Hong Kong Ocean Park: Advertising and Promotion Plan
I brand manager a renown consumer product marketing company responsible Hong Kong Macau markets.
Ocean Park has been a well-known brand in Hong Kong since 1977 Ocean Park Hong Kong, 2008.
This advertising promotion plan is for the Hong Kong Ocean Park which has three in-park themed hotels. These hotels are named Ocean Hotel, Fisherman’s Wharft Hotel and Spa Hotel Frew, 2005.
Each hotel has its own unique blend of features which make it distinct and present a tremendous opportunity for marketing and particularly advertising. The hotels are set for launch in the last quarter of 2011 in Hong Kong. The total budget is HK$2million which covers all promotional activities for the month of December 2011. This will be used for digital media advertising and billboards. These have been analyzed to be the most cost-effective media for advertising. Hong Kong and Mainland China are mutual in fostering economic development Chu, 2003(, Kong, 1997)
. Thus all campaigns will be run both in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
The campaign is dubbed “Under the sea, up to the sky, on the ground, your first “fabulous” Christmas.” This campaign details all aspects of the advertising campaigns to be run as well as all promotional activities.
Background of studies
Introduction of the company
Hong Kong Ocean Park has three in-park themed hotels. These hotels are named Ocean Hotel, Fisherman’s Wharft Hotel and Spa Hotel. Each hotel has its own unique blend of features which make it distinct and present a fantastic opportunity for marketing and particularly advertising. Ocean Hotel is expected to be a 3-4 stars hotel with 660 rooms, an extra-large cafeteria, room for family dining, a specialty restaurant & bar, a lounge bar and facilities related to Ocean Park. Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel is a 4 stars hotel with 460 rooms, a main dining outlet, an exquisite Chinese restaurant, bars & lounges, a promenade, a retail store, entertainment & dining. The Spa Hotel is a 5 stars hotel with 180 rooms, a main dining outlet, specialty restaurant & bar, a spa outlet Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development, 2008()
The industry
The Hong Kong hotel industry has been thriving since the early years of the 21st century. Results released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) in the year 2004 indicated that the industry was worth well above U.S. $110 million Jahns, 2005(, Reiber, 2011)
. Tourist arrivals in the same year surpassed the 21 million mark which represents a 30% increase from the year 2000 which recorded just 16.5 tourists Access Asia Ltd., 2001(, Lockyer, 2007)
. For Hong Kong, Mainland China is the largest source market which represents about 55% of all tourist arrivals Heung and Zweig, 2011.
Similarly, Hong Kong has greatly contributed to the economic development of Mainland China Cheng and Ngok, 2000(, Chalkley, 1997)
. The relationship between the development of Mainland China and Hong Kong is mutual
ADDIN EN.CITE
(Smart, 2004, Skeldon, 1995, Huppatz, 2005)
. This clearly goes to show that there is a thriving market in Hong Kong and these three in-park themed hotels are bound for success especially during this high peak holiday season of the month of December.
Environmental scanning
Helpful for achieving the objectives
Harmful to achieving the objectives
Internal
Strengths
– Founders well knowledgeable in hotel and tourism management
– Unique blend of features for all the three in-park themed hotels
– Self-motivated and hardworking founders
– Experience in marketing and customer/client support
– Internet access gives 24/7 accessibility of information for market research and analysis
Weaknesses
– Limited capital and marketing budget
External
Opportunities
– No competition in the market as the venture is unique and no other hotel is themed
– Existing and stable market created by the need
Threats
– Marketing challenge due to there being several competitors in the market
Justification
The target population is all tourists who like to spend their holiday in posh hotels that provide them with a comfort like no other. These revelers usually like to feel at home though they may be miles and miles away from home Carey, 1992.
That is why we are providing these three themed in-park hotels to make sure the needs of this market are fulfilled and all measures are taken to give the competitors a run for their money.
Product analysis
These being themed hotels every hotel are designed to have its own theme. The first of these hotels is the Ocean Hotel. This hotel has the largest number of rooms of the three and is designed for the lower class tourists. Those travelling as families will especially love this hotel since it will provide them with an extra-large cafeteria that allows them to have family dining. There is also a specialty bar and restaurant, and a lounge bar. All these features will appeal to tourists who budget is what matters most. The hotel is expected to be granted 3 stars recognition which will be upgraded to 4 stars within no time.
