Travel Is The Cool Thing To Do!

Over the past 25 years that I have been in the business, I have developed marketing and branding campaigns for theme parks, cruise lines, state tourism bureaus, hotels, motels, resorts, spas, travel agencies, golfing destinations, mountain retreats, beach get-aways, corporate conference centers and meditation renewal enclaves.

Sounds like a “been there, done it…move on to the next category” scenario.

The marketing model in the travel business is simple and easy right?

Develop a nice brochure. Put together that second honeymoon and golf outing retreat promo packages. Run a couple of ads in the Sunday travel section. Send some direct mailers. Secure some chamber of commerce lists. Hit up on the meeting planners. Offer some of those corporate rates.

But wait; can the model be changing even beyond the fact that the travel agencies have all but faded into history?

Did you know that…

* A motel that hasn’t been renovated since the 1960s is likely more hip and cool than one built in the 1990s?

* The word “Escape” is actually a bad-term?

* The middle-aged 40-something guy is more into spending time with the whole family than golfing with his buddies?

* Many folks now travel to work on outreach projects to make life better for others than kick back and do nothing?

* It’s more cool to not wash linens every day and conserve water?

* State parks may be much more in vogue than the resorts with the tennis courts and golf courses that altered the environment?

* The Millenniums are spending more per trip than the Boomer retirees?

* “Family-travel” plans need to include the empty-nesters and their pooch?

* For the cost of printing up some direct mail brochures, you can actually produce Podcasts and run them on YouTube and the Travel Channel in selected cable zones?

Really!

More people travel today more often than ever before in history. Whether by plane or by car, Americans are venturing out with everything from their iPods to their Fidos.

Families, newly-marrieds, golf enthusiasts and seniors have been replaced by hot – High ROI – target groups like “Weekend Warriors,” “Scout About Cocooners,” “Travel Channel Sophisticates” and “Eco-Culturalists.”

This week BrandVenture is sponsoring part of the Georgia Governor’s Conference on Tourism. I will be participating in the event and we will have a booth showcasing some of the cool stuff that the attendees can do to boost their brands and drive more dollars to the bottom-line.

I already know what we're going to hear…

“Wow, you all do some nice stuff. We're a small business. We don’t have those big budgets to do those kind of things.”

We’ll even hear that from some of the top resorts!

The conventional ad agencies would shake their heads in agreement. I mean really, when was the last time that you heard an ad agency talk about filming a television commercial for less than $10,000 and buying spots on the Travel Channel for less than $50 per spot or running the ads FREE on YouTube?

Spring is in the air down here in Georgia.

The daffodils are starting to bloom and some of the trees are breaking out in pink blossoms.

Let’s get some lemons and make some fresh lemonade!