{"id":23910,"date":"2011-08-15T00:11:02","date_gmt":"2011-08-14T22:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=23910"},"modified":"2011-08-20T10:22:34","modified_gmt":"2011-08-20T08:22:34","slug":"cape-town-tourism-marketing-presentation-nothing-brand-new-collection-of-cliches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/cape-town-tourism-marketing-presentation-nothing-brand-new-collection-of-cliches\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Town Tourism Marketing presentation: nothing brand new, collection of clich\u00e9s!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last week Cape Town Tourism hosted a series of four workshops on “A Strategic Plan for Cape Town Tourism and Destination Brand for Cape Town”, invitations having been sent to Cape Town Tourism members.\u00a0 The presentation was wishy-washy, and most certainly did not meet the promise of a “Strategic Plan”.\u00a0\u00a0I left the two-hour presentation concerned, and convinced that Cape Town Tourism does not have a clue about Marketing, despite the appointment of an Australian consultant!<\/p>\n

What was\u00a0not previously declared by Cape Town Tourism was that it has appointed Ian Macfarlane of Strategetic Consultants in Sydney, who has worked with the organisation for\u00a0six weeks already.\u00a0 One wonders why a consultant had to be appointed at all, if Cape Town Tourism is the City of Cape Town appointed marketing agency of ‘Brand Cape Town’, and had\u00a0Lianne Burton as its consultant Marketing Manager (we have previously questioned her Marketing capability, being a journalist),\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0why a consultant from Australia has been appointed on a\u00a0five month contract, and at which cost!\u00a0 Macfarlane was\u00a0introduced as the ex-Marketing\u00a0Manager\u00a0for Tourism New Zealand,\u00a0 which developed the\u00a0‘100% Pure New Zealand’ advertising\u00a0campaign more than ten years ago, CEO of the Gold Coast Tourism Bureau in Australia,\u00a0and Marketing Director of Tourism Australia, which launched the controversial campaign ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’<\/a>, when tourism dipped after the Olympics.\u00a0 This campaign cost $180 million, and was deemed a failure and withdrawn,\u00a0being banned in the UK for the use of the word ‘bloody’, and tourism numbers dropped rather than increased, according to Wikipedia<\/strong>!\u00a0 Macfarlane is an ex-Capetonian, who was once MD of Young & Rubicam Cape Town,\u00a0and left the country about 18 years ago.\u00a0 Surprisingly for a marketing consultant,\u00a0it was hard to find information about him on Google! \u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of the presentation by Macfarlane on ‘the strategic plan proposed for Cape Town Tourism’ (the plan should be for\u00a0‘Cape Town’ as a brand anyway, and not for the organisation!), as indicated in the invitation Cape Town Tourism members were sent, Macfarlane entertained us with a humorous take on the global tourism scenario.\u00a0 He said that the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) reflects an increase in tourism, but that this is not the case, as the body is counting cross-border Asian travel, something SA Tourism has been blamed of as well, in counting\u00a0shopping visits from neighbouring South African countries.\u00a0 He spoke about cities winning tourism awards, which is nice for them, but that these do not translate into bookings, as we have seen with the recent TripAdvisor top destination award<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 He candidly said that he hasn’t a clue about the future, and that no one knows for sure!\u00a0 “Times are tough, and friends are few”, <\/em>he said!\u00a0 He said that tourism will be successful if many little things are done a little better, rather than doing one big thing.\u00a0 These were hardly the quips we were wanting to hear about a serious topic, being our livelihood!\u00a0 He talked about ‘conspicuous consumption’, having led to over-extended consumers, and that a new post-materialism era had begun.\u00a0This means that consumers are looking for better value, are cutting back on their expenditure, and have become more conservative in spending their money. ‘Urbanisation tourism’ is a trend too, Macfarlane said, in that tourists like to experience the music, museums, art, and entertainment in cities. Bush holidays are on their way out, he added.\u00a0 He told us that\u00a0South Africa is not competing that well in a tourism context.\u00a0 He reiterated that the only visuals one sees of South Africa, in SA Tourism marketing campaigns, is the Big 5, which means that these campaigns miss 70 % of the world’s travellers visiting cities.\u00a0 While many expected South Africa to fail during the World Cup, it was a success he said, and left an overriding impression of its great cities in which the soccer matches took place.\u00a0\u00a0 The marketing of our cities has not been carried through, and now SA Tourism is pushing wildlife tourism again, he said sarcastically!\u00a0 Wildlife is not unique to South Africa, shared with other African countries, thus not giving our country a unique positioning.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Macfarlane shared with us ‘learnings from the rest of the world’:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Visitors are the most important element of tourism, not the suppliers of tourism services.\u00a0 Visitors are changing all the time.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 There are no ‘silver bullets’ to fix tourism. A portfolio of events is needed, not one big one.\u00a0 He sarcastically wished us good luck in hosting the proposed Grand Prix, saying that it had led to a financial loss for Melbourne, and had not grown tourism to the city.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 If there is no demand, there are no sales, which means that one must get into the mindset of the\u00a0traveller.\u00a0<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 Communication must be on travellers’\u00a0terms, meaning that Cape Town should not be packaged aspirationally, ‘badge value’ no longer being important to tourists.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 There is no correlation between the exchange rate and tourism arrivals, a contentious claim!<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 ‘Destinations don’t\u00a0sell themselves.\u00a0 They need a USP (<\/em>unique selling proposition), representing the sense of the city, touching different people at different times’<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 The ‘mindful consumer’<\/em> is tougher, looking for value, wanting to see and do more at no or little cost.\u00a0 He\/she wants to expend energy, cycling being popular, and wanting actively engaging experiences, in contrast to ‘restorative’ ones.<\/p>\n

