A LOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY CREATIVE BRIEF

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief

Andrew K Aki

University of Hawaii West Oahu

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Abstract A Local Travel Agency is a travel agency based out of Hawaii. A Local Travel Agency has decided to utilize the Honolulu Star-Advertiser as the media to inoculate an advertisement to East Coast universities. This advertisement hopes to attract students of these schools to a promotion of a 5 day spring break vacation on the beach of Waikiki. A Local Travel Agency is attracted to the use of a one of the 3 consumer attitudes. This write up will assist A Local Travel Agency in determining an approach to advertising and take forms of a creative brief for competency and direction. First objectives were detailed. Three objectives have been found to realize the end result that A Local Travel Agency is desired in an advertisement. These Objectives are: increase brand awareness, building brand image, and increase customer traffic. Next, a target audience has thoroughly been pin pointed. The systematic delineation of distinguishing the target audience was found to be students of: The Universities and colleges that are the most expensive to attend with a lower percentage of students taking out student loans, universities and colleges that reside in a cold climate zone during the winter and spring break periods, and the Universities and colleges that are the most expensive to attend with a lower percentage of students taking out student loans. Finally three advertisements were created with all factors taken into consideration. The final recommendation was to use the conative attitude to drive the advertisement.

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Creative Brief Objectives The objective is a three part objective: Increasing brand awareness Building brand image, And increasing customer traffic

The service desired by the travel agency requires that these three objectives to be accurate. Due to the time constraints, its important that increasing brand awareness and building brand image display as visible elements in the advertisement. The third objective, an increase in customer traffic will be a result if theres optimal performance carried out by the first two objectives. The objective of increasing brand awareness is selected to assure proper communication is conveyed by the advertisement to consumers. Consumers should clearly understand and recognize that the advertisement has been promoted by A Local Travel Agency, and A Local Travel Agency is who is providing the service advertised. The media of choice for the ad is the Star-advertiser and being that our sought after clientele resides on the East-coast of the continental United States, the brand should be promoted prominently through repetitious advertisement. Stemming from increasing brand awareness is the second objective, building brand image. Building the brand image will be carried out by the unique service that is being promoted by A Local Travel Agency. The characteristics of A Local Travel Agencys services will be saliently displayed in the advertisement and pointed at the tended target market. A single example saliency of A Local Travel Agency brand image could be the masterfully choreographed amenities of a get away with Hawaiis incomparable beauty.

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

The two first objectives will generate the third objective, increasing customer traffic. Customer traffic is measurable. If the ad serves its purpose A Local Travel Agency should see an influx of East-coast Continental United States college and university students taking advantage of their services. Because the choice of media is unusual to the east-coast, most of the traffic will be increased by buzz marketing. Buzz marketing will take place in three stages: inoculation, incubation, and infection. Inoculation will start with the Honolulu Star-advertiser being introduced to select East-coast U.S. universities and or colleges that possess large student bodies and an intermixed relationship with the community they reside in. Once inoculation has been accomplished incubation will take place. The specific aspects of incubation will be detailed later in the target market section. During incubation, select colleges and departments within the university will vector the advertisement. From the incubation stage, an exponential wide spreading awareness of the advertisement will occur called the infection stage. Target Audience In determining the target market, demographic, and geographic location have been taken into consideration. A Local Travel Agency has chosen to use the Honolulu Star-Advertiser as the inoculating media for advertising to East-coast college students. Using this media creates distinct features to where product positioning would achieve optimal customer traffic. The service of a spring break vacation in Hawaii possess desires that will be reflected upon the research findings to attract consumers Using the buzz marketing stages, geographic location and demographics were analyzed first. Because advertising was chosen to be done through a news paper that is foreign to target market, geographic and demographics have to possess certain researched characteristics. These

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

characteristics will be used to produce a list of universities to advertise at. Through each characteristic, universities and colleges will be sieved until the appropriate universities to advertise at are realized. These characteristics are: Continental United States East-coast Universities or colleges with the largest enrolments Universities and colleges that reside in a cold climate zone during the winter and spring break periods The Universities and colleges that are the most expensive to attend with a lower percentage of students taking out student loans The geographic/ demographic characteristic targeting of continental United States East-coast universities or colleges with the largest enrolments was appropriated because of three factors: time frame, keeping cost to a minimum, minimal inoculation. The advertisement is for a spring break vacation promoted by A Local Travel Agency in the star advertiser. Determining the universities and colleges with large enrolment numbers will allow minimal inoculation to the east coast with a greater chance of infection. Because of the sheer enrolment size of advertising to large schools, there is a greater chance that buzz or word of mouth marketing will take effect. The advertisement is promoted for spring break so a flighting approach or schedule is taken into consideration. A flighting schedule focuses on spring break being one of the peak season for travel and fits with the promoted spring break package set to market from A local Travel Agency. The combination of having a flighted advertising approach or schedule, and advertising to schools with a larger enrolment will minimize costs. A flighted schedule means advertisement doesnt have to be advertised and paid for year round. Advertising to larger schools expands

