The Austrian National Tourist Office uses the penguin couple Joe and Sally to demonstrate the diversity Austria has to o
Published: 07 Sep 2005
The Austrian National Tourist Office uses the penguin couple Joe and Sally to demonstrate the diversity Austria has to offer to its visitors.
``Joe and Sally are inquisitive and experienced holidaymakers having
already extensively travelled the world. These two keen travellers, who
love to discover new and exciting destinations, appear throughout the
Tourist Office's websites and literature. Finally, Joe and Sally arrive
in Austria. Their gestures and poses convey a deep sense of well-being,
happiness and satisfaction from their being in Austria. This is all
depicted in images which are part of out marketing activities,'' says
Stefan Fak, research and development / key account management, Austrian
Tourist Office Germany.
Other than sharing information on tourist's office strategy of using
penguin couple, Stefan also shared his viewpiont on evolvement of online
medium, challenges and other aspects in today's enviroment. Excerpts:
How have you focused on making your operations user friendly? How do you
think the website (from the prespective of the National Tourist Office)
can be used as a communication tool?
It's important to operate as centrally as necessary and as decentrally
as possible. We also apply this principle to online-marketing. We've
launched 25 country pages, all of which locally maintained thus showing
current and market relevant content. Central compilation is completed at
the Austrian National Tourist Office, where quality checks are also
performed. By way of integrating Austrian partners such as Federal
States and Incomers, we ensure that quality standards are achieved in an
increasing number of areas.
Improving the relevance and quality of your email database: What are
email addresses really worth today? How can you build up and expand an
effective email database?
E-marketing is becoming increasingly important in comparison to
advertisement by post or tele-marketing. The importance of understanding
differences in e-mail and postal addresses goes without saying. This is
key to improving on quality. To build and maintain an effective e-mail
database, other processes need to be integrated. Offer exclusive
information to customers, filter databases and take advantage of
partnerships.
How do you think use of the internet in terms of communicating with
clients is proving to be more challenging?
Internet use is today not enough for maintaining successful client
communications. Several communications channels must be made use of
simultaneously. Newsletters, postal mailings or promotions must be
issued through all media so that performance in communication be
increased.
How do you think use of photo images and videos is evolving?
Our campaign is a story-board campaign which can only be successfully
conveyed by the incorporation of images and videos. The Austrian
National Tourist Office uses the penguin couple Joe and Sally to
demonstrate the diversity Austria has to offer to its visitors. Joe and
Sally are inquisitive and experienced holidaymakers having already
extensively travelled the world. These two keen travellers, who love to
discover new and exciting destinations, appear throughout the Tourist
Office's websites and literature. Finally, Joe and Sally arrive in
Austria. Their gestures and poses convey a deep sense of well-being,
happiness and satisfaction from their being in Austria. This is all
depicted in images which are part of out marketing activities.
What would your recommendations be for the management of key accounts?
Even with key accounts the importance of cross selling is not to be
underestimated. When using diverse advertising media an interconnection
relationship should be apparent. Our management of key accounts is
mainly based on personal contacts, but we mix this with newsletters for
partners, use our B2B website and in some cases we give business
partners access to our online editorial systems.
What are the major challenges and how do you expect them to shape up
your operations in future?
Word of mouth recommendation from satisfied customers is the best form
of advertising. This is also true of the internet. It is for this reason
that the attractivity of applied media be continually reviewed so that
the best possible service is provided to users. The quality of contents
is decisive - even where the budget is tight, information has to be
up-to-date and relevant.
How can you integrate offline and online channels in order to achieve
successful marketing campaigns?
The Austrian National Tourist Office follows the same strategy all
successful brands pursue. We introduce the world of values our brand has
to offer. In this way we establish the basis for "Branding Holidayland
Austria", so achieving what a brand is meant to be: a bundle of values
in the customer's mind. This bundle of values - intensive, authentic and
cultivated for the "" is the link between online and offline. Our values
make the interconnection relationship of these two parts apparent and
enables different media to support each other.
How do you think companies can use CRM database from travel information
companies? What do you think will be the new trends in this arena?
By way of intensive cooperation with partners in tourism and industry,
support structures are built up and used to best effect. Above all else
we are interested in efficient marketing techniques in terms of
establishing the brand "Austria". New addresses are to be generated
within the framework of common defined activities with travel companies.
How can search be used to build profiles of customer activities on the
web - and how can this information help better understand customers,
segment your market and target advertising to produce better results?
Through flexible data management and CRM solutions we reach our target
groups with optimal success. A strategic cornerstone of Austria
advertising is the austria.info holiday service centre. This represents
both a point of contact for end consumers as well as providing important
input as regards interests and needs of the end consumers. Through the
creation of a new "Market Intelligence System" we are able to tap in to
new target groups, especially in the niche markets (both themed and
trend markets). Careful and responsible handling of consumer addresses
is of course of utmost importance. Only those who have expressly
authorized use of their address ("permission marketing") will be sent
mail. Our modern and flexible database solution guarantees the highest
standards in terms of quality and current accuracy of addresses.
Do loyalty schemes work for travel? How can you build loyalty schemes
both on and offline? How can CRM be used outside loyalty schemes?
There is a very wide range of loyalty schemes available to travellers
offered by airlines, hotels, car rental or credit card companies. A
general answer to this question is therefore impossible. Our loyalty
scheme - Austria&more - provides additional benefit for guests in terms
of special packages with added value or services free of charge.
Although our members have a personalised area on our website,
austria.info, we maintain contact by newsletters, postal mailings or
events. The information from our members is used to improve our
services. We believe it is important to treat the loyalty program as a
long-term relationship-building strategy rather than a short-term
promotion tool used merely to build up a database.
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