all travel planning begins online. The place most people start? Google. The position of Google as the de facto search engine of choice rests squarely on the company’s ability to deliver the most relevant search results. They go to great lengths to evaluate every page on every website, indexing and ranking each based on its relevance to a particular search term.

As an example, Google wants to make sure that when you search for “family-friendly resort in the Poconos” that you get what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the resorts aren’t doing their part: on the first page of the results, one in ten is a resort. Nine of ten are aggregators and repackagers who make my search more difficult and commodify the resorts competing for my business.

The answer to this conundrum?

Simple. Stop naming home page URLs “www.domaine.com/home,” and create many pages with relevant content (words first, pretty pictures and gizmos second) using an seo strategy that will place each page at the top of Google’s organic search results.

However, what’s most stunning about this new site is not what it has to offer - but what’s missing. There’s very little narrative text (What will Google think? Not much.). And...

...there's no sign of any social media technology.

This is a huge oversight and suggests a lack of understanding of the target audience and how consumers, even upmarket travelers, are getting information and making decisions. Even the “Top 10 Must See Attraction” recommendations for each hotel in the collection (which provides the consumer with recommendations on what to see and do while staying at the hotel) seems oddly out of touch. Is the Luxe Hotel property the destination, or are they coming for something else?

Last week, we published our first issue of The Wanderlust Report: What are travelers searching for. Inside, we discuss how consumers search for travel destinations. That there’s a huge online opportunity for travel and destination brands that most are missing out on. Social media is a dream come true for brands like Luxe Hotels. If only they would learn to embrace it and give their brand loyalists the power to spread the word.

A recession is not the time to react irrationally, but to act thoughtfully and purposefully. There is still a pie out there, it just got a bit smaller and harder to to get your fair slice of it. On Friday, October 6, right before the worst week in Wall Street history, Tom Peters posted The Black Swan 44: Tactical Rules for Survival (and Success) in Looney times on his blog. Right there at the top of the post was a quote:

“I [will] not accept the explanation of a recession negatively affecting the [new] business. There are still people traveling. We just have to get them to stay in our hotel.” —Horst Schulze, former president of Ritz Carlton, on his new luxury hotel chain.

Horst Schulze founded the modern day Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in 1983. He was a firm believer is superior service and delivering an outstanding product. At the time, this probably seemed counterintuitive to many. Those of us old enough to remember recall the early 1980s experienced the most serious recession since the great depression. During that recession, the prime interest rate rose to 21.5%, unemployment rose to the high single digits, and inflation rates soared to as high as 13.5%.

Not long before Horst Schulze took the reigns at Ritz Carlton, my parents purchased Anchor Fence using a loan with an interest rate well over 20%. Their investment returned a summer house in Lake George, sent me to the University of Colorado at Boulder and my brother to Cornell.

How will you get your fair share of the shrinking pie?

Mental imagery is not a picture of a beautiful woman in a bikini on a beach in the Caribbean, along side a clever headline. Nor is it a picture of a couple sitting at candlelit dinner in a fancy restaurant. In fact, mental imagery does not mean you have to show a picture of anything. It means you have to help the consumer IMAGINE what it would be like experiencing your destination. And more often than not, that takes words - not pictures.

Suppose the great novelists drew a picture or inserted a photograph every time they wanted to describe an person, object, place or experience — instead of using vivid descriptions to help us imagine what it is/was like? Would they still be considered great novelists? Would we imagine what they were writing about and remember their work? I think not.

Last week, I received two emails within five minutes of each other: one from Marriott, the other from HomeAway. Marriott wanted me to reclaim the weekend, showing me of a couple embracing and offering me 20% off weekend room rates. HomeAway wanted me to take a vacation to a place where you didn’t need a car (to save gas money - the deal) or a town that was gas friendly (again, to save on gas - the deal).

In neither case did they help me imagine what it would be like to take advantage of these offers and provide me with mental imagery to build my confidence, create expectations or help me make a travel decision. How is it in a Travel 2.0 age (when the written word is king) that travel marketers are still failing to help me imagine what it would be like to travel?

Recently, however, Marriott and Omni have bowed to pressure from activist groups like Focus on the Family and Citizens for Community Values and canceled in-room adult movies. Is this move financial suicide, or does it make business sense for these brands?

