KWE Partners Predictions for Travel PR Trends

KWE Partners is an award winning strategic marketing and public relations firm that is located both in New York City and Miami. They specialize in luxury travel, lifestyle and real estate. KWE Partners go to “great lengths to identify emerging trends so clients can benefit from changes in the marketplace” (http://www.kwegroup.com/).

Back in January, they made a list of 10 predictions for travel PR trends for 2011. Below is the list of the predictions. After reading through them all, I have to agree. Especially with the Director of Content or number 5. The web is expanding with all new social media outlets. There should be one person who deals with all of these outlets, plus written and digital newsletters and websites. The following list can be found at http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20110126006733/en/travel-pr-trends/travel-public-relations-trends.

1. Measurement, measurement

PR will be further pressed to provide ROI to employers and clients. Reporting will not just include coverage, engagement, quality of relationships, influencers and opinion makers reached, brand awareness and the success of key messaging, but also, influence on sales revenues. With more and more analytical tools coming to market, firms will need to demonstrate stronger results for clients.

2. Ideation

There’s been an explosion of new travel product and with it comes more competition. It has become more important than ever to communicate the uniqueness of a product, setting it apart from the pack. Traditionally, PR has been viewed as publicity, primarily a promotional conduit for communications and building relationships with the media. What will be realized is that the right PR firms can be a creative powerhouse for the generation of ideas for new products, features and services that can add value to the consumer experience, generate press coverage and revenue.

3. Confluence of marketing disciplines

A trend to watch for the near term is the growth of unified services to help deliver on ROI. Ultimately, businesses need to meet their business objectives and some don’t particularly care whether it’s with the help of PR, advertising, or digital marketing, as the lines are blurring between disciplines. Final decisions come down to results and budget, and there’s a perceived value element in bundled services. It’s becoming increasingly important to have all the tools in the marketing arsenal – a fully integrated package that’s readily available for clients. Expect to see more of these disciplines coming together via mergers, acquisitions or formal alliances that provide total integration.

4. Print media is rebounding

While audiences will still turn to social channels where they can discuss with their peers, it’s important to remember that social media is still only one slice of the media mix. 2010 proved to be the year magazine publishers took hold of the reins by integrating print and digital ad sales counterparts. As a result, magazine sales are up for the first time since 2007: magazine ad sales revenue was up 3.1% in 2010, a turnaround from an 18% decrease in 2009. For affluents in particular, while they are digitally savvy, they still expect a luxury brand’s presence in print because it’s still regarded a credible source. Savvy PR and marketing pros will recognize that there are buoyant and effective growth markets to be found in print, i.e. niche, community and industry media.

5. New corporate PR position - Director of Content

Just as editorial directors across the country have been told to see themselves as content providers, so too should PR professionals. Corporate PR Directors, already wordsmiths, manage strategic messaging and they collaborate with marketing. So who better to create, manage and deploy content across a portfolio of channels – print, digital (website content, enewsletters), and social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.). Perhaps this new Director of Content will report to the Chief Content Officer (formerly the Chief Marketing Officer)?

6. Travel industry will wake up to the importance of images, video

Too many hotels just don’t seem to get it –their websites are typically second generation sites that have graduated from brochures to e-commerce platforms (i.e. reservations), and have not yet embraced social media, quality images and video that engage and help reinforce brand attributes. 2011 needs to be the year of the “a-ha moment” as to the value of engaging content, and a willingness to commit a large portion of the marketing budget to it. Hotels are in the experience and memories business; they must create an initial experience that provokes the “I love it!” response.

Likewise, PR strategists will spend more time developing the visual aspect of news and take advantage of today’s video consumption boom. It attracts attention, entertains, informs, increases visitor engagement and motivates consumers to sample or buy product. Moreover, YouTube ranks first in Google’s search results.

7. Service content rises in prominence

As consumers increasingly turn for guidance and how-to’s online, opportunities are increasing for companies and executives to get added exposure through service-oriented articles providing education and thought leadership. At the other end of the spectrum, with social sharing of news, whatever grabs attention and is controversial will stand out from the crowd and more likely to be shared on Twitter and Facebook. Also, expect more research data from PR firms, made possible by the ease of online surveys.

8. Public relations continues to rise in value

The adage “out of sight, out of mind” applies now more than ever. After the recent Great Recession, it’s imperative that brands and companies be visible by announcing that “we’re still here for you” (and haven’t gone out of business like so many others). Moreover, the PR pros of today are working outside of the traditional PR box, and have become quite skilled in creating their own video and digital content for clients. They have become socially interactive in online communities and are speaking directly to mass audiences in their language.

9. Storytelling drives engagement

Facts are great, but a story is better. PR is in the storytelling business. The storytelling approach is the most powerful driver of engagement in social media, where the media, consumers and influencers alike are connecting, interacting and sharing content. Moreover, good stories give your consumers an excuse to spend, create an affinity with the product, and help consumers feel more educated about your product.

