busa 305 final paper

A LOCAL TRAVEL AGENCY CREATIVE BRIEF

A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief

Andrew K Aki

University of Hawaii West Oahu

Abstract

A Local Travel Agency is a travel agency based out of Hawaii. A Local Travel Agency has

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisementdecided 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.

Creative Brief Objectives

The objective is a three part objective:

Increasing brand awareness

Building brand image,

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement And increasing customer traffic

The service desired by the travel agency requires that these three objectives to be accurate.

Due to the time constraints, it’s 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 there’s 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 Agency’s 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 Hawaii’s incomparable beauty.

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

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisementbe 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

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

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement 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

doesn’t have to be advertised and paid for year round. Advertising to larger schools expands

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 Student Population Institution Type

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement

Miami Dade College 57,2224-year, primarily associate's, Public

University of Florida 51,474 4-year, Public

University of Central Florida 50,121 4-year, Public

University of South Florida - Main Campus

46,189 4-year, Public

Strayer University 45,491 4-year, Private for-profit

Northern Virginia Community College


New York University 42,189 4-year, Private not-for-profit

Florida International University 38,759 4-year, Public

Florida State University 38,682 4-year, Public

Rutgers University - New Brunswick


Valencia Community College 35,460 2-year, Public

University of Georgia 34,180 4-year, Public

Liberty University 33,604 4-year, Private not-for-profit

Excelsior College 33,453 4-year, Private not-for-profit

Broward College 33,448 4-year, Public

North Carolina State University at Raleigh


Virginia Commonwealth University


Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University


Georgia State University 28,229 4-year, Public

East Carolina University 27,677 4-year, Public

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.

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



Strayer University 45,491 4-year, Private for-profit



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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief AdvertisementNew York University 42,189 4-year, Private not-for-profit

Rutgers University - New Brunswick


Liberty University 33,604 4-year, Private not-for-profit


Broward College 33,448 4-year, Public







East Carolina University 27,677 4-year, Public

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 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

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisementleverage debt if needed are:












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 individual’s 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.

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 Star-

advertiser 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.

http://www.ALocalTravelAgency.com/

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement 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

Cons:

Cost involved with inoculating a newspaper that is foreign to the East-coast

News paper can’t 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

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief AdvertisementAffective 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 customer’s 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.

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

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief AdvertisementAgency.

The advertisement will be a one page advertisement with the promise of “Hawaii, your

problems aren’t 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.

Pros:



Develop a stronger brand name



Cons:

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement Cost involved with inoculating a newspaper that is foreign to the East-coast




Cognitive Message Theme

The third and last remaining attitude, cognitive, presents a rational arguments or pieces of

information to consumers. This message strategy influences the consumer’s belief by suggesting

a temporary alternative to the realities of a student’s 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 Hawaii’s barely

changing climate zones.

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Pros:



Develop a stronger brand name



Cons:

Cost involved with inoculating a newspaper that is foreign to the East-coast




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.

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief Advertisement 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 bull’s eye with the target market. The contest requires that the target market

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 Agency’s 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 that’s being provided there by A Local Travel Agency.

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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

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A Local Travel Agency Creative Brief AdvertisementSchools, 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

busa 305 final paper

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