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

frequency with a lower number of insertions of the advertisement or OTS. The East-coast colleges and universities with the largest enrolments that have been determined are:

List of Major East Coast Colleges and Universities

College/University Miami Dade College University of Florida University of Central Florida University of South Florida Main Campus Strayer University Student Population 57,222 51,474 50,121 46,189 45,491 Institution Type 4-year, primarily associate's, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Private for-profit 2-year, Public 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 2-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public

Northern Virginia Community 42,663 College New York University Florida State University Rutgers University - New Brunswick Valencia Community College University of Georgia Liberty University Excelsior College Broward College 42,189 38,682 36,041 35,460 34,180 33,604 33,453 33,448 Florida International University 38,759

North Carolina State University 32,872 at Raleigh Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Georgia State University East Carolina University 32,044 30,739 28,229 27,677

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Next, the universities and colleges that reside in a cold climate zone during the winter and spring break periods were analyzed. This was decided to discharge from the list, the universities and colleges with the potential to rival weather in Hawaii during the spring break months of February and March. According to the weather statistics gathered by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, universities and colleges that would fit the distinction of the characteristics would be the East-coast states from South Carolina to Maine.

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

The universities and colleges from the previous list that still fit the description are:

List of Major East Coast Colleges and Universities

College/University Strayer University Student Population 45,491 Institution Type 4-year, Private for-profit 2-year, Public 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Public 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public

Northern Virginia Community 42,663 College New York University Rutgers University - New Brunswick Liberty University Excelsior College Broward College 42,189 36,041 33,604 33,453 33,448

North Carolina State University 32,872 at Raleigh Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University East Carolina University 32,044 30,739 27,677

With the target market ensuing, it was then established to further the scope of the target market with the remaining universities and colleges. The schools that charge a higher tuition fee with a lower percent of students qualifying for any grants were indentified under the business finance belief of debt ratio. The easy-to-calculate debt ratio is helpful to investors looking for a quick take on a company's leverage. The debt ratio gives users a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. The more debt compared to assets a company has, which is signaled by a high debt ratio, the more leveraged it is and the riskier it is considered to be. Generally, large, well-established companies can push the liability component of their balance sheet structure to higher percentages without getting into trouble. However, one thing to note with this ratio: it isn't a pure measure of a company's debt (or indebtedness), as it also includes operational liabilities, such as accounts payable and taxes

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

payable. Companies use these operational liabilities as going concerns to fund the day-to-day operations of the business and aren't really "debts" in the leverage sense of this ratio. Basically, even if you took the same company and had one version with zero financial debt and another version with substantial financial debt, these operational liabilities would still be there, which in some sense can muddle this ratio. (Debt Ratio, 2011) This explanation of debt can be understood at the personal level as well. Students with less debt are theoretically more capable of leveraging debt in order to fund a spring break vacation. The universities and colleges that remain after recognizing that their students are able to leverage debt if needed are:

List of Major East Coast Colleges and Universities

College/University Student Population Institution Type 2-year, Public 4-year, Private not-for-profit 4-year, Public 4-year, Public 4-year, Public Northern Virginia Community 42,663 College Excelsior College 33,453 North Carolina State University 32,872 at Raleigh Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 32,044 30,739

Conative Creative Message Theme Conative Message strategies are designed to lead directly to some type of consumer response. More specifically, the conative component contains an individuals intentions, actions, or behaviors. (Clow, 2010 pp.170 ) This message theme is designed around stimulating the conative attitude response, and focusing on the conative response as the initial drive of the three part attitude sequence. The conative advertisement will promote through the Honolulu Star-advertisers news paper.

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

The paper will be delivered free to the East-coast universities outlined in the final stage of the target market section. The advertisement will be promoted by means of a contest. The Staradvertiser will be delivered once a week and contain the advertisement. The advertisement directs customers to sign-up for the Honolulu star advertiser on-line to have the chance of winning a trip for two to Hawaii brought to you by A Local Travel Agency. Contestants will write a short story of their dream vacation in Hawaii. Winners will be selected by their peers who can vote on-line at www.ALocalTravelAgency.com. This conative advertisement demands that the consumer respond to the advertisement in order to have the chance at winning a free all expenses paid Spring-break vacation.

