TNE Activity Report – Mansfield Shire Council
2018-19 Q4
1. Introduction
Tourism North East (TNE) is the regional tourism board for the High Country, charged with developing a broad range of supply and demand driven tourism initiatives that deliver strong outcomes to the local visitor economy. It operates across the key areas of regional marketing, industry development, infrastructure and product development, strategic planning, advocacy and research, and works collaboratively with a range of stakeholders to drive visitation, yield and dispersal throughout the High Country.
At the end of each quarter, TNE produces a report that provides an overview of all the regional activities that Mansfield Shire Council invests in, and key deliverables within that period. Following is the report for the fourth quarter, which also acts as a wrap-up for the 2018/19 financial year. Highlights for the year have included having nearly $2 million worth of marketing presence in association with cycle, walk, wine, beer and snow campaigns; the completion of major projects like walk consumer segmentation research, agritourism research and mapping project and a Human Capital Review; and the commencement of major projects like the Lake Eildon Masterplan and Great Victorian Rail Trail Strategic Development Plan.
The visitation statistics for the year ending December 2018 show that the High Country has reached a record tourism high, attracting 3.92 million visitors who generate $1.207 billion in spend. This represents a 15% growth in visitation and 19% growth in spend since the same time the previous year, which is 10% higher on both counts than the State average - a great achievement for the region that is reflective of collective tourism efforts.
2. Ride High Country
2.1 Campaign Overview and Funding
The North East Victoria Cycling Optimisation (NEVCO) Masterplan identifies a range of priority projects that offer the greatest cycle tourism growth opportunities for the region, defining the infrastructure, private sector activation and marketing required to achieve a leadership position in this space.
Of all of the priority projects identified in the Masterplan, investment in a marketing campaign of scale was determined to deliver the greatest impact on the visitor economy, with the potential to attract an additional 99k visitors to the region who will spend $37million per annum.
This recommendation was supported by a significant body of market research that was undertaken as part of the Masterplan process. This research identified that one of the primary issues inhibiting cycle tourism growth in the region is lack of awareness of the High Country bike offering. A lack of consumer awareness points to the need for sustained investment in a marketing campaign of scale – one that has the ability to move current and potential market segments from awareness through to inspiration and finally conversion – to generate cycle- related visitation and yield opportunities for the region.
Recognising the need for marketing investment, $4 million from State Government has been committed to the delivery of a four-year marketing campaign that looks to capitalise on the clear and identified latent demand that exists for the High Country’s cycle tourism offering. Delivered by TNE, the program is led by the region’s ‘Ride High Country’ cycle tourism master-brand that launched in October 2018 at the start of the region’s cycle season, and has now come to a close.
The delivery of a highly targeted and integrated marketing campaign of this scale supports the region in its aspiration to own the cycle tourism category ahead of its competitors. It will effectively leverage the existing public and private sector investment that has already been made in the development of a broad range of cycle assets, and will create a platform for clear and competitive growth within the local visitor economy.
2.2 Above the Line
As the campaign objective for years one and two of the Masterplan is to drive brand awareness, the primary focus of this year’s campaign was above the line (ATL) activity, incorporating a range of mass media channels to stimulate brand recall and recognition. Highly visual, promoting hero products and competitive differentiators, these channels showcase the High Country’s ride experiences as being the best in Victoria. This plan brings the entire cycle tourism destination offering to life, which is key for success in establishing the High Country as the leader in this space.
The bulk of the budget was split between out of home (OOH), providing mass reach, and digital (display advertising plus videos on demand) which provided a highly targeted reach through cost effective channels. This was supported by content, marketing and PR partnerships across online and print publications - a lower cost opportunity that extended campaign reach and promoted trust within highly engaged cycling audiences. TNE continued to manage search engine marketing, social media and the ridehighcountry.com.au website. Utilising cost-effective, targeted and efficient channels, the campaign performed exceptionally well to drive awareness, and prompt engagement and consideration of Ride High Country. Working with nimble agencies with a rich understanding of the region provided a noteworthy level of bonus activity to amplify the paid campaign.
The various above the line channels featured in the campaign were as follows:
a) Out of Home (OOH) A total of 39 premium large and medium format billboards in geo-targeted high-traffic, high- impact locations were delivered in full throughout the campaign (October to May). Each location provided reach for a full lunar month. This was complemented with 10 ‘bus back’ placements servicing Eastern Melbourne between October and December 2018. All placements had unique artwork, fresh for this season, highlighting different High Country destinations including the Great Victorian Rail Trail and Buttercup Road in Mansfield.
OOH, in addition to being a proven driver of brand awareness, provided the Ride High Country campaign exceptional value, delivering nearly $1million worth of bonus value. Bonus was delivered by three suppliers across short-term digital, large format and static placements. Overall the OOH campaign is estimated to have reached a staggering 83% of the target demographic - ‘people 25-54 years’ (residing in Melbourne) - on average 12.5 times.
b) Melbourne Airport Takeover Between 24 December 2018 and 22 January 2019, a linked activation was hosted throughout the Qantas and Multi Airline Terminals that allowed Ride High Country to own the consumer journey from airport arrival through to departure, and again on arrival through to leaving the airport. Ride High Country had a dominant presence throughout the airport including nine individual video placements (some of which include multiple locations eg. all baggage carousels), plus a static OOH large format billboard on approach and another digital OOH medium format billboard on departure. New video was captured and edited specifically for this execution featuring 12 High Country riding destinations including Mansfield.
The calibre of the creative assets produced were widely regarded by consumers and media teams alike. ‘ooh! Media’ delivered bonus placements across airport locations to the value of $560,000 across the activation period, which is reflective of the quality of the Ride High Country material provided.
c) Digital Display Advertising and Video On Demand Targeted digital advertising on key cycling, news and entertainment sites, plus Video on Demand (VOD) channels achieved 3.4 million impressions over the campaign period, served primarily in Victoria plus a spend in NSW. The videos on VOD platforms were watched to completion over a million times (1,038,682) with an impressive average view rate of 92.31%.
High impact Roadblock display activity with News Corp (targeting road, mountain biking and rail trail audiences) saw the highest click-through-rate (CTR), indicating that premium Australian sites and rich data are effective in the dual purposes of raising brand awareness as well as generating clicks to the site. Other top performers were nine.com.au and SBS, which both provided wide reach.
Advertising within cycling verticals was also successful with SBS Cycling Central, FLOW Mountain Bike, Pinkbike (MTB) and Cycling Tips (road) all achieving higher CTRs than industry benchmarks.
Video-on-demand placements are not normally expected to drive a high number of clicks, given that call to actions are not always accessible on all platforms (eg. Smart TVs). However, clicks from VOD placements, especially Nine, 10Play and SBS, have driven a similar number of users to site when compared to premium display placements. These results are a testament to the effectiveness of video advertising, especially with the rich visual creative and animations produced for this Ride High Country campaign period. In particular, YouTube was extremely cost efficient, with videos being watched 768k times at $0.05 a view, with an 80% Victorian audience weighting.
d) Content Partnership TNE established partnerships with Australia’s premium online cycling publications, which provided exceptional value and has enabled Ride High Country to reach niche audiences with purpose-built content in the form of videos, editorial, promotion plus social media amplification. With industry experts telling the Ride High Country story in a genuine manner that resonates best with their individual audiences, the campaign was able to achieve a third party endorsement amongst audiences considering a cycling holiday. All of this content will now live on Australia’s best cycling and biking websites all year round, effectively extending the campaign’s lifetime. Additionally, TNE’s ongoing ownership of this professionally produced bespoke content will help drive future campaign efficiencies for creative production.
Highlights included Cycling Tips piece titled ‘Beer, Coffee and Perfect Roads: our search for the High Country’s best-kept cycling secrets’ consisting of a video and editorial that will live in perpetuity on their ‘Adventure’ pages. The article was viewed more than 12k times with an average 3:35 spent engaging with the content.
Dedicated mountain bike content was produced by Pinkbike.com, ‘3 Days Riding Australia's Original Mountain Bike Trails in Victoria's High Country’ (released 29 January 2019) secured 11k views and over 27k Facebook impressions amplifying program reach.