The second hotel is named the Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel. This is built to be a 4 stars hotel which has well over 400 rooms, 460 to be precise. There is an exquisite Chinese restaurant to promote local Chinese delicacies as well as give the locals and tourists a taste of their fine Chinese recipes. The hotel also has a main dining area, bars and lounges, a retail store, and a promenade. The promenade is built to provide ample shopping space and parking for non-residents of the hotel too. Last is the Spa hotel which is designed to be a 5 stars hotel with 180 comfortable and spacious rooms. The main feature of this hotel is the spa that it has.
Competitors
Hong Kong Disneyland is the main competitor as it has a remarkably similar business type comparing with Ocean Park. Disneyland has the advantage on their brand reputation, and resources on their amusement rides. Disneyland has two in-park themed hotels name “Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel” which offers 400 rooms, and “Disney’s Hollywood Hotel” which offers 600 rooms Hong Kong Disneyland, 2009()
In addition, Hong Kong Disneyland consists of the following themes:
“Adventureland, Fantasyland, Main Street USA and Tomorrowland. These areas feature themed attractions, entertainment and interactive experiences, restaurants, merchandise shops, and refreshment stands. Additionally, there are daily parades and a nighttime fireworks extravaganza” Hong Kong Disneyland, 2009()
The second direct competition is the Novotel Citygate Hong Kong at the MTR Tung Chung Station which was opened in April 2006 and has 440 rooms and 13 suites. Although the rooms are smaller and have limited facilities, Novotel is still considered as direct competition as it closed to Tung Chung Citygate Outlet, and there are certain numbers of tourist attractions like the Disneyland NP360 cable car etc.
Another direct competitor is the Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel situated close to Sky Pier which has 625 rooms and 33 suites. SkyCity Marriott also offers complimentary shuttle service to Tung Chung MTR Station and Disneyland.
All these competitors will create a marketing challenge in a bid to try to undercut their market share so that Ocean Park can gain market share on its own. However, with this being the peak season for tourists, this challenge is eased by the huge numbers of tourists expected to tour Hong Kong.
Campaign objectives and key messages
Objectives
To boost gross income of the hotel base on the loyalty with Ocean Park.
To create brand awareness among customers within the target market.
To create interest and attract more local families coming to Ocean Park.
To strength the brand name.
To increase the number of customers can see the advert in order to get information about our product to the buying publicity.
Branding strategies
The overall branding strategy for Ocean Park is that of fun and family entertainment. All items for this campaign will be made to be in line with this strategy that is being adopted. This strategy is being picked to capture a larger audience. During the peak season, many tourists travel together with their families. This presents opportunities, especially for the hotel industry as everywhere they go they eat as a family which will greatly boost sales at the Ocean Park.
Top 3 communication objectives
To boost gross income of the hotels
To create interest and attract more families to the hotels
To strengthen the brand name
Key Messages
The key message that will be passed through this advertising and promotion campaign is in line with the brand strategy of fun and family entertainment. Thus the key message is that of families having fun and enjoying a fantastic stay at Ocean Park’s hotels.
Advertising activities
1. Creative consideration
a. Print
Competitor
Strengths
Weaknesses
Hong Kong Disneyland
– strong brand recognized across the world
– advantage of being in existence since 2004
– themes appeal to children
– none identified
Novotel Citygate
– large number of rooms
– advantage of being in existence since 2006
– Disneyland NP360 cable car
– small rooms
– fewer facilities
SkyCity Marriott Hotel
– large number of rooms
– complimentary shuttle service to Tung Chung MTR station and Disneyland
– none identified
Ocean Park
– Founders well knowledgeable in hotel and tourism management
– Unique blend of features for all the three in-park themed hotels
– Experience in marketing and customer/client support
– Internet access gives 24/7 accessibility of information for market research and analysis
– limited marketing budget
Campaign print creative
The campaign print creative will be designed to show families having a fun time at Ocean Park. One picture will show children enjoying their time at the swimming pool and the other will show the parents sitting by the pool enjoying sun bathing and having their drinks. This campaign will be effective since it is targeted at both the children and the adults.
TV
The story board for the TV commercial will be in line with the key message of Ocean Park, our proposed brand strategy. For the TV campaign, the storyline is going to show our customers the three in-park themed hotels. We will deliver to them a new concept of hotel experiences and feeling, not only about the room, bed, and customized services, but in terms of the Natural scenic environment, Iconic attractions and animals in Christmas time. The colors to be used in the commercial are white, red and blue. The details of this TV commercial are in Appendix 3.