10. Freelance media back on PR’s radar screen

With the steady downturn in the number and circulation of print media, freelance writers have watched their markets dwindle. As a result, they’re branching out, expanding their outlets by becoming authors, bloggers, providing content for mobile apps, varieties of new 'lifestyle' travel guides (e.g. Louis Vuitton guides, Gucci’s Little Black Book), and for hotel/destination websites, which are increasingly providing more travel and local information for browsers. With this in mind, PR Pros who are looking for new approaches and places to get their clients visibility will be turning to freelancers.

Celebrations Around The World

In America, we take holidays pretty seriously. We go all out on the decorations and costumes, no matter what the occasion is. Halloween we get dressed up and prance around collecting candy when we are little, in college we dress up and go to parties and then as soon as we become parents we are off dressing up again to get candy with our children. St. Patrick’s Day, even if you are not Irish, you are dressed in green and out drinking green beer. Being a travel blog, I figured why not write about where the best place to go in America and abroad is for Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, and Carnival.

St. Patrick’s Day

Dublin, Ireland

How could this not be the number one place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? The city is transformed through parades, decorations and parties starting on March 13^th until March 19^th. The main attraction of the whole week is on St. Patrick’s Day. They whole a huge parade, festival, and there is a treasure hunt that is all held on this day. For more information check out http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/ for all the details.

Chicago, United States of America

It is one big green party in Chicago the weekend that leads up to St. Patrick’s Day. The Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day the Chicago River turns literally green for the day. 45kg of vegetable dye is poured into the river at 10:45am before the annual parade starts at noon. There is also a Queen contest that is held every year. They are named 2011 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and they ride on the float. For more information check out http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/.

Carnival

Viareggio, Italia

Although when you hear about carnival in Italy, you hear about Venice. However, one of the oldest and biggest carnivals is held in the town of Viareggio. It takes place between February 25^th and March 13^th. It involves music, dancing, carnival parades. There are five parades over the course of the weekends that leads up to Lent. There are huge floats, puppets, performers, shows, masked balls, music, and lots of drinking and eating. The main event takes place on Martedi Grasso or better known as Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans, Louisiana

This is the place to be if you are partying in the United States. Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of celebrations. Everyone gets dressed up, there are parades, and there are balls, food and alcohol. For myself, I want to eventually go one day and experience this for myself. For more information about the French Quarter and their celebrations go to http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/.

Halloween

Salem, Mass.

How could you not spend any part of Halloween in this town? I have gone here multiple times to just explore the town and be a tourist. The history of the town is interesting in itself and adds the aspect of Halloween then it ought to be a spooky time. There have been witch trials and executions and these are definitely spun into modern celebrations held every Halloween. The entire month of October is dedicated to Halloween. There is a grand parade, the great pumpkin carving contest, re-enactment of history, costume balls and a haunted cruise. Not to mention all the Halloween costume contests.

London, United Kingdom

Surprising isn’t it? I figured it would be the home of Dracula or some medieval place in the outskirts of a town but London? Hey to each its own. They have something called the London Zombie walk, which I’m guessing puts them over the edge. Hundreds of people dress up like Zombies and walk along the streets of London, visiting 12 pubs along the way. Special events are also held all month and historical sites add a little holiday creepiness to their places. Special Halloween club nights are promoted and there are haunted dance rooms. Put up your pounds for an entire month of scary behavior in London.

Alternative to Entering the Working World

Graduation. The one word that no second semester senior wants to hear. There are many synonyms that we create to avoid the actual word. But when it comes closer to the actual date, in our case, May 22, it is time to sit down and think about your life. Many people will enter the working world, others won’t find anything and other will find an internship to further their experience. However, some people may choose to go abroad and volunteer for a year. Take a break from the 17 years of schooling and the rest of your life working. Volunteering abroad could consist of teaching English, working at a summer camp, conservation work and habitat work.

This is something that I personally looked into. I believe one year I will travel abroad and teach English in South Africa or in Italy. Hopefully, this will be sooner than later. If you type in volunteer abroad in to Google search box many organizations come up. So many that it is overwhelming. There are sites such as realgap.com, peacecorp.com, Geovision.com, crossculturesolutions.com, and goabroad.com. These are to just name a couple. Most of these programs are not paid. The volunteer programs can range from $800 - $6,000. For those of us who come out of four years in college in debt, there are options for paid work abroad. Unfortunately, with all theses opportunities, they are not publicized enough around campus. The only time I ever saw any information about volunteering was at the career fair in the fall where the Peace Corps and one other company was set up. These are such great opportunities to not only help a student take a year off but it provides these students with an opportunity to help others. Many people feel that they find themselves after spending a year abroad and have a better perspective on what they want to do with their lives. Volunteering or paid work abroad is a great way to accomplish this.

One specific company that I got in contact with GeoVisions, is doing a great job. After inquiring about information about a South African program and an Italy program for this summer, they called me within 24 hours to discuss any questions I may have and to provide me with more information. This is definitely a way to make the unsure feel a little more comfortable. They don't give you any time to second guess yourself. Which, for me at least, is the more time I am given the more likely I am going to back out of something that I really want to do.