Flow Mountain Bike, home of Australia’s largest and most engaged mountain biking destination, developed a series of seven videos (one for each of the region’s MTB parks) released with beautiful imagery and park specific editorial, including nearby Mt Buller MTB Park. In total, these videos were viewed close to 125k times, while the articles had a dwell time of 3:07.
e) Print Advertising Leveraging PR opportunities, a total of 12 full-page colour advertising placements have been executed in cycling print titles: Treadlie, Cyclist Magazine (Australia/New Zealand), Australian Mountain Bike, Travel Play Live and Bicycling Australia. This advertising was spread across the length of the campaign, including winter months when readership of these titles increases.
It is worth mentioning that Treadlie Magazine, in addition to Ride High Country paid content, created an additional 15 pieces of related editorial content over the campaign, all free of charge. This bonus content worked hand in hand with other aspects of the partnership to increase reach.
f) Strategic Marketing Alliances TNE formed partnerships with brands in the cycle space that have strong profiles and presence within the cycling community, and were capable of adding credibility and reach to the campaign. The strongest Ride High Country partnership this year was with MAAP, a premium Melbourne- based cycle clothing company, who have featured High Country destinations across their social media and product photography in addition to supporting the 7 Peaks and other Ride High Country events. Furthermore, Ride High Country supported GT Bikes in a large scale consumer mountain bike promotion. TNE is also continuing to pursue strategic marketing opportunities with additional high profile cycling and consumer brands for next financial year.
g) Ride High Country Managed Digital TNE directly communicates with the target audience via the Ride High Country website and social media platforms, in addition to complementary search engine marketing (see item 2.5).
The TNE team also managed the proprietary 7 Peaks Ap for the region’s flagship road cycling activation. Use of the app positively contributed to overall website statistics and was used by 93% of 7 Peaks participants as both a tracking/stamping device and information source useful for planning trips to the High Country. 2.3 Below the Line
Where ATL has a mass communications approach, below the line (BTL) channels provide opportunities for conversion with primary segments via highly targeted and personalised engagement. Through this communication, the campaign can progress high value consumer segments through the purchase consideration funnel more rapidly.
Key BTL campaign components that featured in the 2018/19 campaign are as follows:
a) Events and Exhibitions Attending cycle events and expos enabled direct engagement with consumers to promote the regional ride offering and its supporting tourism experiences. The opportunity to engage with dedicated cyclists with a thirst for travel represents a high value opportunity for Ride High Country and is an essential part of any future strategy.
Over the course of the season, Ride High Country had branded displays and merchandise giveaways at the following events: ● Amy’s Gran Fondo in Lorne, September 2018 ● Around the Bay in a Day in Melbourne, October 2018 ● Giro Della Donna in Warburton, November 2018 ● Tour Down Under in Adelaide, January 2018 ● Otway Odyssey in Forrest, February 2019 ● Peaks Challenge at Falls Creek, March 2019 ● Australian MTB National Championships at Mystic MTB Park in Bright, April 2019 ● Partnering with organisations for additional exposure at Gears & Beers (Wagga Wagga), Sydney Beer Week and Canberra Ride Day.
b) Event Sponsorship Ride High Country sponsored one in-region event that offered brand exposure to a targeted audience, and supported repeat visitation opportunities - the Great Vic Bike Ride - that attracted over 5k cyclists in December. These cyclists were exposed to Ride High Country brand and associated destinations through the ride itself, as well as Ride High Country event signage, website, social media, rider briefings and video content screened nightly in the event village. An incredible 74% of the participants said that they were likely to return to the High Country within 12 months.
In addition, the Great Vic Bike Ride attracted more than 500 media hits equal to $32million in print media value alone. Combined with additional exposure across radio, TV and online, this was an invaluable opportunity for Ride High Country and the region as a whole.
c) Database Acquisition and Communication Throughout the cycle season, TNE expanded the Ride High Country database via events, competitions and directly online. These efforts saw the regional cycle tourism database grow by a third since the beginning of the season to approximately 11k contacts. TNE has communicated with this database 12 times since the beginning of October 2018, with good to excellent open and click through rates recorded. This has had a positive effect on driving awareness, conversion and website visitation.
d) Ride High Country Ambassadors This year, TNE appointed local athletes Paul van der Ploeg (MTB World Champion), Teagan Atherstone (Australian Champion in two disciplines), Aaron Gungl (future World Cup MTB Downhill prospect) plus the Soup Boys (Melbourne based cycling collective with a High Country heritage) as official Ride High Country ambassadors.
Via their own social media reach and additional media features, these athletes enhanced campaign reach and provided further authentication from trusted sources that the High Country is Australia’s premier cycle offering. In particular, Paul van der Ploeg provided exceptional value with 12k Instagram followers, national media engagements and a robust competition schedule. Paul was also the featured cyclist in the Ride High Country TV Commercial and Airport Takeover creative.
e) Hosted Rides Throughout the 2018-19 season there were four 7 Peaks Hosted Rides (Mt Buller, Mt Hotham, Mount Buffalo and Falls Creek) led by Ride High Country Ambassadors The Soup Boys. This enabled visitors to engage with ‘cycling personalities’ and participate in hosted opportunities that offered support for cyclists of all capabilities. The program was really well received so will be expanded on for next season.
As a bonus, the Soup Boys also delivered Ride High Country a fantastic suite of creative and editorial assets for the can be used in perpetuity.
f) Public Relations TNE executed an extensive PR campaign via targeted media channels to influence consumer opinion and travel trends, and keep the regional cycle offering front of mind (see item 10). These PR opportunities are supported by paid media.
g) Road Signage Program TNE has partnered with Regional Roads Victoria to install co-branded signage on the hero road cycling ascents in the region. Mt Buller, Mount Buffalo, Falls Creek, Lake Mountain, Hotham and Dinner Plain have all been successfully delivered with Mt Baw Baw soon to follow. This program has been incredibly well received by media and cyclists alike, significantly improving the road cycling experience.
2.4 Asset Development
High quality, modern hero imagery and video that displays the depth and breadth of the Ride High Country offering is essential for the ongoing performance of ATL channels and the success of this campaign in future years. Following an audit with each RMB and LGA partner, a plan was developed to capture a comprehensive suite of assets that can be used over the life of the campaign. Asset acquisition (photo and video shoots) is now complete across every LGA/RMB and in all appropriate disciplines.
In total, more than 40 days this season were devoted to asset development with projects including:
● Video and photo assets - the major activity was a 14-day TNE led shoot that was completed in early December. Additional assets have been generated by the program’s editorial partners including Flow Mountain Bike and Cycling Tips, by marketing partner MAAP and ambassadors The Soup Boys. ● ATL creative - 104 separate creative executions have been produced for ATL channels, including OOH, digital, print and video on demand assets ● Ride High Country TVC - TNE has produced the first ever Ride High Country TV commercial. Filmed in conjunction with the airport take-over videos and still photography, the production and editing is now complete. This will be premiered with the launch of the 2019-20 Ride High Country campaign as part of a sponsorship of SBS’s coverage of Le Tour de France (July 6-29), which will be covered in the first quarter report of the new financial year. ● Social Media Ambassadors - TNE appointed 12 highly respected cycling Instagrammers to generate assets and amplify the Ride High Country message via their own established social media networks. A ‘famil style’ weekend, complete with two professional photographers, was hosted by TNE in mid-April, generating and delivering photography assets to the ambassadors and TNE for both immediate use and application throughout the next campaign period. In addition to providing a new library of imagery, the value of this weekend was felt immediately across Instagram. The group have a combined following in excess of 106k, have posted 77 times about the weekend and Ride High Country, and generated over 37k likes and an equally impressive 665 comments. These statistics do not take into account the added impact of ‘Instagram Stories’ also posted by the group (as there is no way of tracking these). Athletes Erin Fergurson (@ekfer) and Patrick Gordon (@flash_222) have thus far provided the most value.
2.5 Ride High Country Digital Assets a) Website The Ride High Country website - ridehighcountry.com.au - is the central call to action for the cycle tourism marketing campaign. Website visitation has continued to grow very strongly with a 53% increase in visitors compared to the 2017/18 financial year. Website visitation from social media and organic Google search have been the primary sources of website traffic, representing 29% and 35% respectively. The strong growth in organic search traffic is the result of the multi-year investment in brand awareness and strong search-engine performance of the ridehighcountry.com.au website.