Justification
Customer response hierarchy model
These campaigns will greatly help Ocean Park to achieve their desired objectives as earlier outlined. The hierarchy of effects model is the main model that is targeted by this campaign while the information processing model is secondary. This campaign is first targeted at increasing sales at Ocean Park and secondly creating brand recognition and awareness of Ocean Park.
Consideration of talent
Since the marketing budget is tight, celebrities will not be used for this campaign. However, appropriate talent will be selected for these campaigns. The selected talent will create a representation of all races without placing any race in a lesser position. A representation of all styles of life will also be created by presenting different kinds of people in the campaigns.
Media consideration
Media selection discussion
The advertising media selected are those that present the largest target audience. Multi-media advertising will be done through multimedia on billboards. This is direct and effective as passengers will watch the screen during traveling. We can increase brand awareness city-wide and enlarging our brand or significantly enhancing the numbers of customers that see the advertising.
The digital media agency that has been selected is The JCDecaux Group which focuses exclusively on MTR Stations JCDecaux Group, 2009.
Plan one is to play our advert on Mega TV Zone which comprises one trackside 103″ Plasma TV and two adjacent 12-sheet panels. This aims to maximize visibility and awareness of the advertisements. Strategically, they will be located at 5 high traffic platforms, which are Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Tong and Mongkok, which they all have the highest steam of passengers. Another area that we tend to use is the concourses, TV Pillar is located in waiting areas, next to banks or shopping kiosks with high visibility review. The advertising costs will be reduced, and the steam of people will still be extraordinarily high. In waiting areas, people will be able to see the advert when they are waiting for their friends.
Media reach and frequency consideration of your campaign
At all MTR stations, there is always a huge number of passengers boarding or alighting at the stations Yeung, 1997.
With the digital media agency selected, it will be easy to reach a huge number of passengers who are potential clients at Ocean Park.
Media scheduling discussion
With the advertising budget being limited, we wish to target travelers arriving in the early morning, and late evening. Thus the media will be scheduled to run between 6:00 AM and 9:00 PM with the creative being shown at least 5 times during each hour.
Media budget split discussion
The budget for the media plan is around HK$2,000,000. Phase one, we have planned to promote our brand on buses through roadshow multi-media on-board business, we budgeted a total cost of HK$871,025. The basic spot rate, daily 12 spots per bus (An 80-minute loop rotates within 16 telecast hours daily). Phase two, we have planned to use digital media that focus exclusively on MTR stations, we budgeted a total cost of HK$1,112,600.
Our advertising campaign will commence from the 1st of December until the end of December including Christmas. Digital media advertising has been given a huge budget split since it is the more effective method of the two and the method which targets a larger population.
Sales promotions activities
Competitor
Sales promotion activities
Hong Kong Disneyland
– Toy Story Land promotional activities in Mainland China
– Winter holiday promotional competition
– Offers which offer huge savings and discounts
Novotel Citygate
– Promotion of the Disneyland NP360 cable car
– Offers which offer huge savings and discounts
– advertising campaigns
SkyCity Marriott Hotel
– Offers which offer huge savings and discounts
– advertising campaigns
Top two promotional activities to adopt
Ocean Park products will be promoted through PR activities such as Ocean Park participated in the Hong Kong WinterFest as one of the sponsors, and hosted a booth at Statue Square decorated like the three themed hotels and will feature a stunning Santa Claus sitting in a sleigh and dolphin, parrot and panda. This will be a success since it will increase brand awareness and recognition of Ocean Park as well as brand positioning. People will be able to associated Ocean Park with other brands thus coercing them into staying at the hotels.
Offers will be the second method of promoting sales at Ocean Park. The launch of a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” travel package to stay and play at Hong Kong Ocean Park that will be offered by Cathay Pacific and Dragonair. Cathay Pacific and Dragonair are the airlines with the largest number of passengers travelling to Hong Kong Yeung, 1996()
thus this will help to reach a large target market and improve sales greatly.
Conclusion
This advertising and promotion plan, if successfully implemented, will enable Ocean Park to achieve all the desired objectives of this advertising and promotion plan. These objectives include increasing sales during this peak period of December, increasing brand awareness and recognition, increasing the interest of tourists to coming to Ocean Park and ultimately, strengthening the brand. The campaign is targeted to cost about HK$2 million which is what we plan to raise for these activities.
References
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Appendix 5: Gantt Chart
ACTIVITY
November
Dec Week 1
Dec Week 2
Dec Week 3
Dec Week 4
Plan development
Sourcing of funds
Advertising team formation
Digital media advertising
Billboards advertising
Promotional activities