None of the above was a ‘strategic plan’, and was more of a consultant-speak overview of the world!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold introduced the session at the Baxter Theatre, I was concerned when the word ‘Marketing’\u00a0was not mentioned at all.\u00a0 Contrary to the invitation to hear the presentation of a ‘strategic plan for Cape Town’<\/em>, Mrs Helmbold talked about an ‘intervention strategy’<\/em>\u00a0 that was to be an open-forum discussion, to which they wanted input.\u00a0 It was not clear what Mrs Helmbold was addressing when she took over from Macfarlane.\u00a0 Much of what she had said at the Brand Cape Town presentation<\/strong><\/span> <\/a>was re-packaged, but with some changes.\u00a0 For example, the upturn Mrs Helmbold had predicted for 2014\u00a0just\u00a0two months ago is no longer on the table, saying that we will never recover to 2008 levels.\u00a0 \u00a0She urged us to become ‘scouters of change’.\u00a0 Consumers are depressed.\u00a0 She said it would be suicide if we looked for new markets, such as business tourism and the domestic market, and neglected the 80 % of tourists coming from our traditional European (Germany, Netherlands, France and Italy), UK, and USA markets, contradicting what she had said at the ‘Brand Cape Town’ presentations.\u00a0 The marketing message for Cape Town must be changed to be relevant to more people.\u00a0 Most people in the world are in ‘survival mode’, and not thinking of travelling.\u00a0 “We must speak to people in their mindset, so that they put us on their bucket list”!<\/em>\u00a0 In the past 24 months, 118 tourism businesses closed in Cape Town.\u00a0 No job creation is occurring in tourism, given the\u00a0reduced tourism growth since 2008.\u00a0 We are over-reliant on the traditional long-haul market, and should attract more locals, but the international tourism spend is far more lucrative.\u00a0 The domestic market is the toughest ‘nut to crack’<\/em>, as it comes with such established preconceptions about a city like Cape Town, e.g. it rains all the time, it is so expensive, it is so ‘racist’, it is so clicky, and it is so far away!\u00a0 For the domestic market these are realities.\u00a0 This market should be attracted to Cape Town for short city breaks.<\/p>\n

Further highlights mentioned by Mrs Helmbold reflecting marketing activities included:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 Cape Town should package tourism around events already hosted rather than creating new events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0airfares\u00a0to the country are high, and discussions are taking place to address this. Increased demand is needed for airfares to drop.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Cape Town has some of the world’s best 5-star hotels, but also good value for money B&B’s and guest houses<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the knowledge for Cape Town must increase, and change.\u00a0 Here Mrs Helmbold\u00a0 went down the ‘Brand Cape Town’ workshop presentation route, justifying a broader positioning for the city in being a centre of academia, business and creativity.<\/p>\n