Editorial on the Ride High Country website is centred around the three cycle genres of road, mountain biking and rail trail. Engagement with the editorial is relatively balanced across the genres at 32.5% for Rail Trail, 30.7% for Road Cycling (combination of 7-Peaks and Road Rides) and 25.3% for Mountain Biking. The destination content is the other main form of editorial and accounts for 11.5% of editorial views.
b) Social Channels Ride High Country social channels again experienced a high performing quarter due to campaign spend as part of the Ride High Country Facebook managed advertising campaigns for 2018/19, which accounts for 93.4% of the Facebook content reach.
Paid content during quarter four achieved over 1.3 million views (compared to 377k organic views) and resulted in 424k engagement actions and 19k link clicks to the website. Organic engagement was up overall on Facebook. This quarter had 14k engagements actions across 63 posts.
FACEBOOK Objectives Metric KPI ACTUAL Brand advocacy Engagement rate 4.00% 3.74% New pages likes Fan acquisition increase 5.2% 13.95%
Instagram engagement remains high. Content activity was again targeted at strong channel growth, which was achieved above expectations during this quarter, taking the account to almost 7k followers. The aim is to achieve 10k followers in order to unlock the level of functionality (analytics, post and story links, discover channel placement, etc.) that will make Instagram a more effective marketing and engagement channel. This should now be achieved in quarter two of 2019/20, six months earlier than anticipated. In quarter four, Instagram content was seen by over 840k people and resulted in 17k engagement actions.
INSTAGRAM Objectives Metric KPI ACTUAL Brand advocacy Engagement rate 2.23% 7.85% Fan acquisition New followers 2.27% 32.36%
Facebook continues to be the most effective social channel for driving web traffic (12k webpage views in quarter four). Paid campaign activity was directed at high value brand awareness results utilising content placement throughout Facebook, Instagram and Facebook’s Audience Network (which includes related websites, news channels, blogs, online marketplace and search). This does not necessarily result in growth of page followers or engagement, but achieves very high reach and visibility of the Ride High Country brand. However, the Facebook page still performed extremely well for growth and cost per result of ads. In terms of the YOY growth delivered by the Ride High Country social media campaign, the channels performed strongly. Campaign spend and a doubling of content published allowed Ride High Country messaging to reach an audience of 16.6 million people in 2018/19, an 876.5% increase on 2017/18.
Overall engagement rate was down, which is expected with both the increase in audience size plus the reduced rate of engagement overall across Facebook since January 2018. However, engagement still sits at a very healthy 3.55%, level with the industry benchmark (3.5%).
RHC Facebook: 2017/18 2018/19 YoY change
Number of posts 148 290 +96%
Total engagements 54,310 71,861 +32.3%
Number of post reactions (likes) 12,766 16,273 +27.5%
Audience growth 2994 to 10,153 10,154 to 17,563 +7409
Average post engagement rate 4.19% 3.55% -15.3%
Total Reach 1.7 million 16.6 million +876.5%
Instagram became more of a focus for Ride High Country social content in 2018/19, as a stronger performing channel for reach and engagement. In 2018/19 the number of people liking Ride High Country Instagram posts rose by 90% YOY and the number of people commenting on posts rose by 200% YOY.
Ride High Country Instagram content reached 2.3 million users, an almost 3000% increase from 2017/18 and held an excellent engagement rate of 10.4%
RHC Instagram 2017/18 2018/19 YoY change
Number of posts 153 246 +60.8%
Number of post reactions (likes) 17,579 53,891 +206.6%
Audience growth 157 to 1296 1297 to 6973 +5676
Average post engagement rate 23.8% 10.4% -56.30% (reflective of a small audience)
Total Reach 78.6k 2.3 million +2,819.7%
Social contributed 46k sessions to the Ride High Country website during 2018/19 compared to 12k in 2017/18, an increase of 271.7% .
Two major paid content campaigns ran throughout quarter four that highlighted Mansfield’s cycling assets. The first was a Rail Trail awareness campaign, which focused on the Great Victorian Rail Trail, and the other was a web traffic campaign relating to road cycling and rail trail riding around Mansfield that drove Ride High Country site visitation.
3. Feast High Country Campaigns
3.1 Feast High Country Overview
The Feast High Country brand represents the region’s food/drinks pillar, effectively unifying a strong and diverse industry. The long-term objective of the Feast High Country brand is to raise awareness of the High Country’s breadth of food and drink tourism experiences, and help position the region as a ‘must-visit’ destination for associated target segments.
The creative concept for the various Feast High Country 2018/19 campaigns celebrated the people that capture the essence of High Country’s food/drink offering, and aimed to convey the welcoming feel and authentic spirit that is alive and well in the region. The tagline ‘Join our table’ was used across all Feast High Country executions, featuring portrait-style imagery of the region’s industry personalities with copy that depicted their impressive credentials, history and connection with the region.
The call to action for the Feast High Country brand and associated campaigns was the feasthighcountry.com.au website, which has been developed in an editorial style, ideal for telling the story of the rich food and drink offering across the region, profiling producers and personalities, and providing the opportunity to change content in line with seasonality.
3.2 Brewery Campaign
From February-April 2019, TNE ran a campaign designed to raise awareness of the brewery offering across the region (including Social Bandit), aimed at the passionate craft beer consumer based predominantly in the metro Melbourne area. Central to the campaign was a video titled ‘And beer!’, a cheeky nod to traditional tourism marketing campaigns celebrating all a region has to offer - and beer too! A photoshoot of the brewers also took place, significantly boosting the visual assets available for future campaigns.
Key results of the brewery campaign include:
● On YouTube, the ‘And beer’ clip achieved 333k impressions, with 180k completed video views (well above the target of 102k), resulting in a cost-per-view of just $0.05. ● On social media, combined paid + organic reach of over 135K people. ● On the Feast High Country website, there were nearly 3k views of the craft beer pages during the campaign period - a significant increase on pre-campaign page views. One of the best results was the average time spent viewing the craft beer pages, with an average time on page of 3 minutes and 6 second, well above the site average and demonstrating that the target market was engaging well with the content.
https://youtu.be/EkEexsFvUlE
3.3 Feast High Country Website
The Feast High Country website is the primary call to action for all Feast marketing campaigns. During the quarter, the primary focus of the website has been the Feast High Country Festival, with the campaign starting on 1 March and running through to the festival period in the first half of May. During the quarter the website serviced 45k sessions, with visitors viewing a total of 92k pages, delivering an engaged audience with page views/session of 2.05.
On an annual basis the website serviced 81k sessions with total pageviews of 161k. As this is the inaugural year for the Feast High Country brand, paid campaign activity was the largest source of website visitation representing 41% of all visitors.
The Feast High Country Festival content achieved the largest number of overall page views - accounting for 41% of all views - followed by the homepage at 37%, and business listings at 8%.
3.4 Feast High Country Social
Feast High Country has continued to grow positively on social in alignment with TNE’s expectations, and has achieved very strong total Reach results. Feast High Country content was viewed 859k people in quarter four, with the majority of content relating to the Feast High Country Festival campaign.
Over 76.5% of Feast High Country Facebook reach was achieved with paid content. Feast High Country Facebook ad campaigns had a Cost per Result value of $0.66. During quarter four, paid content on Facebook reached 586k people, and generated 76k engagements at a rate of $0.08 Cost per Post Engagement. Page growth and engagement are also predominantly driven by paid content, although organic growth is growing as the page matures.
After a slow start to Instagram, the page has experienced significant growth during the Feast High Country Festival campaign, demonstrating the value of relevant content and the need to reinforce social channels with advertising spend.
FEAST HIGH COUNTRY FACEBOOK Metric KPI ACTUAL Brand advocacy Engagement rate 2.4% 4.4% New pages likes Fan acquisition increase 4.0% 28%
FEAST HIGH COUNTRY INSTAGRAM Objectives Metric KPI ACTUAL Brand advocacy Engagement rate 2.23% 11.6% Fan acquisition New followers 2.27% 49.3%
4. Feast High Country Festival
4.1 Event Overview and Results
High Country Harvest, the region’s signature food/drinks festival, was reimagined in 2018/19 to align with the new Feast High Country brand. Accordingly, the event is now known as the Feast High Country Festival, effectively enhancing the impact of the master brand amongst the core Melbourne foodie market.
