40 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>October</strong>/<strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong> CELEBRATE CELEBRATE MELBOURNE CUP WITH CHAMPAGNE MELBOURNE MUMM CUP AT CARNIVAL THE HELM Tuesday CELEBRATE 7 <strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong>, from 3pm Mumm Cordon Rouge Flute $16 Bottle $90 MELBOURNE Mumm Rosé CUP CARNIVAL Flute $18 Bottle $99 Cocktails and Champagne Mumm specials, prizes for best dressed, sweepstakes. Enjoy Be part Mumm of the Responsibly celebrations in the lead up to the race, you don’t want to miss out Enjoy Mumm Responsibly Mumm Cordon Rouge Flute $16 Bottle $90 on the action... or the Champagne! Mumm Rosé Flute $18 Bottle $99
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>October</strong>/<strong>November</strong> <strong>2017</strong> 41 Here’s a challenge – try a ‘staycation’ this summer We all love a good story to tell from our summer holidays – whether it’s an actionpacked adventure or relaxing family experience. And it’s nearly that time of year again to start pondering what to do when the offices close for the holiday season. Why not take a staycation? Stay at home and explore your own backyard, visiting places around the mighty <strong>Waikato</strong>. Discover new adventures dotted throughout the region – or rediscover destinations you once visited decades ago as an eager primary school student. TELLING WAIKATO’S STORY > BY JASON DAWSON Chief Executive, Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism In a region as rich in experiences as this one, I dare you to consider stepping out into your own region, buy from small local business, rediscover the beauty you may take for granted, and better yet, introduce visiting friends and family to our local hidden gems. Proclaim yourself an ambassador for your family and friends who come to visit – this is a whole sector that is so important to our industry and one of the reasons we are growing as an emerging visitor destination. Approximately 74 percent of our $1.44bn visitor expenditure in our region is from our domestic visitors staying in the region, whether in commercial accommodation or visiting friends and family. That money flows directly into our communities and benefits us all. We have a vast array of award-winning dining experiences right here in the <strong>Waikato</strong>, a few boutique breweries, the country’s only tea plantation, underground wonders and so much more. Take a moment to indulge in your own region and discover why this place we call home is truly the Mighty <strong>Waikato</strong>. Major events have a home here With only days to go until the start of the Rugby League World Cup, cities across New Zealand and Australia are in full events mode – and Hamilton is no different. We look forward to hosting the Tongan team here, while they take on Samoa on <strong>November</strong> 4 and New Zealand on <strong>November</strong> 11 at FMG Stadium <strong>Waikato</strong>. We have just hosted another hugely successful Equidays at Mystery Creek, while plans are well underway for Soundsplash in Raglan, HSBC Rugby Sevens, Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival and Balloons over <strong>Waikato</strong>. This all comes at a time when we are working on developing a major events strategy for the region. Development of a major events strategy will further secure, develop, promote and encourage events which generate financial and social benefits for the region. We need to retain and develop existing events which are unique to our region, while growing an events programme away from our summer peak season and into our shoulder seasons. Developing a plan will also help address our poor domestic perceptions, create reasons to visit our region and drive economic, social and cultural outcomes for <strong>Waikato</strong>. We want to have a range of events which talk to the strengths of our region. Conference coup And last but by no means least, we are thrilled with the announcement that Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> has secured the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) conference for 2018. Expecting up to 180 delegates, the conference will be full of movers and shakers of New Zealand’s public relations industry, giving us a chance to showcase our region as the growing business events and leisure destination it is. Hamilton & <strong>Waikato</strong> Tourism is the regional tourism organisation charged with increasing international and domestic visitor numbers, expenditure and stay. The organisation is funded through a public/private partnership and covers the heartland <strong>Waikato</strong> areas of Hamilton City, Matamata-Piako, Otorohanga, South <strong>Waikato</strong>, Waipa, South <strong>Waikato</strong> and Waitomo Districts. Find out more: www. hamiltonwaikato.com When brands just want to be loved Advertisers generally either talk about the details of what they want us to buy, or invest in making themselves a brand to which we will be loyal. Despite the headline (purely to get your attention) I’m not a big fan of the word ‘love’ when talking about our feelings towards brands. Personally, I reserve my love for my family, my closest friends and blue cheese. But it is certainly true that many of us develop a strong loyalty for some brands that can sometimes be more intangible than logic would suggest. Brand loyalty is a valuable commodity. Just look at the power that Apple has engineered over its short life. In the SME environment, we don’t always have the budget for both brand and product-based advertising, but it has been interesting me lately how many big brand TV ads in particular are focusing on really winning our hearts. One of our telecommunications companies wants to relate itself to New Zealand’s proficiency at punching above its weight – that a little country can do big things. They’re not selling us phones or offering us cheaper broadband, they’re trying to make us feel good about them. Beautiful ad, cute voice but, sorry, you wouldn’t have been the first company that came to mind if someone had described that concept to me. If the brand ad has done its job, they know that we’ll be more inclined to buy if we feel good about them. Another beautiful workof-art currently on our screens is for one of our leading NZowned banks, which appears to be a bit of a brand relaunch. We follow our heroine from childhood piano lessons, through uni, her first pash, motherhood and beyond. Just as we are beside her on her journey through the years, this bank is there too, whatever life brings. Yes, that I can believe. Another advertiser hopes that pulling on our heart strings about the kid and her Dad having swimming lessons will have us hunting out the hoki in the freezer aisle. Endearing maybe, but I suspect not so enduring. An interesting late twist as I was finalising this column was an ad I saw for a pizza. Perhaps a bit of a dig at the emotive story-telling trend, the voice-over tells me that they were planning ad with a story but decided to concentrate on showing us each of the mouth-watering ingredients of this signature pizza instead. A clever trick to get us remember that particular pizza next time we can’t be bothered to cook? Or the advertising industry taking the mickey out of itself? Perhaps both – I do hope so. You’ll often find that advertisers will leverage these top-level brand ads very soon afterwards with tactical messages – the ones that are about particular products or services. Sometimes they might follow the same themes, but not always. If the brand ad has done its job, they know that we’ll be more inclined to buy if we feel good about them, and that’s where the brand-focused investment pays off. Our bank that follows us through life’s “Changes” hopes to plant those warm and fuzzies in your memory for when you next need a home loan. The placement of these more emotive ads is largely focused on TV (and probably cinema, and on the OnDemand platforms) for a number of reasons. One reason is that, yes, some people do still watch TV. Another is that commercials use more of the senses TELLING YOUR STORY > BY VICKI JONES Vicki Jones is director of Dugmore Jones, Hamilton-based marketing management consultancy. Email vicki@dugmorejones.co.nz that generate those emotional connections, particularly over more than just a few seconds. Good media planning means they’re also placed in programmes that have some kind of synergy with the brand, appealing to similar target audiences. These often stunning ads (which New Zealand does so well, by the way) reach out to us with language and human interaction, beautiful scenes, high production values, music that lifts us… am I sounding like I’m introducing a movie nominee at the Oscars? The combined impact of these aspects is unlikely to be as successful just in a few square pixels on a Faceboook ad, for example, unless you’ve already seen the longer version and it serves to remind and reinforce the feelings you had. I know – most of us reading this don’t have the budget luxury to invest heavily in brand-building advertising on the scale that the big TV spenders do. But that doesn’t mean the same brand building concepts can’t apply in print or online advertising, it is just a different creative approach backed up by a different media strategy. We can all look for opportunities to tell our story to the hearts as well as the heads of our potential customers. As we build loyalty, our brands too will grow. As our favourite airline reminds us, there’s always tomorrow.
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