HVCB's "Culture Me" Blogger Campaign

RESEARCH
The year 2010 marked the inaugural Na Hoku O Hawaii Music Festival on Oahu, which was created as a prelude to the distinguished Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaii's version of the Grammys) as well as a means to truly educate the public and delve deeper into the music, arts, and rich history and culture of the Hawaiian Islands. The festival, held from May 27-30, offered attendees a myriad of opportunities for cultural enrichment including workshops, cultural activities, and Hawaiian musical performances.

According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority's (HTA) "Hawaii Marketing Effectiveness Study - Quarter 1, 2010 (downloadable PDF: http://is.gd/7ALYvS), avid travelers to the Hawaiian Islands find cultural opportunities an extremely important experience when selecting a vacation destination. In fact, they are so important that they rank "Intriguing History and Culture," "Variety of Cultural Activities," and "Opportunities for New Discoveries" as the top three preferences, respectively, ahead of other activities such as nightlife and golf. This market segment also accounts for the second and third largest share of past visits to Hawaii from the west and east coast respectively, and represents a higher spending visitor.

Accordingly, McNeil Wilson Communications (MWC) on behalf of its client, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), led the initiative that leveraged the Na Hoku O Hawaii Music Festival as the core event for an HVCB blogger outreach campaign as a further means of attracting visitors to the Hawaiian Islands. It was a prime opportunity to share a true slice of Hawaii and generate positive publicity about something found nowhere else in the world.

PLANNING
Given that Hawaii tourism was in the midst of a severe downturn caused by the national recession, and that island hotels needed immediate bookings, MWC chose to work with the social media community to achieve a fast turn-around in distributing its messaging to consumers in North America, with the goal of helping to stimulate vacation purchases in the near term. Accordingly, the firm identified and arranged to host five (5) bloggers from key markets/outlets on a press trip surrounding this festival and awards ceremony.

To further capitalize on this opportunity, the firm arranged for the bloggers to engage in additional cultural activities on either Oahu or one of the neighboring islands.

Branded as the "Culture Me" Press Trip, it was exactly that - a trip to fully immerse bloggers into Hawaii's compelling history, heritage and music.

Message
Hawaii is a unique destination for travelers, one with a rich and vibrant music scene and a plethora of cultural experiences that differentiates it from any other sand and sea destination in the world.

Objectives

• Generate immediate, positive coverage in high-profile and high traffic blog sites in Hawaii's key source markets
• Entice potential visitors by raising awareness of Hawaii's thriving and unique music scene as an integral part of the fabric of the Hawaii lifestyle
• Support and promote the inaugural Na Hoku O Hawaii Music Festival, and also generate visitors to attend other annual cultural festivals (Aloha Festivals and the Prince Lot Hula Festival) with regard to reaffirming Hawaii's unique heritage

Target Audience
The agency targeted high-profile "Triple Threat" social media enthusiasts with the ability to reach engaged audiences on more than one social platform including (but not limited to) blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Those selected were already big fans of the Islands, who had visited in the past but not experienced Hawaii in this unique way. HVCB research identified those who read and subscribed to the blogs of the selected individuals as primarily Avid Travelers - a category of consumers that views travel as a necessity rather than an indulgence. In other words, people more likely to travel during the recession.

EXECUTION
MWC identified and recruited five well-known travel bloggers and longtime ambassadors of Hawaii:

• Jeanne Cooper, Hawai'i Insider, SFGate.com.com (visited Oahu and Kauai) - Note: MWC assisted with activities only. The rest of her trip was paid at her own expense.
• Pam Mandel, editor, HoloholoWale.com & Nerdseyeview.com (visited Oahu and Molokai)
• John Fischer, Hawai'i editor, About.com (visited Oahu and Lanai)
• Nancy Brown, contributor, Uptake.com (visited Oahu)
• Lena Katz, contributor, Away.com, Trip.com, AOL.com Travel (visited Oahu, Maui and Lanai)

The firm worked with HVCB, its Island Chapters, and industry partners to secure accommodations, ground transportation, and activities for each participant.

The week began with an opening reception at Kani Ka Pila Grille (Outrigger Reef on the Beach), where participants were briefed on activities to come.  Kani Ka Pila Grille is the hotel's newest restaurant, with live nightly entertainment by renowned Hawaii musicians, which made it the perfect location to begin the trip.

The following day, the group was briefed on other cultural festivals happening in Hawaii throughout the year: namely Aloha Festivals and the Prince Lot Hula Festival.  Organizers of each event met with and provided a sneak preview to the bloggers.

Aside from these events and attendance at the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards on the final night of the trip, the itineraries were customized with suggested cultural activities and experiences catered by MWC to each blogger's specific interests.

EVALUATION
More than 37 blog stories were generated in an immediate and continuing dialog about the Na Hoku O Hawaii Music Festival and Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, as well as Aloha Festivals, the Prince Lot Hula Festival, and a multitude of other island and cultural experiences. The blogs recorded a total of 24,408,270 impressions and a publicity value of $26,174.37. 

The press trip participants were also highly engaged on Twitter and Facebook during their time in Hawaii, sharing the experience with their followers in real time. This gave even further exposure to our effort. The resulting stories were also much deeper in connecting readers to the destination. They were the quality pieces we were hoping for and which the bloggers delivered.