In 2019, the Festival was held on 3-19 May, featuring a 17-day regional event program that showcased the phenomenal food and drink offering that the High Country is renowned for. Importantly, the campaign encompassed the broader Feast campaign, celebrating the faces and personalities of the High Country.
The 2019 Feast High Country Festival was a great success, acting as an important tourism driver for the region. Key outcomes include: ● The event attracted 9,539 participants, which represents 15% growth compared to the 2018 program. ● Hero event ticket sales increased by 37% from 2018. ● Visitors generated an impressive $4.2 million in direct spend to the local economy, which was up 37% from 2018. ● 50% of visitors stayed overnight. These visitors generated 14,500 visitor nights, which represented a 27% growth in visitor nights compared to 2018. ● Event participants also undertook a range of other activities while in the High Country, increasing their value to the region. That is, 56% visited a cellar door, 29% visited a brewery, 63% dined at restaurants and cafes while in region, 35% visited historical sites and 50% participated in retail experiences.
Of the 41 events that featured in the 2019 program, 28 of them were newly created for the Feast High Country Festival, and a total of 102 businesses were involved in running the hero events. Over 50% of the events were collaborative in nature, featuring two or more businesses working together. These strong results are key in supporting Feast High Country Festival in realising its objective of driving industry and product development.
These 41 hero events were then supported by a range of other food and beverage-focused initiatives designed to extend visitor length of stay and destination yield opportunities. They included:
● Bonfires - a series of four bonfire evenings were held throughout the region, allowing locals and visitors to mix and enjoy food and wine from around the region. ● 8 Breweries in 8 Days – the High Country Brewery Trail’s eight breweries were all involved in Feast High Country Festival offering an open brew tour every day on the second week of the event program. Free of charge, these sessions offered visitors a unique look at the brewing process. ● Maker’s Choice - new for this year, each of the hero event operators were invited to name their favourite dish, drink, treat and activity to have across the High Country in autumn. These were then curated into a separate story on the Feast website, with the aim of inviting guests to stay longer and experience the region in more depth. It also allowed for the showcasing of operators and experiences that would otherwise have been missed in the programming.
4.2 Hero Event Activation
Mansfield Shire was actively involved in Feast High Country Festival again this year, with 3 hero events featuring in the program:
Date Event Name Location Description Operator
Friday, 3 May Mansfield Mansfield Twilight market Mansfield Producers featuring local Producers Twilight Market autumn produce
Friday, 4 May Delatite Wines Mansfield A five-course Delatite Wines 50 Year dinner with Celebration matched wines to celebrate 50 years of winemaking
Saturday, 11 The Amazing Mansfield An old fashioned Mansfield May Race car rally, Regional finishing at the Produce Store, High Country Barwite Maze with a Vineyard, picnic and local High Country wines Maze
4.3 Event Partnership
TNE partnered with Melbourne-based chef Scott Pickett (The Estelle, Matilda, Saint Crispin, Pickett’s Deli) for the 2019 Feast High Country Festival. This partnership was designed to drive interest in High Country events via their channels, and expose the chefs and the Melbourne food audience to the region’s produce.
This partnership commenced with an Estelle road-trip in early March, when Scott and two of his chefs visited the High Country for a tour of a number of producers across the region. Photographs and videos were shot during the road trip, which were then used to promote the Festival program including the in-region event featuring Scott and the Estelle team. The group visited producers and venues throughout the region, including the Mill Inn at Merrijig.
As part of the Feast High Country Festival program, Scott and his chefs teamed up with Simon Arkless and his team at The Terrace Restaurant at All Saints Estate, for a four-course lunch matched with wines from All Saints. Scott and Simon told the story of their farm visits to source the produce, and Nick Brown guided guests through their chosen wines. The lunch was attended by 40 guests who all enjoyed the different styles of the chefs and their presentation of local produce, including Mill Inn pasta. A highlight of the meal was the serving of the All Saints Estate Museum Muscadelle at the conclusion of the meal, a true treat for the wine enthusiasts.
4.4 Marketing Campaign
a) Campaign overview The marketing goals for the Feast High Country Festival were: ● to direct target audience traffic to the Feast High Country Festival section of the website; ● drive ticket sales to individual events; and ● to demonstrate the value proposition by showcasing the breadth of food and drink on offer in-region, and the natural surrounds that are worth travelling for.
The marketing campaign targeted the ‘Lifestyle Leader’ audience, predominantly in metro Melbourne.
b) Media placement TNE worked with its media agency to develop a dynamic, targeted media plan across radio, print, out of home and digital media channels. While activity commenced on 1 March with the program launch and social media presence, the majority of activity was focused on the end of March onwards, following the completion of the Melbourne food and wine festival. Key campaign executions and results are as follows:
● Broadsheet: a content partnership was established with Broadsheet that included display advertising, a content piece showcasing key ‘Broadsheet pics’ of Feast High Country Festival events across the region, social posts and email database inclusion. This delivered over 140K impressions, a social reach of over 192k, and 4.7k unique views of the content piece.
● Nine Digital display: this execution included mobile and desktop ‘miniscroller’ placements (incorporating image gallery and video assets) and video pre-roll placements, which achieved over 63K video views.
● Radio: 30 and 15 second commercial spots were booked through GOLD104.3 FM, along with sponsorship credits and bonus activity. These adverts reached 587k people in the 18-54 year age bracket one or more times, with an average frequency of 4.6 times.
● Out of home: in addition to the 50 transit adverts (tram ‘Cityscapes’), an additional two weeks of bonus exposure and three large-format digital sites were secured at no cost, to the value of $78.5K.
● Social media: over 240K people were reached on social media during the Festival campaign, with a cost-per-post engagement rate of $0.06. Social content referred over 16k people to the Feast High Country website during the campaign period (up from 13.4k in 2018), and followers of the Feast High Country Facebook page doubled during the Festival period.
● Television: during the Festival, cost savings in other channels enabled TNE to invest in a limited regional TV campaign aimed at capturing last-minute bookings among the local market for the final week of the program. The TVC was shown on a number of primetime TV slots including Masterchef, The Project, Five Bedrooms and many more.
● Email marketing: TNE’s database of over 4K engaged food and wine contacts was utilised to send targeted email communications, which all recorded excellent open and click rates (averaging 31.5% and 6.2% respectively) and drove considerable website traffic to the site.
● Additional exposure: TNE worked closely with Visit Victoria and Melbourne Food & Wine Festival to leverage additional opportunities, including Melbourne Food & Wine Festival website article, inclusion in Visit Victoria EDMs, and inclusion in Visit Victoria’s Your Happy Space autumn campaign activity on Concrete Playground.
5. Feast High Country Guide
In December, TNE launched the new Feast High Country Guide, an updated edition of the region’s popular High Country Food and Wine Guide. Produced biennially, the Guide provides a comprehensive outline of the region’s food and drink offering, and continues to be a valuable tool for visitors before and during their stay. A total of 90 businesses from across the High Country are represented via advertisements and business listings.
Since December, over 20k copies of the guide have been distributed to businesses across the region, and has been received well by operators and visitors alike.
The most recent customer research completed by TNE, which was conducted through cellar doors across the region, indicated that the guide continues to be a key source of information for visitors - the data showed that the Feast High Country Guide was the second most used source of information behind Google/internet search.
Mansfield Shire is well represented in the Feast High Country Guide with 10 pages featuring the superb seasonal snow, hiking and cycling offerings in the region, complemented by excellent pub and cafe options, great coffee and special occasion dining.
6. Walk High Country Campaign
6.1 Campaign Overview
The Walk High Country brand leads regional marketing efforts in the nature-based tourism pillar, representing a product that has widespread appeal across key market segments. Walking constantly ranks as the number one ‘alternate/extra’ activity of those who have travelled to the High Country to experience other activity options (including cycling, snowsports and food & wine), and integrates well with all other products/attributes that the High Country is known for.
