3 Year Marketing Plan for Auckland CBD
The new three year strategic marketing plan for the CBD represents the work of a steering committee incorporating representatives from Heart of the City and Auckland City Council, with input from Tourism Auckland and the K Road Business Association.
It explores and details strategies and actions to answer an important goal:
To position and market Auckland's CBD as a distinctive, world-class place to visit, resulting in improved perceptions, increased visitation and expenditure through honed, integrated, CBD marketing efforts of owners: Auckland City Council and Heart of the City and other strategic alliance partners.
In a unified, strategic approach to marketing Auckland's CBD, the CBD Board and the Heart of the City Board have approved a three year marketing plan funded from the CBD targeted rate and the Heart of the City marketing budgets - both exclusively funded by CBD ratepayers.
The marketing plan focuses on three key strategies to overcome the challenges faced by marketers of Auckland's CBD.
CREATE AN INTEGRATED ORGANISATION: Heart of the City and Auckland City Council have partnered to establish one primary marketing body for Auckland's CBD. Responsible for planning, creating and managing a creative campaign platform, a promotions calendar and third party sponsorship.
CREATE AN ASPIRATIONAL CAMPAIGN PLATFORM: Consumer research identified the shared aspiration of key user groups 'for a more cultured experience' in Downtown Auckland. Acknowledging a unique new Pacific flavour in the people, setting and experiences. The BIG little City campaign platform was the resulting consumer expression to position the CBD as a unique visitor destination, and articulate the diversity and proximity of it's offering. This platform will underpin all consumer marketing activity until 2010.
EXECUTE INTEGRATED TACTICAL ATIVITY: This strategy provides the opportunity to become the çollective concierge' for Auckland's CBD, actively directing people to the best it has to offer and using tangible product to drive visitation and build positive perceptions. The tactical calendar will involve three streams of activity: 1. Hero activity in the form of 3 large marketing campaigns during the year - Summer, Winter and Christmas; 2. Secondary Activity whereby the broad array of attractions and features which define the CBD as a year round, buzzing, 24/7 hub are communicated; 3. CBD champions - the concierges of the CBD - such as the Ambassadors, the Jafa cabs, the free City bus etc.
The blend of these three key strategies should deliver quantifiable results in terms of reduced duplication of efforts, improved perceptions, increased visitation, participation, dwell time and spend in the CBD. It will capture what is unique about the heart and soul of Auckland's CBD, package it, then use it as a marketing magnet to create success.
KEY MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS
Consumer spending, measured by a quarterly consumer spending report. Total CBD and by retail category.
Visitation, measured by a pedestrian count report.
Perceptions, measured by dedicated campaign effectiveness research.
