 Craig Hammond
Domestic Manager
craig@rotoruaNZ.com - DDI: +64 7 351 7102
Domestic Campaign Results in 13% Increase
As you may remember DRM worked together with Wotif.com on a recent campaign to entice more kiwis to visit Rotorua over the winter period. Local industry were invited to leverage off the campaign generated by a multi layered two week DRM and wotif advertising promotion including online, radio, social media and a Rotorua specific campaign landing page on wotif.com
We are very pleased to announce the following results generated from this campaign:
- 9916 Visitors to Rotorua landing page
- 6934 sign ups to DRM domestic database
- Year on year bookings growth: 13.6%
A full report is available – please contact Craig if you would like to receive the full version.
Another BIG win for Rotorua in Motorhome Rentals
As part of our strategy to target the International FIT RWC visitor, motorhome companies have been approached in an effort to get relevant Rotorua information into their channels to influence those in the planning stages but also looking at ways to have Rotorua information in their collection packs when the visitor arrives to pick up the vehicle.
From this work a proposal to Kea Motorhomes had previously been confirmed and now we are very pleased to announce THL too has recently accepted this offer. This will see our Rotorua promotional DVD heavily promoted within THL's Auckland and Christchurch offices where customers can freely pick up a copy when collecting their vehicle.
 No. 1 Queen St. Update
We are underway!
Well after much planning we have now officially launched our Rotorua presence at No. 1 Queen St. café in Auckland with a function held on 8th September to announce the fact Rotorua has arrived!
An invited guest list including media and key influencers were invited to celebrate the beginning of Rotorua's presence within Auckland for the duration of RWC and through into summer, helping us communicate our key messages as well as draw attention to the programme we have in place at No. 1.
It certainly was a fantastic night, well received by all who got to experience a taste of Rotorua and were excited to hear some of the plans we have for this campaign over the next few months. Part of this will now also cross over into our domestic PR campaign with future media famils and its nice to see some of these results in media already.
What's been going on?
Plenty! A comprehensive radio campaign has started to aid in the awareness of our presence and activities at No1 Queen but also to reinforce the key messages being delivered to market. The stations involved are ZM, Classic Hits and ZB and promotion activity includes announcer mentions, promotional trailers, onsite live air feeds, online exposure and prize giveaways.
The café has now been decorated in all things Rotorua with full window graphics, digital screens showcasing promotional footage, banners, plants, carvings and an Ogo secured to the roof – you simply cannot miss us!
On-site activities from Rotorua attractions in combination with ZM black thunders have been a great way for us to draw more people to the site and also engage with people in the area.
The Rotorua Duck was parked next to the café for two days and ran tours through the city with its inaugural splash down into Auckland harbour. This was an amazing sight as tourists and Aucklanders heads spun to catch a glimpse of this impressive vehicle rolling through the city and its passengers quacking in full joy! Globe-riding has now been showcased too with the Ogo team on site giving passers-by and radio winners the chance to hop in and race around a circuit next to the café.
This week Wai Ora Resort have been providing 10 minute massages and pamper treatments for anyone coming down to visit the Rotorua site at No 1 Queen providing a short taste of the indulgent treatments available in Rotorua and definitely leaving them wanting more! The manuka tea served while guests qued went down a treat. Classic Hits have been onsite to help promote this with live feeds (one of which was made while receiving a massage!) and giving the listeners a chance to win various Rotorua experiences with their 'Rotorua Round Trip' winning wheel promotion!
Location, Location, Location
As expected the location was always key to our plans here and with the amount of foot traffic to date we are very pleased with the position and exposure we have been able to secure for Rotorua.
As you will be aware huge numbers congregated to this location on the opening night, the RWC rugby ball operated by TNZ is directly opposite, we have had a flash haka right outside our front door and the shear flow of visitors and Aucklanders coming through party central is providing an excellent opportunity for us to engage them about Rotorua. Flash mob Haka
We expect this to once again peak as the tournament heads into the finals stages with the games being hosted by Auckland.
Information Desk
 As part of plans to provide a back end to the promotional activity at No.1 we have put in place an information desk to not only assist with Rotorua enquiries but also be able to sell product on site.
Our Rotorua i-SITE staff have been doing a fantastic job working on site 7 days a week and providing information for those considering heading down to Rotorua. This is currently confirmed to be in place right through until the end of RWC 2011.
Our newly printed outdoor information desk has arrived and is now in place on the front corner of the café footprint – Queen St and Quay St. Weather pending this now provides a station for our i-SITE staff to be positioned outdoors to make maximum benefit of the 25,000+ people walking past each day and certainly creates a more exposure benefits for the region.
We are now approaching the 500th visitor mark our team have directly provided information about Rotorua for while on site – some of these have been willing to buy product on the spot, while others are happy with the information gained and planning to wait until they arrive in Rotorua. Either way we are making sure Rotorua is in their plans and having the chance to inform them prior to actually arriving is helping us encourage longer lengths of stays.
If you have any new developments or news you would like communicated feel free to send through to Craig and we will make sure our staff on-site are kept up to date.
Pop in and Say Hi
Finally if you happen to be in Auckland for sales calls or any other reason feel free to drop by and check out the site. A number of you have expressed an interest to help out on various days which is fantastic and most welcome. If you would also like to do this please contact Craig and we can provide some dates where activities are taking place and go from there. |
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