The Travel Issue
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Julymagazine_Layout 1 7/1/14 11:25 AM Page 1 Communications & new media July 2014 I Vol. 28 No. 7 The Travel Issue How industry shifts are changing travel PR’s role Rise of the iGen traveler Experience beats all for today’s traveler Special report: IPW Chicago Putting your travel brand on the map Travel marketers: publish or perish A peek at the next generation of cruise ships July 2014 | www.odwyerpr.com Rankings of top travel PR firms .... And more! Julymagazine_Layout 1 7/1/14 11:25 AM Page 2 Julymagazine_Layout 1 7/1/14 11:25 AM Page 3 Leading the Travel Industry by Providing Professional Travel Services Since 1972 • Business Travel Consultants • Strategic Meetings Management • Government Travel Contractors Locations: • Over 200 Offices Worldwide North America Middle East • Competitive Online Booking Europe • One-on-One Travel Consultation Asia • Leisure Travel Experts Find out about cruises sailing from New York and other worldwide destinations 888-333-3116 212-563-3500 • OmegaNewYork.com World Headquarters • 3102 Omega Office Park • Fairfax, VA 22031• 703-359-0200 Julymagazine_Layout 1 7/1/14 11:26 AM Page 4 Vol. 28, No. 7 July 2014 EDITORIAL WHY DRIVING RESULTS IS ALL So, this is the “Information Age?” THAT MATTERS The goal of telling a brand story is to 6 17 create buzz and put the client’s narra- PR GROUP MAKES $1.2M tive in front of its target audiences. PLEA FOR NIGERIA Levick wants to build support for WHY PUBLIC RELATIONS Nigeria’s effort to find the more than 8200 SHOULDN’T FORGET PUBLICS 15 schoolgirls kidnapped by a terrorist group. Paradoxically, “public relations” faces 18 a grossly negative perception today. SOFTWARE UPDATE PUTS PR COLLEGE PALS HEAD GROWING NEWSWIRE ON CRACKDOWN TRAVEL PR FIRM A Google update has resulted in PR Two PR partners were friends before Newswire imposing new guidelines to 8root 19 founding a powerhouse travel agency. out low quality content. IPW CHICAGO PROMOTES MAYOR DE BLASIO GETS TRAVEL IN A BIG WAY LOUDER PR BULLHORN IPW held its 46th annual meeting in New York Mayor Bill de Blasio 20 Chicago, bringing in more than 6,000 has taken on a new PR chief and a 9new attendees from more than 70 countries. 20 multi-city “task force” role. www.odwyerpr.com PROFILES OF TRAVEL & Daily, up-to-the-minute PR news INDUSTRY SHIFTS ARE TOURISM PR FIRMS CHANGING TRAVEL PR 22 PR pros’ roles have evolved, and RANKINGS OF TRAVEL & now present more opportunities to redefine10 TOURISM PR FIRMS the role we play in brand development. 35 WASHINGTON REPORT THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF TRAVEL Today’s travelers seek to trade the 40 comforts of home for an authentic 12cultur- COLUMNS al experience. Here’s how PR can help. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADJUSTING TODAY TO 36 Fraser Seitel TOMORROW’S TRAVELERS FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT The travel industry still relies on 37 Richard Goldstein strategies for an era of consumers 13 for whom these messages no longer apply. GUEST COLUMN 38 Gregory Kohs PUTTING YOUR TRAVEL PEOPLE IN PR BRAND ON THE MAP 39 Demand has surged for travel in 2014. However, consumer expectations14 PR BUYER’S GUIDE have risen along with it. 42 EDITORIAL CALENDAR 2014 AMENITIES ABOUND FOR January: Crisis Comms. / Buyer’s Guide July: Travel & Tourism NEW CRUISE SHIPS February: Environmental & P.A. August: Financial/I.R. A new breed of cruise ships with March: Food & Beverage September: Beauty & Fashion a score of new features are mak- 15 April: Broadcast & Social Media October: Healthcare & Medical ing their debut this year. May: PR Firm Rankings November: High-Tech June: Global & Multicultural December: Entertainment & Sports TRAVEL PR PROS: PUBLISH OR PERISH ADVERTISERS As the travel journalism industry Bob Thomas Productions......................................8 Lou Hammond......................................Back Cover shrinks, brands have found a new opportu-16 Fahlgren Mortine/Turner PR..................................5 MMGY Global......................................................13 nity to fill the content gap. Finn Partners......................................Inside Cover Omega World Travel.............................................3 JGAPeppercomm..................................................7 rbb Public Relations..............................................9 J Public Relations................................................11 Strauss Media Strategies....................................17 Log On................................................................27 TV Access...........................................................19 O’Dwyer’s is published monthly for $60.00 a year ($7.00 for a single issue) by the J.R. O’Dwyer Co., Inc., 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. (212) 679-2471; fax: (212) 683-2750. Periodical postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to O’Dwyer’s, 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. O’Dwyer’s PR Report ISSN: 1931-8316. Published monthly. Julymagazine_Layout 1 7/1/14 11:26 AM Page 5 Julymagazine_Layout 1 7/1/14 11:26 AM Page 6 EDITORIAL This is supposed to be the “Information Age?” free market fixes everything. So much, in fact, that we no longer rely on our corpo- EDITOR-IN-CHIEF rate employers merely for our healthcare, but now for our education as well. Jack O’Dwyer A [email protected] Global warming is a liberal ruse, but vaccines give children autism. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER The only acceptable solution to gun violence in America is more guns. John O’Dwyer If our workforce is paid less, somehow our businesses will bring in more customers. [email protected] Hollywood has proven that American audiences are so dumb we’ll see remakes of the ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER same films indefinitely. Kevin McCauley The House Budget Committee Chairman’s latest plan to “slash” government spending [email protected] called for cutting food stamps by $125 billion over the next five years, but increasing defense spending by $483 billion over the next decade. EDITOR Nevada militiamen who point sniper rifles at federal agents are now “patriots.” Jon Gingerich [email protected] Clean air is a bad thing. A terrorist group in Nigeria kidnapped more than 200 young girls, but the media was too SENIOR EDITOR busy reporting on a Malaysian airline that disappeared a month prior. Greg Hazley We hate “big government,” except when we want to regulate who can marry whom, or [email protected] who can be in the military, or when we want to ban abortion, or force kids to pray in school, or bail out our banks. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Apparently, science is now something you can simply choose not to believe. Fraser Seitel Richard Goldstein We can’t raise the minimum wage because it would kill jobs. The proof: a trickle-down myth from 30 years ago that has never been proven. Chandler Klang Smith Every time there’s a school shooting, donations to the NRA skyrocket. Editorial Assistant & Research The Supreme Court has decided that women don’t need “buffer zones” when visiting abor- tion clinics, but we can still get one for our funerals. ADVERTISING SALES Sharlene Spingler When we changed federal policies to save the country during the Great Depression, it was noble. When we do it today, it’s socialism. Associate Publisher & Editor [email protected] Every day, a “responsible gun owner” kills someone. We’ve grown so dull as a culture that our most popular Internet sites have gone beyond John O’Dwyer mind-numbing lists, to now simply offering lists of pictures. Most involve cats. Advertising Sales Manager The news has to pander to our uninformed worldviews just to get our attention. [email protected] We shouldn’t increase taxes for our top earners. The last time we did that, our GDP peaked O’Dwyer’s is published monthly for $60.00 and the national debt disappeared. a year ($7.00 for a single issue) by the Our cognitive biases are so strong that we’ll say — with a straight face — the President is J.R. O’Dwyer Co., Inc., “weak” one day, and that he’s “a dictator” the next. 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. We’re still arguing about Iraq. (212) 679-2471 Fax (212) 683-2750. Somehow, by a bizarre economic alchemy that no one understands, cutting taxes is sup- posed to erase the federal deficit. © Copyright 2014 GMOs cause cancer, except for the 2,000-plus studies that have never proven this. J.R. O’Dwyer Co., Inc. Our feelings regarding drones, indefinite detention, unconstitutional wiretaps, and a grad- ual stripping of our privacy depend solely on who’s in office at the time. OTHER PUBLICATIONS & SERVICES: We hate welfare, unless it’s in the form of corporate tax breaks, which cost us $180 billion last year alone. www.odwyerpr.com 4 breaking news, commentary, useful databases and more. Young people love calling out others for their “privilege,” and they do this on social media sites, using Internet connections, from air-conditioned homes, in America. Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter 4 An eight- Between 2009 and 2012 alone, incomes for the top one-percent of Americans grew by page weekly with general PR news, media 31%, while incomes for everyone else grew by 0.4%. The incomes of the one-percent now appointments and placement opportunities. account for 20% of total U.S. income. Strangely, this is fine by us. O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms 4 has Going an entire year without reading a book now makes you normal. listings of more than 1,400 PR firms throughout We’re obsessed with projecting this narcissistic image of being morality conscious, though the U.S. and abroad. it has a habit of disappearing when we’re inconvenienced. U.S. retailers have learned that they don’t have to improve conditions in their third-world manufacturing plants, because, as O’Dwyer’s PR Buyer’s Guide 4 Products it turns out, we really like cheap clothing. and services for the PR industry in 50 cate- Has-been celebrities are quickly learning that all it takes is one homophobic comment to gories.