One of the findings in Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why It Matters, by Hitwize's general manager of global research Bill Tancer, suggests that porn may not be the draw it once was. According to Tancer, who analyzed search data for over 10 million web users, porn has dropped in popularity from twenty percent of all searches a decade ago to just 10 percent of searches today.

What has replaced porn as the hottest internet search subject? Social media. "As social networking traffic has increased, visits to porn sites have decreased," said Tancer, indicated that the 18-24 year old age group particularly was searching less for porn. "My theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don't have time to look at adult sites."

Does this suggest that hotels and resorts should offer an in-room social media interface? I suspect that, in the near future, smart players will be adding the ability to post comments, write reviews, and add ratings on their marketing website from their broadband and wireless login pages.

A bold, and very smart move on their part.

It will be interesting in the coming weeks to see how Southwest Airlines' competitors respond.

Their hope is to use high gas prices and economic uncertainty to keep America at home, right where they belong, plopped on the couch and watching ABC TV. That way, their ratings will go up and they can combat the diminishing returns on investment advertisers earn from the medium.

Will it work? Only time will tell. I suspect those of us who have a must see TV show and plan to travel will not change our plans, but instead program our DVRs. That way, we can go place and fast forward through the commercials, too. Eat our cake and further diminish the returns of television advertising.

It reminds me of way back when Macy's introduced the One Day Sale.

To make things clear, I'm not looking for a cheap place to go this week. My time is valuable and vacation time is scarce. I want guarantees, not deep discounts. Sure, throw me a deal, but the experience better be promising.

I know times are tough, but please don't reduce the pleasure of my next pleasure trip.

As I was reading the chapter on customer social media profiling, it struck me that travel consumers as a group are likely to index pretty high as critics and spectators. While customer generated reviews and ratings are fairly common on travel planning and booking sites, its still pretty rare to find a resort, hotel or destination site that utilizes reviews and ratings right on their site.

Considering how mature the travel industry’s online presence is compared to most other industries, you’d think otherwise. Is this because of the fear of a bad review on their own site? Or is it because those other sites are doing it for them so they think they don’t have to?

Seems to me that there is a missed opportunity here, and potentially serious danger. While travel planning and booking sites make it easier for the consumer to get a deal, they’re making it harder for destinations to differentiate. Giving your brand advocates a way to advocate on your site can help to battle this.

Instead of forcing consumers to go somewhere else - to the e-pinions and yelps of the world - to write or find reviews and ratings, keep them close to home where they belong.

Dear Mr. Mark D Shipley,

Thank you for your direct, candid feedback on the test we had planned to launch in the fourth quarter for food choices on some of our flights. We heard you and have decided not to move forward with the test of offering customers buy-on-board options in United Economy on certain trans-Atlantic flights. We will continue to offer complimentary hot meals on those flights.

The response from you and many of our corporate customers, even before we launched the test, told us what we would have undoubtedly learned had we proceeded – you value our hot meal service in economy class for international flights.

In this environment, where higher costs driven by volatile fuel prices are now the norm, we must continue to tailor products and services so that we provide you with choices and competitive fares. As such, we will continue to be proactive in testing new ideas.

On October 1, we will proceed with the test of new, complimentary options for United Business customers on three-cabin aircraft used for domestic routes, which represents 16 daily flights. Customers on these flights will receive complimentary fresh sandwiches, salads, breakfast, snack boxes or snacks, depending on the length of flight and time of departure. They will also continue to enjoy complimentary beverages, including beer, wine and cocktails. We will evaluate the results and determine next steps by the end of the year.

It's also important to note that full meals will still be served on our p.s. transcontinental flights.

Thank you again for your feedback. We will continue to listen and make changes that enable us in this environment to provide you with the choices you value.

Sincerely,

Graham Atkinson Chief Customer Officer

I didn't say anything, but I'm glad I did. Maybe I shouldn't say anything about adding legroom in coach on international flights, too.

It hasn't been all work and no play. I spent my free time with my family. My kids were both at home preparing for the coming school year. I went kayaking and camping on Little Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks with my brother and Keith Pickard. My wife and I saw the Police at SPAC, my son and I saw Counting Crows with our friends Anthony and Jim Rossi. We took a half day off from work and went to Saratoga Race Track with the staff, and back again this past Saturday to see Curlin sprint to another victory.