The first Walk High Country campaign was launched in February to raise brand and product awareness of the hiking, bushwalking and village strolling offerings available in the High Country’s resorts, parks, village and town destinations. It was designed to capitalise on existing latent demand for walk offerings. The call to action for the campaign was the Walk High Country website www.walkhighcountry.com.au.
6.2 Marketing Program
The Walk High Country campaign followed a market penetration strategy, designed to drive awareness (of the brand, destinations and products) among higher value target segments. Research commissioned by TNE identified two priority consumer segments that were targeted:
Destination Explorers - Mostly under 40, motivated to explore and actively plan walks to points of interests (up to half a day) in ‘controlled’ environments. The High Country nature assets align with their desires but, as they do not currently visit the High Country in any great number, there is a significant opportunity to positively impact this audience via marketing.
Committed Hikers - This segment is already highly engaged with walk tourism, embarking on a number of planned walking/hiking holidays per year. As the name suggests, they enjoy the walk itself as much as the scenery or the final destination. Committed Hikers are already aware of the High Country and may have even visited before. The goal with this high value (frequent travelling) segment is to move the High Country back to the top of the planning list and encourage repeat visitation across the entire region (multiple destinations).
Specifically designed for maximum impact within these target markets, the marketing program looked to optimise budget and generate the highest impact during a limited campaign period. In the market for the month of February, the campaign was timed to take advantage of the six public holidays occurring between February and April, and included the following key components:
● Content partnership: A partnership with Broadsheet including two content articles, Facebook and Instagram posts, and inclusion in an eDM sent to the Broadsheet database. The editorial that appeared on the Broadsheet site delivered strong engagement, with users spending nearly 4 minutes on the associated articles, which is 75% longer that Broadsheet’s average content dwell time. The activity with Broadsheet delivered a total reach of 310k with approximately 50% coming from Facebook.
● Digital Display Advertising: digital advertising was created to display the depth and breadth of the High Country’s walk offerings. Thanks to a relevant contextual environment and beautiful imagery/creative execution, this channel had an average engagement rate of 0.37%, which is more than seven times higher than the industry standard of 0.05%. More than 260k impressions were served reaching 117k users.
● Programmatic Digital Advertising: this advertising was selected in order to reach specific segments whenever and wherever they were online, actively targeting them through keyword and third party audience segments. Creative execution featured the entire region with the positioning statement ‘Walk tall. Feel small. Walk High Country’. Close to 3 million impressions were delivered, and ads had a viewability rate of 70%, which is exceptionally higher than the industry standard of 45%.
● Outdoor advertising: One digital out of home (OOH) site was chosen to accompany the online channels, on the Western Freeway, Derrimut, to align with campaign launch. Featuring iconic alpine imagery and the ‘Walk tall. Feel small.’ campaign line, the channel performed 137% better than what was originally planned.
Whilst it had a relatively small budget, the Walk High Country campaign has also benefited in terms of awareness, by leveraging other High Country marketing campaigns, Ride and Feast, which were in-market over the same time period.
6.3 Walk High Country Digital Assets
a) Website The Walk High Country website saw nearly 17k sessions over the year. Visitors were highly engaged having viewed 51k pages and recording an average of 3.09 pages per session. The Walk High Country brand has attracted a younger audience than the other regional brands, and also has a strong female orientation, more closely aligned with Feast High Country compared to that of the Ride High Country brand.
The Social Media campaign activity was the largest single source of visitation to the Walk High Country website, accounting for 41% of visitors. Organic Search visitation at 22% accounts for search terms specific to well-known walks, plus destination walks such as ‘walks near Mansfield’. This category also accounts for visitation as a result of overall Walk High Country brand awareness, with the ‘walk high country’ search term being the number 1 ranked search term with 5 times more click-throughs and twice the number of impressions of the number 2 ranked term. This is a very strong outcome and demonstrates a strong and growing resonance of the Walk High Country brand.
b) Social Channels Walk High Country social channels continued to experience high organic engagement in quarter four, past the end of the campaign spend that finished at the end of the previous quarter. The engagement rate for Walk High Country Facebook (7%) and Instagram (10%) exceeded all other TNE social channels. The best reach and engagement results for Walk High Country were achieved on Instagram due to the highly appealing and engaging imagery of the Walk High Country Campaign.
Walk High Country Instagram continued to experience very strong organic growth, reaching 5k followers by the end of quarter four, a growth rate of 62%. Walk High Country Facebook growth levelled off after the end of campaign spend, but still grew at a rate of 14.6% to 2.8k followers.
Social contributed 5,787 sessions, 41% of traffic, to the Walk High Country website during the 2018/19 year.
As Walk High Country social only launched in January, quarterly and YOY performance comparison is not available, only insights since Facebook and Instagram went live:
Walk High Country Facebook Jan - Jun 2019
Number of posts 75
Total engagements 12417
Number of post reactions (likes) 7289
Audience growth +2806
Average post engagement rate 4.73%
Total Reach 262,336
Walk High Country Instagram: Jan - Jun 2019
Number of posts 73
Number of post reactions (likes) 20,596
Audience growth +5001
Average post engagement rate 10.25%
Total Reach 574,202 Mansfield was strongly represented across Walk High Country social, featured through posts of highly engaging images from User Generated Content that showcased walk activities at Mt Timbertop, Mt Howitt and Merrijig. The visual appeal of "walks with a view" makes it a high performing region for Instagram content.
7. Winter 2019 Midweek Snow Campaign
While Mansfield Shire Council does not invest in snow marketing efforts - as they are driven by the alpine resorts - the LGA is seen to be a key beneficiary of this spend. As such, details of the program are included for Council reference.
a) Overview TNE has launched the 2019 cooperative snow marketing campaign on behalf of the Victorian Alpine Resorts, which aims to raise awareness of the benefits of visiting midweek, and drives conversion to the resorts by way of compelling midweek snow offers.
TNE was successful in obtaining $150k of funding via the Visit Victoria Regional Events & Innovation Fund, which was matched with funding from the Resort Management Boards of Hotham, Falls Creek and Mt Buller. In addition, further contributions have been generated from resort lift companies, as well as Alpine Shire (on behalf of Dinner Plain) and Southern Alpine Resorts, boosting the total campaign budget to nearly $400k.
b) Creative concept The campaign creative centres around the tagline Your Midweek Lift, which is taken to market using strong imagery designed to target engaged snow users. The campaign highlights the benefits of visiting midweek, in order to raise awareness of the offering and shift visitation patterns to help address the midweek/weekend imbalance. All campaign activity points to the website https://www.yourmidweeklift.com/, which showcases all the offers available across the resorts.
c) Media schedule TNE has worked with its media agency to develop a dynamic advertising campaign targeted engaged snow markets in Melbourne. A key component of the campaign is a highly visible takeover of Southern Cross Station - this ‘station domination’ has seen this critical transport hub blanketed in snow creative for a period of a month from 10 June to 7 July, exposing the campaign to over 5.6 million commuters.
In addition to this takeover of all media assets at Southern Cross, TNE also managed four experiential activations, bringing a unique experience to the Station each Wednesday of the month. These activations included a live stream from Mt Buller, a meet and greet with sled dogs, a green screen activation as well as the Ski & Snowboard Australia ‘Little Shredders’ ski/snowboard experience during the school holidays.
The live stream element of the campaign has received industry acclaim, via media coverage in B&T and Mumbrella - click below to read and view the video: https://youtu.be/AS9gR-wMAvQ
https://mumbrella.com.au/jc-decaux-and-tourism-north-east-bring-ski-season-to-melbourne- cbd-with-live-streaming-activation-585941 https://www.bandt.com.au/campaigns/jcdecaux-tourism-north-east-launch-unique-live- streaming-campaign
In addition to the Southern Cross station domination and associated activations, the media schedule also consists of the following activity:
● Radio: partnership with Nova 100, consisting of commercial placements throughout the snow season as well as a breakfast promotion, where a snow holiday was given away each morning for a week on the Chrissie, Sam & Brownie breakfast show (w/c 16 June). ● Digital: targeted, high-impact placements on Nine.com.au, News Corp, YouTube, and MIQ programmatic video. ● Social media: Victoria’s Alpine Resorts (Facebook) / @vicalpineresorts (Instagram) pages managed by TNE, with targeted video and image-based adverts as well as organic posts throughout the campaign period.