Pros: Lead to more customer traffic directly from the advertisement to the website. Cost can be incurred by partnering with the Honolulu Star-advertiser News papers have short lead time News paper Ads can be modified if need People tend to pay more attention to ads as well as the news in news paper

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Cons: Cost involved with inoculating a newspaper that is foreign to the East-coast News paper cant be targeted as easily to specific market segments News papers have a short life Ads will most likely be missed if passed up while reading

Affective Creative Message Theme This message theme is designed to invoke feelings or emotions and match those feelings with the service of a 5 day Spring-break vacation in Hawaii. Affective strategies usually fall into two categories: resonance and emotional. Resonance advertising connects the service or product with a customers experience in order to create ties. Emotional advertising elicits the emotion that is correlated with a consumer and their emotional bond to the advertisement. (Clow, 2010 pp.173) The message theme for this will be a combination of both, resonance and emotional advertising.

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

The chosen media, the Star-Advertiser will be delivered to our selected campuses every Saturday and Sunday. As shown in the above audit report done on the Honolulu Star-advertiser, the education sector is lacking on sales for those two days. It would be in the best interest to the Star-Advertiser to consider partnering with A Local Travel Agency to boost numbers in this sector for the newspaper and to subsidize delivery and advertisement cost for A Local Travel Agency. The advertisement will be a one page advertisement with the promise of Hawaii, your problems arent here. The advertisements invoke resonance in that Hawaii is warm during the Spring-break period and you can dress down rather than bundle up. Some of the emotions that will be elicited will be happiness, tranquility, and security. The culture is so different that you can be someone else for a few days and not have to worry.

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Pros: Cons: Cost involved with inoculating a newspaper that is foreign to the East-coast News paper cant be targeted as easily to specific market segments News papers have a short life Ads will most likely be missed if passed up while reading Cost can be incurred by partnering with the Honolulu Star-advertiser News papers have short lead time Develop a stronger brand name News paper Ads can be modified if need People tend to pay more attention to ads as well as the news in news paper

Cognitive Message Theme

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

The third and last remaining attitude, cognitive, presents a rational arguments or pieces of information to consumers. This message strategy influences the consumers belief by suggesting a temporary alternative to the realities of a students life. That alternative is a Spring-break 5 day vacation to Hawaii by A Local Travel Agency. The advertisement is promoted using a generic type cognitive strategy. This message strategy is postulated under the pretense that A Local Travel Agency is the only company advertising to East-coast college and university students through a Hawaii news paper as the media. The advertisement is a one page ad that directly promotes Hawaii as a destination getaway. The ad will illustrate the fight against the cold winter compared to the massaging of a Hawaiis barely changing climate zones.

Pros: Cost can be incurred by partnering with the Honolulu Star-advertiser News papers have short lead time Develop a stronger brand name News paper Ads can be modified if need

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Cons: Cost involved with inoculating a newspaper that is foreign to the East-coast News paper cant be targeted as easily to specific market segments News papers have a short life Ads will most likely be missed if passed up while reading Recommendation and Support Out of the three advertisements I would recommend promoting the conative attitude advertisement. Of the three advertisements that were created this one proves to fit the objectives and hit the target market the best. The turnaround time for this advertisement is very short. A Local Travel Agency only has a few months to communicate their advertisements to be ready for expected spring break customers. The conative attitude is designed to give the quickest feedback and a lot of the traffic is measurable through registration of east-coast students to the A Local Travel Agency website. Though there is more cost involved within this advertisement, the traffic that will be received though inoculating with more frequency will exponentially grow. This idea of increased traffic has been proven through previous contest advertising models because the perceived value of the contest prize combined with the odds of winning are substantially high. The short story contest has an intrinsic value to university and college students. Because of the hard work and large tuition fees having been paid for an education the potential for their investment to start working for them now is of great value. The contest also fulfills the objectives of increasing brand awareness and building brand image and strikes a bulls eye with the target market. The contest requires that the target market People tend to pay more attention to ads as well as the news in news paper

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

understands that A Local Travel Agency is hosting this contest and how to communicate with A Local Travel Agency in order to compete for the prize. The brand awareness can be measured by east-coast students registration to A Local Travel Agencys website and entries into the contest. The brands image will be increased because of the generous prize of a free get away to Hawaii and the dream like service thats being provided there by A Local Travel Agency.

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

References Clow, Kenneth E., and Donald Baack. Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. <http://www.noaa.gov/index.html>.

"Colleges on the East Coast, East Coast Schools, Universities On The East Coast." Research Schools, Online Courses, Degrees and Careers at Education Portal. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. <http://education-portal.com/colleges_on_the_east_coast.html>.

"Debt Ratios: The Debt Ratio." Investopedia. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. <http://www.investopedia.com/university/ratios/debt/ratio2.asp>.

"IPEDS Data Center." National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a Part of the U.S. Department of Education. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. <http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/InstitutionList.aspx>.

HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, published by Oahu Publications, Inc., 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu HI 96813 Honolulu Star-Advertiser (Morning & Sunday), Honolulu, HI, Page #7 - #225614 - 243 - 175