All in all, I feel very fortunate. The food was good, the company great and whatever bumps in our adventures were met with a shrug.

I did notice the Democratic National Convention, John McCain picked a running mate from one of my favorite destinations (not sure about the running mate), gas prices went down, a couple of airlines folded and a major hurricane is now threatening the Gulf Coast. My heart goes out to the people of New Orleans. May your levees hold strong this time, and if not, may help be on the way with haste.

Tomorrow, I'm back. Look for more meaningful travel and destination marketing content as summer winds down here in the Northeast and we look to Mother Nature to dump on us.

Sweater season is almost upon us. Ski season is near.  It's a great time to be alive.

Photos courtesy of Mike Maddock, Maddock Douglas. 

We arrived at the store at 7:50 am. There were probably 200 people in front of us in line, much like you would see at the airport during a rolling blackout, waiting to spend the equivilent of a round trip airfare for a mobile phone. People all around the world were buying new iPhones, causing the retail POS system, the iTunes Store and AT&T's servers to go to error frequently. It took us the better part of four hours to get our phones. But unlike at the airport, everyone kept smiling and stress was kept to a minimum.

Why did we consumers keep our cool? When flights start to get cancelled, travellers panic. There are not enough airline employees to rebook passengers and keep everyone calm, too.

In contrast there were ten or fifteen Apple Store employees outside the store mingling in the crowd, passing out free bottles of water. At about 10 am, they brought us Starbucks coffee. They offered to answer our questions and were generally nice to have around. When we got into the store, even though the systems were failing, the Apple employees were rallying.

It seems to me the airlines could re-learn something from Apple.

Again, the results point to the power of brand - more than three quarters of all visits studied were from search queries that included branded search terms. The study found a 6% increase in branded searches, a 6% decrease in generic travel searches, and a 26% decrease in searches for specific destinations. 

Online, at least, consumers are showing signs of increased brand preference.

See the article here.

These sites repackage existing, relatively generic content (wikipedia articles, user reviews, how-tos and travel tips, advertising and a booking engine) behind interfaces that supposedly help the user to "Find Inspiration".

Uptake asks me to choose between...

• just get away
• family vacation
• romantic getaway
• pet friendly
• girls getaway

...then serves me up a bunch of generic hotel listings - similar to those on other travel booking sites.

TravelMuse asks me to pick themes & activities from a word cloud. Nice use of technology, granted. But maybe I'm missing something here. To tell you the truth, I'm far from inspired.

In her article, Elisabeth talks about the travel planning cycle:

Inspiration > Research > Planning > Booking

These sites strike me as research fodder, not inspiration. And conveniently, I have to fly. I can't drive, even if I only want to go an hour away.

If you want to inspire me to travel, tell me stories that feature little known details that some database couldn't possibly know. Make me feel like I'm in the know, that this place is for me and I will be a better person for having traveled there. Tell me why I'm going to love it, that Hemingway stayed there, or that it's the birthplace of some ancient tradition.

Then, and only then, sell me a plane ticket, a rental car and a place to stay. 

Does a small number, like 3 or 4, say that you're not very popular? Or that you're indifferent to social networks? That you're a hermit? Or that you're busy doing more important things?

How about a number like 648? Does that say you are extremely popular? Are you between the ages of 14 and 29? Do you really know that many people? Are you trying to sell something, and just working the numbers? Or are you trying to communicate that you are "one phone call away from the White House"?

I use LinkedIn about 1 hour per month. After about two years, I have 107 people in my network. I know each of them reasonably well, some of them very well. I invited some of them to join my network, others invited me to join theirs.

Six of my connections have written recommendations about me. Is a 6% recommendation rate great, average or not impressive?

A few years ago, Ze Frank produced a short film about social networks. It's called small world. He doesn't quite answer any of my questions, but it sure is fun watching it again.

As we drove up the highway, we talked about why she was so eager to go to Camp Chingachgook. Why would a 17 year old girl, who has experienced some of the nicest destinations in the US, be willing to put up with the dirt, bugs, lumpy mattresses, communal bathrooms and showers at Camp Chingachgook?

Bottom line? The hotels and resorts were nice, the people were nice and the accommodations were nice. But the people at Camp Chingachgook, even though they are by and large just acquaintances and not family or close friends, love her. Somehow, the management and counselors have made her (and me) feel most important and loved.