Creative examples are below:
8. Industry and Product Development
While significant efforts are dedicated to driving demand for the High Country offering, it is essential that a commensurate effort is committed to diversifying and enhancing the supply side of the tourism equation. TNE delivers on this need through the provision of a broad range of industry and product development services that are focused on providing a high-quality tourism experience.
8.1 Industry Development
TNE supports existing High Country tourism operators in optimising their businesses and the experiences they offer visitors. This work includes up-skilling industry through mentoring and briefing sessions, identifying and working with businesses to fill gaps in the regional tourism offering, managing industry communication efforts, and driving ongoing industry and product innovation. It also involves facilitating relationships and tourism efforts between industry, Government organisations, tourism associations and other public and private entities to drive regional collaboration and growth.
Throughout 2018-19, TNE has delivered a range of initiatives in this space for Mansfield Shire including:
● The delivery of 16 individual business development sessions to address the trends, issues and opportunities of most relevance to Mansfield tourism businesses. For the year, the most popular topics covered were accommodation, nature-based tourism and food and drink.
● The delivery of a range of both Mansfield-specific and broader regional group briefing sessions, which engaged 106 Mansfield Shire tourism businesses along with Council staff, including:
○ Food and Drinks Events Think Tank - A workshop in Mansfield for businesses looking to run an event featuring a food and wine theme, which covered key outtakes from the 2018 High Country Harvest festival. ○ Cultural Tourism Research - All of region presentation clearly identifying cultural tourist segments with the greatest potential for the High Country. ○ Agritourism Research - All of region presentation about target segments among agritourism visitors, and potential opportunities for product development and supply/demand matching. ○ Walk Tourism Research - All of region presentation clearly identifying walking tourist segments with the greatest potential for visitation and growth in the High Country. ○ Crisis Comms - Stakeholder briefing covering the effects of bushfire on tourism businesses and how to manage communications during emergency events. ○ Cycle Tourism Workshop - Ride High Country tourism workshop covering cycle research, the Ride High Country marketing campaign and the Ride High Country Preferred business program. ○ TNE Future Trends Briefing - Presentation and discussion for operators who are innovative thought leaders and open to evolution, looking to expand or evolve their product offering. ○ Agritourism Deep Dive - Interactive workshop for businesses to explore their own ideas in line with new agritourism research and industry analysis projects. ○ Introduction to TNE - Presentation and discussion for new and lapsed operators to introduce them to Tourism North East and its programs. ○ Google Analytics - A workshop providing insights into the benefits using Google analytics on tourism business websites, and how to effectively manage site statistics like page visits, bounce rates and average time visits. ○ Future Labs - Future Trends Briefing - The renowned UK-based future trends consultants, Future Labs, presented an exclusive, one-off event for High Country tourism operators. This session provided a rare opportunity for industry to hear about emerging trends likely to impact their business along with the tourism landscape more broadly, assisting them with effective strategic planning. ○ Feast High Country Festival Operator Briefing - A workshop for hero event operators covering event opportunities, marketing, social media and online booking systems. ○ Accessible Tourism Workshop - A presentation hosted by Disabled Wintersports Australia (DWA) CEO Rick Coate and local Paralympian Mark Soyer that provided an accessible tourism ‘101’ for business operators. It considered the size of the market, what constitutes a disability, rules and regulations, tourism opportunities and ways to assess business workplaces and offerings for visitors. ○ Walk High Country Workshop - Following on from the major all-of-region research presentation, a workshop designed to assist businesses in understanding tourism opportunities associated with the walk product and how to match them to consumer segments with the greatest potential for visitation and growth. ○ Agritourism Workshop - Exploring opportunities for relevant operators to leverage regional agritourism initiatives being driven by TNE. ○ GVRT Stakeholder Consultation - Workshop to gain insights from operators on the Great Victorian Rail Trail; conducted as part of the GVRT Strategic Development Plan project.
● Facilitating or being involved in a range of meetings and sessions focused on developing tourism experiences and opportunities for Mansfield Shire, including:
○ Participating in the Mansfield Producers AGM to discuss opportunities for the group associated with both Feast High Country and key regional agritourism projects. ○ Providing input into development opportunities associated with the Mansfield Station Precinct Activation. ○ Participating in a stakeholder interview and consultation workshop associated with the development of the Station Precinct Masterplan. ○ Involvement in the Lake Eildon Development Plan, maintaining representation on the PSG and providing supporting documentation for the project (when led by Goulburn River Valley Tourism). ○ Meeting with GTR events to discuss the proposed route for the 2020 Jayco Herald Sun Tour, including a Mansfield option. ○ Meeting with Creative Victoria to discuss High Country tourism projects that cover both the visitor and creative economies, including the Rail Trail Enhancements Project and Hume Aboriginal Cultural Trail. ○ Attending the World Longest Regional Lunch hosted at Delatite Winery to support and assess the event.
● Attending or being involved in a range of meetings and sessions of relevance to Mansfield Shire and its strategic tourism direction including the following:
○ Facilitating and presenting at quarterly Visitor Information Centre meetings. ○ Delivering an annual briefing of over 35 Visit Victoria staff on new products and initiatives in the region, which was very well received. ○ Participating in a workshop to review the strategic priorities of the Ovens Murray Digital Plan, ensuring that key tourism issues are represented. ○ Participating in several Ride High Country PSG meetings, looking at ways to realise NEVCO Masterplan priorities and assessing current strategic cycle tourism actions. ○ Attending and presenting at the Regional Development Victoria Ride High Country investment EOI briefing that included Council representation. ○ Attending the VTIC Visitor Economy Forum & Tourism Information Briefing, and bringing key learnings back to the region. ○ Meeting with AirBnB to discuss opportunities for cooperative activities. ○ Presenting agritourism research at the North East Victoria Food Policy working group, which included providing an overview of food system issues in the region relating to the production, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food. ○ Facilitating discussion with Regional Roads Victoria to develop road cycling signage across region.
● Strategic engagement with other associations and organisations to progress Mansfield Shire tourism priorities including Regional Development Australia, Regional Development Victoria, Ovens Murray Regional Partnership, Visit Victoria and Parks Victoria.
8.2 Product Development
In the product development space, TNE works across the region to deliver tourism projects of scale, most of which are supported by grant funding. TNE is instrumental in securing this funding, leveraging its reputation with Government for developing and delivering significant and strategic projects that have the potential to be regional gamechangers to deliver positive outcomes for the High Country and its stakeholders.
TNE also work directly with its public and private sector partners to assist them in delivering new products and experiences that have the ability to enhance the destination offering, and diversify the broader regional landscape.
In quarter four, the projects that TNE has been working on in this space are as follows: a) Lake Eildon Masterplan The delivery of the Activating Lake Eildon project was being managed by Goulburn Valley River Tourism on behalf of Mansfield Shire Council, Murrindindi Shire Council, Goulburn Murray Water and Regional Development Victoria. During the fourth quarter, Goulburn River Valley Tourism was dissolved, so TNE has assumed responsibility for the project to support the tourism needs of Mansfield Shire Council as one of its partner LGAs.
This project looks to establish a strategic way forward for activating Lake Eildon, and consists of two key components:
● Economic Analysis Report: The development of a detailed economic analysis report that provides an understanding of the current tourism visitation and recreational value of Lake Eildon. The report will largely utilise available information and data sources, however will undertake some primary research to fill any gaps in available information. The report will be used to inform and guide thinking regarding the opportunities for attracting and maximising future economic returns and value from Lake Eildon and surrounds.
● Masterplan and Business Case: The development of a masterplan that establishes a shared vision for the activation of Lake Eildon, identifying priority tourism and recreation developments that optimise economic outcomes for the region. The priority projects will then be supported by a business case that can be used to drive public and private sector investment in key recommendations. This blueprint for Lake Eildon will deliver an evidenced based, whole of Lake approach to development, which leverages the economic opportunities of this key resource whilst maintaining its natural values and attributes.