Some suggestions I have would be for these companies to get in contact with study abroad offices. This way when students go and search out information it will be there for them. Second, putting up fliers around campus would definitely get students attention. I know from personal experience if I see something on the boards that interest me I will tear down the sheet. Using social media is also another way to get in contact with our generation. More than 50% of our generation turns to social media for information on just about anything. If small steps were made I think that many of the maybes would turn into yeses. Then our generation could actually make a difference in the world.

Spring Break Companies and Quinnipiac University

The snow is breaking records and all that is on my mind is the countdown to spring break. If I could trade the 30 degree weather for bright and sunny 82 degrees in Punta Cana now I would. Sadly, it is more than a month away until the day I leave the snow covered Connecticut behind for a week. Due to spring break constantly being on my mind, I figured why not have a blog dedicated to how companies attract college student’s attention when it comes to booking spring breaks. Let’s be honest, most college seniors are broke and can probably say as soon as they graduate they are in debt from the loans they took out. So booking travel plans that are cheap is a key factor in the planning process.

One of the companies that is dedicated to booking spring break trips is StudentCity. Some facts from their about us page is that they have been in business for 12 years, they have 13 destinations and they travel 10,000 students every year. What makes them stand out is their sponsorship, group rates and the events that they plan if you are going to book your spring break through them. MTV’s spring break is always a huge hit and many people try to travel to wherever this destination is. One of StudentCity’s sponsors is MTV. Therefore, this draws many college students in. Another one of their tactics is through employment. You can become a campus rep for StudentCity and get your group rate at a discount. Also, if you get so many people to sign up with your code, you get your spring break for much cheaper. As a campus rep, who wouldn’t try to convince all of their friends to book through StudentCity? Not only do they cater towards college students, they also have an area for exploration travel, volunteer travel and high school grads too.

I wanted to compare StudentCity to another organization that targets college students for spring break to see how well they competed, at least, on Quinnipiac’s Campus. The company I found to compare to is Sun Splash Tours. After exploring their website it looks just as appealing as StudentCity is. They offer group deals, have entertainment for you while on your spring break and they offer positions as campus reps as well. What I found surprising was that they have been around a lot longer that StudentCity but I have never once heard this name around campus. I think that if this name started to circulate and was as much in your face as StudentCity is, and then it would become more of an option for students on Quinnipiac’s campus. There are a few things that set these two companies apart. StudentCity is sponsored by MTV and has spring break trips where MTV’s Spring Break is going to be and they have a philanthropy. For example, if you are Greek organization that books through StudentCity they donate a portion of the sales to your Greek philanthropy. Check out their philanthropy page for more information about how they are giving back.

We are college students, and if you repeat something over and over to us then we are most likely going to listen to what you have to say. Especially, if this is saving us money. So take a note spring break companies, if you have our friends working for you, can beat other companies in prizes and offer exclusive packages for spring break then we are most likely going to take a second glance at your company.

So Why Travel Public Relations?

Ever since making the decision to study abroad in Florence, Italy spring semester of my sophomore year, I knew that traveling was something that I wanted to incorporate into my future career. Upon searching different ways for me to include traveling into my career I came up with a few choices. I could teach English abroad, I could pack up and live in a different country for a few years or I could go into the travel public relations industry. The opportunities are endless with working within travel public relations. The idea of working with destinations across the world and even having the potential to travel to those places is very attractive.

After goggling different public relations firms I found two that I wanted to talk about in today’s blog. Those two public relations firms are: Abelow PR and Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations.

Abelow PR is located in Connecticut and they specialize in a variety of public relations topics. Lorraine Abelow started this firm in 1993 and with her staff has since made this firm an award-winning public relations firm. It is a small firm but they produce big results. They range from the traditional pr to travel pr. They have been mentioned in Forbes, Traveler, The Today Show, The Discovery Channel and much more. Some of their clients include, CC Africa, Tetley, Mount Snow and Hilton. If you go to their website, they have campaigned results for recent campaigns that they have produced. Their website also includes a blog. This blog isn't all about them. They write about different aspects of the pr world and what clients should look for when they are searching for a new pr agency.

Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations is located in New York City. It was founded by Nancy J Freidman in 1987 and has become one of the most respected agencies. They specialize in everything from media relations to crisis management. Their clients include destinations, restaurants, spas and hotels in and outside the United States. Recently, they won 12 awards at the Adrian Awards. These awards are to recognized excellence in travel marketing, advertising, pr and web marketing. If you look around at their website they have a whole page dedicated to the case studies that have been done on their clients.

Both of these firms are ones that I strive to work for one day. Not only does this field of encompass all the aspects of public relations that drew me into this career in the first place, but it also includes my passion for traveling. I one day know that I will end up in this career and hopefully this blog will start me in the right track.