This got me to thinking... What can your destination do to make your customers feel like you love them, too? 

Last week, it suddenly stopped working. At my urging (curious to see how they handle it), my wife and son took the toaster back to the store. And you know what? They replaced it, no questions asked.

This reminded me of when I was in college, working in the Waterford Crystal department at Macy's Herald Square store. If a customer ever brought any item purchased at the store back, no matter how long ago they purchased it, we were instructed to give a replacement or refund. No questions asked.

I have no idea how much Macy's made on customers satisfied by the rebound, nor can I predict our future value as a Williams Sonoma customer. But I did write this blog entry, and someone is bound to notice.

And purchase a toaster from Williams Sonoma.

Do I detect a pattern here? 

1. The silent auction - there was a limited number of high quality pieces of art to choose from, so the bidding became very competitive (in a friendly way). Artists led off the bidding, many of the 200 attendees joined in and most pieces sold for well over their published value. And everyone who participated had a blast.
2. Instead of the typical speech given when someone is honored at one of these events, the keynote speaker, author William Kennedy, shared some very amusing anecdotes from his life — and told a very long, very funny joke about avoiding sex with a bear in the woods. This pretty much eliminated any airs of superiority and pretense that might have been in the room.
3. After dinner was finished, a number of invitees (50 or so, give or take) gathered around the grand piano to sing show tunes. It started quite modest, but then the magic happened: Times Union editor Rex Smith showed off his pipes with a song from My Fair Lady, then an Opera singer emerged to sing O Solo Mio, then they did a duet, then others joined in and memories were born.

The evening will likely be remembered by everyone in attendance. So what do you have planned at your next event to make it memorable?

I removed the tire, threw it in the trunk and headed down to one of the two mini mart / gas stations closest to my house. I drove right past the one that sells air for 50¢ and went to the one that has free air, but charges 3¢ more for gas. It occurred to me that I always pass the first mart and go to the second. For gas, for milk, for hot dog rolls, ice cream, for just about anything that they both sell. And for the free air.

Providing free air to their customers says something to me about the brand.  I've taken an informal poll, and it says something to other people, too. The store that gives away the air is much busier, so I'm guessing a lot of people are in agreement.

I wonder how much money the one store makes on selling air. I also wonder how much more the other store makes by giving it away.

What's makes me so sure?

Our research shows that, every year, authenticity and credibility become stronger and stronger brand preference drivers.

Archuletto is a very good singer, but lacks in authenticity. He is technically proficient, but there's no evidence he feels or even understands the words he is singing. I'm willing to bet that John Lennon was turning in his grave during Imagine.

The way they threw David Cook under the bus last night lacked any sense of credibility. His performance wasn't stellar, but it was real. In contrast, the judges' comments sounded, looked and smelled like a complete set-up.

We'll see next year if I'm right. 

A guy named Noah Brier plans to find out. He's built a new interactive application he calls, "Brand Tags: A collective experiment in brand perception."

You will be served brand names randomly and asked to give a single word or phrase that comes to mind. Collective results can be displayed in a tag cloud.

If you're adventurous, you can try to guess the brand represented by each tag cloud.

Check it out here.

Despite the fact that it was their first weekend open, the food was terrific. I ordered the Kansas City rack of ribs, my wife ordered the ribs with the Memphis rub. Our vegetarian daughter ordered a salad, and our vegetarian son ordered the nachos (one of the few meatless entrees).

When the food came, it was beautiful. But there was just one problem: The chef wanted to impress us with his pulled pork recipe, so he added some to my vegetarian son's nachos (he didn't know my son was a vegetarian stuck in a barbecue joint).

When my son balked, the chef felt awful. The owner got involved, and the next thing you know, my son had a new plate of vegetarian nachos (2 minutes) and the chef sent him a plate of pasta Pandora (some of the best I have ever tasted).

This is known as the rebound.

If that wasn't enough, as we were about to leave, the owner came over with a barbecue chicken and rack of ribs to take home.

This was totally unnecessary. They had us at the quick turn around of the nachos. The pasta sealed the deal. The take home package bought a year's worth of word of mouth.

Want ribs? Go to Brunswick Barbecue & Brew.