The first phase, delivered by consultant Urban Enterprise, has now been completed and the second phase commenced. A Request For Quote for the Masterplan and Business Case is currently in-market as part of a closed tender, which will close on 19 July 2019. b) Great Victorian Rail Trail Strategic Development Plan The Great Victorian Rail Trail is one of the longest trails of its kind in the country, and has the potential to become a signature cycle product for the region. However, strategic guidance is required to develop, activate and promote the offering in a way that establishes it as an engaging tourism experience.
To this effect , TNE is leading the delivery of the Great Victorian Rail Trail Strategic Development Plan that looks to address the trail’s weaknesses, leverages its strengths and provides a clear framework for strategic and sustained growth. TNE is delivering this work on behalf of Mansfield, Murrindindi and Mitchell Shire councils, to ensure a collective response to this joint asset.
TNE has already delivered on the first two phases of the project which included a review of strategic documents, marketing audit, trail audit and stakeholder engagement. It is now drawing on the insights garnered from this work to develop the first draft of the strategy, which will be completed in early August.
c) Human Capital Review Project Attracting and retaining quality tourism staff in the High Country is increasingly one of the key challenges facing local tourism businesses. Workforce issues are impacting current tourism operations, as well as limiting the industry's ability to diversify and grow. In 2018/19, TNE initiated a Human Capital Review to define this issue, including qualifying existing staffing shortfalls and quantifying the value of future demand for services and staff.
TNE completed data collection for this project and the end of the fourth quarter, which it is currently collating into a report that details key project findings. This will be presented back to the project steering group at the start of the first quarter of 2019/20 and then to the broader industry afterwards. A major focus for TNE in the new financial year will be how it can work collectively across the region to try and address some of the key workforce challenges. d) Ride High Country Signage Strategy TNE has secured a $50k grant from the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund towards the development of a $100k regional cycle tourism signage strategy. Funding will support engaging a consultant to deliver a strategy for consistent cycle tourism signage throughout the region and across each of the High Country’s key cycle tourism disciplines. This will ensure that cyclists engage with a common cycle experience that is easy to navigate, no matter which High Country destination they are riding in. It will address some serious gaps in the region’s cycle wayfinding signage, and also allow for a truly collaborative regional cycle tourism offering.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the contract pertaining to the grant funding was executed, enabling work on the project to commence. A project steering group including representatives from each of TNE’s LGA and RMB High Country partners has been formed, which will oversee the first stage of the project - the appointment of a consultant in response to a closed tender. e) Ride High Country Private Sector EOI The High Country is currently looking to innovate and diversify its tourism offering to better meet the needs of cycle tourism visitors, and to enable the region to effectively support the growth of its broader tourism market. To assist with this effort, a private sector EOI was released by RDV in the third quarter on behalf of State Government inviting innovative proposals to complement and enhance the regional cycle tourism experience. The EOI process came to a close in the fourth quarter, with submissions reviewed, assessed and shortlisted by an independent panel. The shortlisted projects will now progress through to full application, presenting a strong opportunity for tourism product growth for the region. f) Walk High Country Product Development Plan Quantum Market Research delivered the Walk High Country segmentation research report commissioned by TNE, providing insights into the walking tourism market and associated visitor segments. The findings from this research have now been incorporated into a Walk High Country Product Development Plan.
Product development will focus on ensuring the offer aligns with walk research findings, so TNE will work with operators to shape their offer/marketing to appeal to high value segments. This may include changes to imagery, descriptions and copy currently used in marketing channels. Where possible, working to develop new, interesting and unique walks throughout the High Country will assist in providing ‘controlled adventure’ opportunities.
Following the direction of the Walk High Country Product Development Plan, TNE has worked with several walk operators to diversify their offer to include new experiences that align with the Walk Research Findings. TNE is also assisting in the development of several new walk businesses in region including High Country Hiking Tours, Mansfield Bushwalks, Impulse Adventures and Mt Beauty Taxi and Tourist Transfers.
Work has also involved attracting new walk operators to host tours in the High Country, including Inspiration Outdoors and The Hiking Society.
9. Digital
9.1 Destination Websites On a year-on-year basis both the Mansfield Mt Buller and Great Victorian Rail Trail (GVRT) websites have seen strong growth in visitation. Overall sessions are collectively up 20% to 96,823, with the Mansfield Mt Buller site reporting the strongest growth at 22%. Onsite engagement remains very strong on both sites with an average of 2.45 pageviews per session (pvs), with GVRT observing the strongest engagement at 2.75 pvs.
A key focus of the website management has been the growth of the organic (un-paid) search engine optimisation (SEO). This process involves analysis of the search terms consumers are using and optimising the visible and nonvisible content (meta-data) to improve the Search Engine ranking of the site content. The objective for the Mansfield Mt Buller site was to ensure that the site performed consistently across all four quarters so as to ensure a strong year-round presence for the Mansfield area - in prior years, due to site content and navigation, the site over performed in winter, to the detriment of the summer product offer. The results have been very strong with little seasonal variation, and an overall growth compared to quarter four of 2017/18.
Mansfield Mt Buller Great Victorian Rail Trail
The easy to use dashboard reports for Mansfield Shire’s sites are as follows:
Digital Dashboard - Q4 2018-19 mans eldmtbuller.com.au
Audience and Engagement Sessions by device type (compared to previous year)
Sessions Page Views Pages/Session 9.6% 32.9K 73.2K 2.2 mobile 30.5% 25.3% -3.9% 31.3% desktop 59.1% tablet Which channels are driving visitation? Goal: Engaged Users
Sessions Page Views Which devices are driving visitation? Organic Search Goal: Engaged Users
Sessions Page Views Direct
mobile Referral
desktop Social tablet 0 20K 40K 60K 80K 0 10K 20K 30K 40K
Search Engine Terms Ranked 1 to 5 Page Views by page type (compared to previous year)
FY1718 - Q4 FY1819 - Q1 FY1819 - Q2 Home Listings Editorial FY1819 - Q3 FY1819 - Q4 12,765 26,453 33,610 118.2% 25.2% 7.9%
Mans … Listings: Outbound Clicks & CTR
Total Clicks CTR 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 2,281 8.6% 28.0%
Top 10 pages Top 10 listings
Page Title Page Views ▼ Page Title Page Views ▼
1. Mans eld Mt Buller, Victoria - O cial Tourism … 12,778 1. Craig's Hut - Mans eld Mt Buller 3,089
2. Craig's Hut - Mans eld Mt Buller, Victoria 3,351 2. Mans eld Bush Market - Mans eld Mt Buller 859
3. Search festivals and events in Mans eld Mt Bu… 3,178 3. The Pap's Lookout - Mans eld Mt Buller 618
4. Craig's Hut - Mans eld Mt Buller 3,089 4. Pineapple Flat Camping Area - Mans eld Mt B… 602
5. Hiking & Walking - Mans eld Mt Buller, Victoria 2,727 5. Bindaree Falls - Mans eld Mt Buller 564
6. Search accommodation in Mans eld Mt Buller,… 2,501 6. Razorback Hut - Mans eld Mt Buller 539
7. Camping - Mans eld Mt Buller, Victoria 1,966 7. Fry's Hut - Mans eld Mt Buller 485
8. High Country Huts - Mans eld Mt Buller, Victor… 1,659 8. Jamieson Autumn Festival - Mans eld Mt Buller 457
9. Tolmie - Mans eld Mt Buller, Victoria 1,257 9. Howes Creek Farm - Mans eld Mt Buller 425
10. Getting here by bus - Mans eld Mt Buller, Victo… 1,244 10. Mans eld Lantern Festival - Mans eld Mt Buller 381 Digital Dashboard - Q4 2018-19 greatvictorianrailtrail.com.au
Audience and Engagement Sessions by device type (compared to previous year) Sessions Page Views Pages/Session 12.5% 11.5K 30.9K 2.7 mobile 28.4% 21.8% -5.1% desktop 30% 57.6% tablet Which channels are driving visitation? Goal: Engaged Users
Sessions Page Views Which devices are driving visitation? Organic Search Goal: Engaged Users
Sessions Page Views Direct
mobile Social
desktop Referral tablet 0 5K 10K 15K 20K 25K 0 5K 10K 15K 20K
Search Engine Terms Ranked 1 to 5 Page Views by page type (compared to previous year)
FY1718 - Q4 FY1819 - Q1 FY1819 - Q2 Home Listings Editorial FY1819 - Q3 FY1819 - Q4 5,554 4,686 20,481 13.4% 33.8% 22.1%
GreatV… Listings: Outbound Clicks & CTR
Total Clicks CTR 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 530 11.3% 38.7%
Top 10 pages Top 10 listings
Page Title Page Views ▼ Page Title Page Views ▼
1. Trail Map, Distance and Gradient - Great Victor… 5,653 1. Cheviot Tunnel - Great Victorian Rail Trail 861
2. Home - Great Victorian Rail Trail 5,650 2. Horseshoe Lagoon Flora and Fauna Reserve - … 174
3. Cycling the Trail - Great Victorian Rail Trail 3,412 3. All Terrain Cycle Tours - Great Victorian Rail Tr… 141
4. Accommodation Search - Great Victorian Rail … 2,381 4. Tallarook Station - Great Victorian Rail Trail 137
5. Popular Short Rides - Great Victorian Rail Trail 1,238 5. Cheviot Glen Cottages - Great Victorian Rail Tr… 128
6. Cheviot Tunnel - Great Victorian Rail Trail 861 6. Yea Peppercorn Hotel - Great Victorian Rail Trail 126
7. Walking the Trail - Great Victorian Rail Trail 833 7. Alexandra Easter Fair - Great Victorian Rail Trail 126
8. Mans eld - Great Victorian Rail Trail 586 8. Yea Riverside Caravan Park - Great Victorian R… 116
9. Yea - Great Victorian Rail Trail 556 9. Yea Station - Great Victorian Rail Trail 107
10. Tallarook - Great Victorian Rail Trail 546 10. Molesworth Recreation Reserve and Caravan … 102 9.2 Destination Social Media
a) Mansfield Mt Buller Social Media The Visit Mansfield Mt Buller Facebook Page continued to perform well, with above average engagement of 6.7%, highlighting the high appeal of Mansfield Mt Buller with the Facebook audience. Page content was viewed more than 27,300 times during the quarter, up from 22,500 in quarter three. The best performing content showcase the region’s changing seasons and spectacular landscapes.
