branding
Downtown Bushmills — is it real or is it faux? Photo from theworld.org
Here’s a story I love.
As reported by eTurboNews, a travel industry news reporting service, the northern Ireland town of Bushmills is “faking prosperity” in an effort to draw more tourists.
Bushmills is best known as one of the temples of Irish whiskey, but it has fallen on hard times of late, resulting in a fair number of abandoned homes and shops and a drop-off in tourist visits. Besides its four-century-old tradition of whiskey making, Bushmills is a gateway to the Giants Causeway, a dramatic natural formation that resembles stepping stones leading into the sea.
So the town has called on “cosmetic enhancement,” as eTurboNews describes it, a facelift of sorts for a dozen or so boarded up buildings that had become a blight on Bushmills’ main street.
Known as the “Brighter Bushmills Project,” the enhancements… Continue reading
On a recent trip to Europe, I carried a 3-ounce travel-size tube of toothpaste from Tom’s of Maine — a size that’s OK with the TSA to get through their “liquids” screening process at the airport. (“OK With the TSA” — a possible slogan?)
Tom’s of Maine toothpaste in the “grab-and-go” three-ounce travel size. Photo by Clark Norton
The Tom’s had a nice “fresh mint” taste for freshening breath; it’s said to whiten teeth “naturally,” to contain no artificial ingredients, dyes, preservatives or sweeteners, and to help remove plaque with regular brushing; it’s made with no animal testing; and the 40-year-old company gives 10 percent of profits back to the community to promote “human and environmental goodness,” always a hit with baby boomer travelers.
(Actually, it never occurred to me that toothpaste might be tested on animals — canine canines? monkey molars? chimp incisors? — but maybe that’s a subject… Continue reading
We had out-of-town guests over the weekend, and one recurring topic of conversation was how much we all like shopping at Costco.
Costco draws baby boomer travelers and other customers primarily through word-of-mouth advertising
For instance, when they mentioned they needed new luggage for an upcoming cruise, I suggested looking at Costco, because that’s where we’ve been buying luggage for years — great quality at half the price or less. They quickly agreed to check it out.
While I wasn’t getting a commission (and am not for anything I write here today), that was a classic example of word-of-mouth advertising. And it didn’t cost Costco a cent.
Then today I came upon this fascinating piece in The Huffington Post about “Ten Cult Brands So Popular They Don’t Need to Advertise.”
One of them is Costco.
According to Jillian Berman, who wrote the piece, Costco does use social media to reach… Continue reading
Baby boomer women exult after conquering Haleakala volcano on Maui, by bike. Photo courtesy of boldlygosolo.com
When it comes to vacation spending decisions in America, it seems, women rule. Especially baby boomer women.
Women definitely have the wealth. Those age 50 and older have a net worth of $19 trillion, and control more than three-quarters of the financial wealth in the U.S., according to a Mass Mutual Financial Group report. In turn, these same women spend 2 1/2 times that of the average American.
According to statistics from the she-conomy blog, written by Stephanie Holland of Holland and Holland Advertising, women in general account for 85 percent of all consumer purchases in the U.S. — and 92 percent of vacation spending.
To repeat: women spend more than nine out of ten vacation dollars.
That means that marketers should pay serious attention to women travelers. But many women say… Continue reading
The Woodstock Monument Memorializes the 1969 Festival. Photo courtesy of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Quick quiz: Where was the 1969 Woodstock Festival held?
If you said, “uh, Woodstock?” you’d be…wrong.
Due to various snafus, Woodstock — one of the seminal events of the baby boomer era, which brought many of the top musical performers of the day onto a rain-drenched stage before hundreds of thousands of mud-soaked, tie-dyed and oddly mellow spectators — was actually held in Bethel, New York, some 60 miles away from its original venue.
Bethel happens to be just 13 miles from where I now live.
Recently I took a friend over there to see the memorial monument at the site — now located on the grounds of the beautiful Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which itself has hosted the likes of Bob Dylan, Elton John and the Dave Matthews Band to… Continue reading
Sailaway to Alaska aboard the Disney Wonder. Photo from Disney Cruise Lines
When my wife and I took a Disney cruise to Alaska last summer — sans kids, who are now grown — we weren’t sure if we would feel out of place on a Disney vessel. We had enjoyed all the usual Disney entertainments when our kids were young, but how would we fare as a couple on the Disney Wonder, sailing through Alaska’s Inside Passage?
Would we be overwhelmed with small children in the swimming pool and dining rooms, and besieged by roaming Mickeys and Minnies?
We needn’t have worried. While Disney cruises are certainly as family-friendly as you would expect, with far more kids sailing with Disney than on the average Alaska cruise, Disney is expert at balancing the needs and desires of different ages and interests — just one way in which they are expert… Continue reading
Cape Town offers spectacular coastal scenery. Photo from Cape Town Travel
Teaming with the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, Cape Town Tourism invited Facebook users to send their virtual profiles on a “holiday” to Cape Town.
Based on users’ answers to various questions, their Facebook profiles could then experience customized itineraries in the South African city, with the players receiving regular illustrated updates on how their profiles were spending their virtual time seeing the sights and perhaps relaxing at the beach.
Those enrolled in the game — more than 8,000 players in all, who hailed from South Africa, the UK, the U.S., Canada, India, Germany and elsewhere —… Continue reading
Explore Europe on your own on a Rick Steves “My Way” tour. Photo by Catharine Norton
The recent well-publicized flap about George Zimmer — founder and longtime TV pitchman for the Men’s Wearhouse — being fired by the company he started got me thinking about the power of personality in travel product branding.
Zimmer and other celebrated pitchmen — notably KFC’s Colonel Sanders, Frank Perdue of Perdue Farms chicken fame, Wendy’s hamburgers Dave Thomas and popcorn king Orville Redenbacher — all became the public face of the companies they founded.
And when they died or became too old or too controversial and were no longer able or considered suitable to serve in that role, their companies all suffered to one degree or another. (This New York Times piece offers good background on the topic.)
I had to think a bit before coming up with an equivalent personality… Continue reading
Former Carnival CEO Bob Dickinson
According to a recent Harris poll, cruising has taken a serious hit in the wake of the Carnival Triumph’s power failure at sea, which received saturation coverage in the media. The public has less trust in cruises, perceives the quality of cruising in a more negative light, and is less likely to book a cruise now.
It also regards air travel as safer than cruising, the poll says.
While the results were particularly bad for Carnival, they also extended in varying degrees to other cruise lines the poll tested.
Carnival is now working to regain its tarnished reputation. Carnival Corp. — which owns not just Carnival Cruise Lines but several other lines including Holland America, Princess, Costa, Cunard and Seabourn — has hired Carnival’s former CEO, Bob Dickinson, as a consultant to “reassess the brands.” Dickinson is a legend in the industry and as… Continue reading
Weaving in Canyon de Chelly — Photo by Jim Harrison, courtesy of Road Scholar
In 1975, two globe-trotting American educators formed a not-for-profit organization called Elderhostel, which specialized in offering educational programs and tours for older folks who appreciated both traveling and lifelong learning opportunities. The name “Elderhostel” was a play on the youth hostel concept, popular in Europe, which one of the two had experienced during his backpack-carrying wanderings.
Elderhostel trips, which combined various on-the-road classes with inexpensive lodgings, soon branched out from the U.S. into international travel, emphasizing learning about other cultures and their history and people through lectures, excursions and field trips.
While the organization – now nearing 40 years old – has been a success, it became increasingly clear that the name “Elderhostel” was becoming a drag on its growth. Baby boomers – who as they aged were becoming the key target demographic for Elderhostel trips… Continue reading
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