If you've never been to one, imagine upwards of 150 different kayaks you can demo. Take it out on the lake for 10 minutes or so, and compare it with the others. You can test as many kayaks and canoes that you want, as you narrow it down, try your shortlist boats again and again until you make a decision (or not). There are manufacturers reps, sales people and kayak enthusiasts there to answer your questions and help you buy a boat.

We spent the better part of four hours testing boats. In the end, we had it narrowed down to two very comparable kayaks. One was a carbon lite material (and available to take home - read immediate gratification), the other Fiberglas (we could have it in three weeks, but would have to drive back up to Old Forge to pick it up).

We ended up purchasing the Fiberglas boat, even though we had to wait three weeks. The reason? We had been helped choosing a boat by this couple from Indian Lake, New York — who were volunteering at the festival to help people find the right boat, to get more people into kayaking. Over the coarse of the afternoon, they had helped us demo a number of different boats from a number of different manufacturers. They clearly preferred the Impex Fiberglas boats (they had several), but they also helped out with the other boats around. They also said things like, "take your time, find the right boat. Before you buy a boat, get a great paddle. And don't buy a boat unless you are sure."

The carbon lite boat was from another manufacturer. Their manufacturers rep was trying to "sell" us the other boat. He used language like "have I got a boat for you. Isn't she a beaut? How do you like it?" His boat was really nice, and it was 20% cheaper than the Impex.

But there was something about the way that couple from Indian Lake approached the whole experience that added credibility. What made us sure of our purchase was the fact that no one tried to sell us. We were allowed to buy.

Now, we're brand advocates for Impex Kayaks and for the Mountainman.

There's an Egyptian cafe called Marmora right down the street from my office.  It's run by a gentleman named Moheb, who does all the cooking, most of the table waiting and busing. Every time I walk into his restaurant, Mo greets me with a big smile. He treats me like I'm the best customer he's ever had. When I haven't been around for awhile, he tells me he missed me.

None of this costs him a dime and it's turned me into a very loyal customer. I tell everyone I know about Marmora and say that if they should ever go, say hi to Mo.

Today, I was sitting at Marmora eating my lunch. There were other customers coming in and out of the cafe. Mo was treating each and every one of them the same way. He knew all of their names, and they new his, too.

Imagine what a wonderful world it would be if every brand treated every customer that way. 

I was going to pay cash, but the nice sales guy told me about their financing special - two years, same as cash. I'm an optimist, I think the market will rebound. So I took the financing deal and invested the money.

Two weeks ago, I received a welcome letter from Citi Financial. They called me a preferred customer and told me about all the wonderful benefits of being a customer of theirs. How they have been helping people like me since 1912 realize their financial dreams.

Citibank gave me my first mortgage. I've had a Citibank visa card for 25 years. Citibank has been good to me. I like them, like their advertising and I use their products.

Today, I received my second letter from Citi Financial. The opening line is, and I quote:

We are changing your account agreement.

They go on to say... 

We are increasing your default rate.

We are increasing your minimum finance charge.

We are replacing a bunch of the nice language we used to describe our relationship with some really nasty things that will put you in your place, sucker.

I don't know what I did to get on their s&%t list, but I do know what they did to get on mine.

I will continue to live richly, but I am finding a new bank.

When I boarded the plane, no one smiled at me and said "hi" or "welcome to..." The inside of the plane was ... plain. No real brand merchandising going on. There was an announcement about crashing, but I didn't pay attention. I went to do the crossword puzzle in the inflight magazine, but someone had beaten me to it. The pilot never came on the intercom to speak to me. One of the flight attendants did ask me what I would like to drink. I had water. When I exited the plane, the flight attendants were talking to the pilot and didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Same thing happened on my second flight, and on the return trip, too. 

Over the weekend, I heard no less than ten people call the airline "Northworst." I thought about my functional experience, and it was pretty good comparatively. No problems. They even put ice cubes in my water.

My brand experience however, was a disaster. Northwest Airlines had me captive for nearly four hours, on two separate flights, and they never even tried to connect with me.

No wonder I prefer "The Friendly Skies" domestically. Sometimes I fly Southwest. I only fly "Useless Air" if I have to, because they treat me like they don't want me as a customer. And I avoid Philadelphia Airport like the plague.

Up until this past weekend, I didn't really think much about "Northworst." After this post, I don't suspect I will think much of them in the future.

What is your brand doing to engage with your customer?