Content from the Mansfield Mt Buller region also continued to perform very strongly on the See High Country channels, resulting in several of the most engaging and highest reach posts of the quarter:
b) Great Victorian Rail Trail The Great Victorian Rail Trail Facebook Page also had an extremely strong quarter of growth and engagement, resulting from a targeted Facebook managed paid ads campaign to increase the page’s social reach, which was highly successful. As a result, the Page followers grew 338% (2,278 to 7,706):
The Page had its best ever performing quarter due to the high number of new engaged followers who reached the page through Ride High Country driven ad campaigns as well as having new photo assets collected by TNE’s Industry and Product Development Manager - Cycle, when delivering the trail audit as part of the GVRT Strategic Development Plan project.
The total reach of Facebook activity was over 64k users (up 376% from 17k in quarter three), and 4,914 post engagements (up 338% from 1453 in quarter three) delivering a strong engagement result of 7.7%, well above the Facebook benchmark.
Additional social reach and website referrals was achieved through a Facebook Ads campaign, which reached 58k people resulting in 2,340 visits to the GVRT website and had a very good Cost Per Result of $0.38 for every click to the website:
10. PR
10.1 Media Famils
Feast High Country Festival was the primary focus for PR efforts during quarter four with media releases distributed across regional, metropolitan and national lifestyle, travel, news and specialty food journalists and publications in the lead up to and during the event. Resulting coverage included general festival pointers in a variety of leading publications, TV and radio interviews across a range of media with targeted calls to action (Ride, Walk and Feast High Country), interviews and extensive social media posting.
Ahead of the Feast High Country Festival, TNE arranged a Feast ‘heroes’ photography shoot with leading chefs, winemakers and brewers from around the region. The images were used to promote the festival ahead of and ongoing. Delatite Winery’s David Ritchie was included in the group of Feast heroes.
Mansfield received extensive media coverage during 2018/19 as a result of TNE PR efforts including media famil visits from a range of journalists/publications.
Resulting coverage included: - The Weekend Australian Magazine - multi page feature, King Valley/Mansfield - Beer Diva which published multiple features exploring the High Country via the High Country Brewery Trail including posts/blog stories featuring Social Bandit Brewing Co - Multiple blog and social posts from the NZ travel influencer, The Young Adventuress who followed a Walk High Country-themed itinerary covering experiences including Mansfield & Mt Buller - Fairfax Traveller and Australian Traveller magazine (publishing Q1 2019/20) - Walk High Country, Ride High Country and Feast High Country experiences across the region including visits to The Produce Store and Mansfield Coffee Merchant
TNE PR REGISTER OF COLLABORATIVE FAMILS - 2018/19 - MANSFIELD SHIRE
JOURNALIST PUBLICATION/OUTLET VISIT DESTINATIONS/ STATUS OPERATORS/ANGLES Christine Middap Weekend Australian July 18 King Valley getaway & Mt Buller Published Magazine ski break (including Mansfield Coffee Merchant)
Kirrily Waldhorn Beer Diva September High Country Brewery Trail & Published Collaborative Famil day
Elspeth Callender Fairfax Traveller.com.au November Walk & Feast High Country - 10 Published April 2018 Places to walk & feast in 2019 Victoria’s High Country
Elspeth Callender Fairfax Traveller Sun As above Moving Mountains - Elspeth Published May Herald Sydney Callender Walk & Feast High 2019 Country feature
Elspeth Callender Australian Traveller As above Walk High Country - walk & Publishing magazine feasting experiences in August 2019 Mansfield, Mt Buller, Beechworth, Bright, Falls Creek, Dinner Plain
Liz Carlson The Young Adventuress December 18 Walk High Country + Feast & Social posts & 4 travel blog Nature experiences - Buller x travel blogs (Skadi Adventures), published Mansfield Coffee Merchant, December 2018 Sebel Pinnacle Valley Resort, - April 2019 The Mill Inn, Delatite Winery
Alex Malone, Cyclist Australia/NZ December 18 Beechworth & King Valley - road King Valley Marcus Enno & magazine rides & destinational feature Tam Allenby experiences (two separate published April magazine multi page features). 2019. Included substantial pointer to Beechworth The Produce Store which feature provided dinner hamper for the publishing June journalists 2019
10.2 Other PR Activities
Seasonal media releases were devised and distributed to targeted media outlets across newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, writers, bloggers and influencers which featured new tourism news in Victoria’s High Country. This included new experiences, accommodation, food, wine, craft beer & spirits, walk products and cycling experiences. The releases resulted in extensive coverage across TV and radio news bulletins, and metropolitan and regional newspapers.
Relationships with several influential journalists were developed during this period as a result of successful media famil visits which resulted in not just multiple feature stories in a range of publications, but also commitments to return visits to the High Country.
In addition to generating and securing media visits to the High Country, TNE’s PR effort also involved ongoing liaison with regional, metropolitan, national and international journalists, editors and freelancers from across the spectrum of media outlets. This included fielding and responding to media enquiries, assisting with story ideas, provision of contact and product information and images as well as pitching story ideas to a broad range of traditional and new media representatives.
TNE continued to work closely with Visit Victoria throughout 2018/19. The annual PR presentation to Visit Victoria’s entire communications team took place in September, offering a comprehensive overview to new and existing team members of the High Country’s tourism offering, including showcasing new products, experiences and services from Mansfield Shire.
Assistance and advice with on-ground itineraries for international visiting journalists was provided to Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia team members. A two-day famil itinerary was also prepared for four key members of the Visit Victoria comms team late in 2018 to view tourism businesses firsthand, including Mansfield Coffee Merchant. TNE also worked closely with Visit Victoria’s international team, providing itinerary advice, assistance and supporting information and images for several overseas journalists visiting from overseas.
Ongoing advice, assistance and PR mentoring was provided to a range of business operators around the region including help with media releases, photography advice and media contacts.