ITB BERLIN CONVENTION 13 Escape From the Real World Virtual Reality - marketing power tool or threat for the travel industry? Millennials have already adapted themselves to the sharing and on-demand economies, yet many destinations and travel organisations still utilise traditional formats to determine years of marketing and planning. At the ITBBerlin Convention, the question is asked, “What if you could reach the ideas, thoughts from your new traveler worldwide, identifying the trending signals of what will affect your destination or business in the future?” Marti Grimminck, Founder & Chief Connector, International Connector contends that this is where the power of crowdsourcing millennial brainpower in the cloud comes in. We asked him to tell us more We have been working on strategy and engagement with the 18-30 year old global market for years. When Millennials [i.e. digital natives] started to come of age, we realised that traditional research and engagement tools needed to shift. This is a generation who did not have to learn online technologies or digital communications; they’re innate. Their attention, interactions and preferences move at a rapid pace. We found that strategies and traditional research methodologies were not clearly representing or even effectively connecting with this generation. They key to crowdsourcing lies firstly in understanding from whom you are crowdsourcing. We will purposefully convene a cross-section of people - not necessarily your exact demographic. Our goal is to disrupt ‘business as usual’ because quite frankly, to be viable in the next few years means you can’t continue in the same way. The challenges that travel professionals face is that traditional methods of business are likely to be disrupted overnight, and even Marti Grimminck Founder & Chief Connector, International Connector Treading a New Path Crowdsourcing millenial brainpower in the cloud to develop tourism THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR THE FUTURE BECAUSE DIGITAL NATIVES ARE NO LONGER COMING OF AGE more prevalent is the impact of a generation eager to adopt these new business models. Most organisations work in silo, but Millennials are being influenced worldwide... and quickly... across social and mobile channels. In addition, this is not a problem for the future because digital natives are no longer coming of age. They are already business, family and leisure travellers, and their preferences are apparent when you see overnight successes of new models like Airbnb, Uber, HotelTonight, etc. CROWDSOURCING MILLENIAL BRAIN POWER IN THE CLOUD TO DEVELOP TOURISM Category: eTravel Lab Day 3 Date: March 11, 2016 Time: 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Location: Hall 6.1, eTravel Lab In ITBBerlin Destination Day 3, a panel of distinguished guests will be examining how the wave of Virtual Reality will capture many industries this year. Travelling all the way from British Columbia, Maria Greene, Director Overseas Marketing at Destination BC will explain how her team uses VR to differentiate her brand and destination. We asked her to tell us a little more. Virtual reality is an important new platform for tourism organizations to bring destinations to life and market travel experiences in an immersive way. As VR technology becomes more readily available through Youtube 360 and other channels, we think this will broaden the types of consumers who are able to engage in the video. The benefit of VR is that WE THINK VIRTUAL REALITY WILL BE THE NEW SPACE THAT DESTINATION MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS WILL PLAY IN it allows the viewer to have a truly immersive experience providing a taste of what BC has to offer. We’ve seen it used by a number of companies including hotels and adventure tourism organizations and think that virtual reality and the use of 360 videos will change the way products are marketed globally. How is your organization using it? With the introduction of Youtube 360 we are able to bring this BC experience to consumers through a variety of channels (mobile, desktop). We have showcased the experience globally at a number of travel media and travel trade events and continue to promote to our clients. We are researching opportunities to develop further content for future promotions of our destination. Maria Greene Director Overseas Marketing, Destination British Columbia What advice could you give for those thinking of this new technology? Create a unique story on your product/destination and align with a partner to create compelling content. As the technology becomes more accessible via new less expensive headsets (i.e the Google Cardboard product for which you can download a template online and create yourself) or Youtube 360, we think this will be the new space that destination marketing organizations will play in. KEYNOTE PANEL: VIRTUAL REALITY - MARKETING POWER TOOL OR INDUSTRY THREAT? Category: ITB Destination Day 3 Date: March 11, 2016 Time: 10:45 am - 11:45 am Location: Hall 7.1a, Auditorium New York 1 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 11 th March 2016