The only element of\u00a0a ‘Strategic Plan’ I picked up was\u00a0its Vision: “to make Cape Town a ‘must visit’ city”!<\/em>\u00a0 This means that visitors must be encouraged to come now and spend more.\u00a0 Very briefly, some marketing activities were mentioned, too specific to be a ‘Strategic Plan’, including:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 promotions of the city, with showcases on Discovery<\/strong> (interestingly, the Tourism New Zealand campaign also focused strongly on the Discovery channel)\u00a0and National Geographic<\/strong> channels, a joint project with the tourism offices of Durban and Johannesburg, as well as of SA Tourism.\u00a0 Within these programs, city-specific ads and promotional programs will be placed.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 packaging food and wine events under one umbrella, to establish Cape Town as the Gourmet Capital of Africa (the city cannot lay claim to this, as this accolade belongs to Stellenbosch)<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 tourists must go beyond the usual city tourist attractions, and\u00a0should be involved in the history of the city, in\u00a0experiencing the story of freedom in a creative way, and incorporating the Fan Walk.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 proactive PR<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0do more direct marketing with the consumer via the Cape Town Tourism website, with real-time bookability<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 ‘community-building’ on-line via social media<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 appointment of an ad agency this week, to create a brand campaign, to be launched at the Cape Town Tourism AGM om 17 October.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 local content about Cape Town is to be created and distributed via the Cape Town Film Commission<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 reviewing and probably reducing the number and location of the Cape Town visitor centres, eighteen being too many.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 A Brand Ambassador campaign, using Cape Town residents as communication icons, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Olympic swimmer Natalie du Toit,\u00a0and SABC3 Expresso Show and Kfm presenter Liezl van der Westhuizen.\u00a0\u00a0The day after the presentation, the Cape Argus<\/strong> headline screamed “Tutu: tax wealthy whites”, hardly the brand ambassador needed for Cape Town!\u00a0<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 inviting visitors to Cape Town to attend blog club meetings<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 targeting the ‘young black market’<\/p>\n

‘Cape Town’ is a brand that is 361 years old, and is a ‘city of villages’.\u00a0 It still has a very generic image, and stands for a ‘cloud of things’.\u00a0 The cloud must give the tourist enough reason to come to Cape Town, concluded Mrs Helmbold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was clear to me that there is no exact ‘strategic plan’, let alone a Marketing Plan for Cape Town, which is what we were expecting!\u00a0 It was a collection of clich\u00e9s!\u00a0 A discussion arose around my question about\u00a0the proposed\u00a0positioning of ‘Inspiration’<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, which Mrs Helmbold harps on about for Cape Town, despite it already having been used for Edinburgh and Korea, and even by Pick ‘n Pay!\u00a0 Mrs Helmbold’s response, saying that it is hard to find something unique to say for Cape Town,\u00a0and that Cape Town would be packaged ‘as a basket of unique propositions’, despite the appointment of an international consultant, made me realise that she has no understanding of Marketing!\u00a0 Scary, when one considers that the City of Cape Town has entrusted R30 million of our ratepayers’ monies to Cape Town Tourism to market our city in the next twelve months, with a new Marketing Manager, coming from an advertising agency, and who is only starting at Cape Town Tourism in September!\u00a0 Oddly, no summary of the ‘strategic plan’ has been sent to Cape Town Tourism members who could not attend the presentations, nor to\u00a0its media list.<\/p>\n

The report about the ‘strategic plan’ by the Cape Argus,<\/strong> with a headline “Cape Town to launch global drive for tourism”<\/em>, appeared exaggerated relative to the information we heard in the presentation.\u00a0 The report states that the plan presented by the tourism body was a response to a report by the newspaper about the city’s tourism industry being in crisis, but we challenge this, in that work on the plan commenced seven months ago, coming from the ‘Brand Cape Town’ workshops!<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 15\/8<\/strong>: A lengthy report about the ‘Strategic Plan’<\/a> was sent to Cape Town Tourism members after our blogpost was published this morning!<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week Cape Town Tourism hosted a series of four workshops on “A Strategic Plan for Cape Town Tourism and Destination Brand for Cape Town”, invitations having been sent to Cape Town Tourism members.\u00a0 The presentation was wishy-washy, and most certainly did not meet the promise of a “Strategic Plan”.\u00a0\u00a0I left the two-hour presentation concerned, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,22,21],"tags":[12793,5458,12763,2446,130,3924,11676,12762,12766,11815,2339,32366,12764,85,32378,5926,257,12770,12754,12767,12745,12760,1480,3903,32396,12757,12769,5240,3795,12795,12761,9581,129,12747,12198,12759,4545,2357,12452,2999,12768,340,347,908,175,321,905,957,2785,6797,910,32395,32388,32376,12821,12746,5,12752,12753,12750,1086,2602,12755,12758,12765,32373,12794,12756,531],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t