Wiegand Communications
Mainland newspapers are carrying this
advertising supplement touting Hawaii.
Isle promo reaching
millions on mainland
The $1.2 million advertising supplement
By Russ Lynch
used $250,000 in seed money
from the HVCB
Star-BulletinCooperative marketing pays off in bringing tourists to Hawaii, say the backers of the latest such effort, a 32-page magazine-size insert that appeared in key mainland newspapers this month.
The insert, "Hawaii, the Islands of Aloha," has already reached millions of readers and has hundreds of thousands to go.
At a cost of about $1.2 million, most of it carried by the private sector after $250,000 in seed money from the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, 2.1 million copies are going out and follow-up newspaper advertisements will reach a combined circulation of 16.5 million readers in key markets. The insert carries advertising from 35 travel-related firms in Hawaii but also has feature stories about the state.
The point, says John Votsis, Hilton marketing executive and head of the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau's marketing committee, is that everybody gets more for their money if they work together.
Advertisements placed in the supplement by Hawaii tourist businesses pay most of the cost, he said.
The collaborative effort of the industry and the HVCB gathered advertising buying power in "a critical mass," Votsis said.
The idea isn't new. It was pioneered by American Express Travel Related Services five years ago. That plan consisted of a direct mailing to American Express card holders deemed likely to visit Hawaii and a travel-planner insert in magazines, reaching more than a million readers.
American Express has continued that program and is also an advertiser and partner in the new one.
Tom Mullen, director of consumer travel and card business for American Express Travel Related Services, said about 100,000 American Express card holders over the next month or so will receive "Hawaii, the Islands of Aloha" by direct mail.
Mullen said he won't know for a while how the program, put together by the Honolulu advertising firm Wiegand Communications, has done.
But American Express can tell how their past similar efforts have paid off, he said.
The "More Hawaii" program launched in the fall of 1996 to bring tourists to the islands in the first few months of 1997 was measured by actual trips made by American Express card holders and what they spent through their cards while in Hawaii. That spending totaled $53 million, from what was a $2 million cooperative program by American Express, the HVCB and local businesses, Mullen said.
American Express will be able to measure results from the new publication in a similar way.
Gary Wiegand, head of Wiegand Communications, said there will be research to find out how well the publication worked overall. "The bureau wants accountability," he said. If the research shows the publication was successful in bringing in tourists, it may be repeated next year.
The supplement appeared earlier this month in targeted delivery -- to the most affluent portion of each newspaper's home delivery -- in leading newspapers in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, San Jose, Contra Costa, Sacramento and San Diego.
Outside those traditional California markets, it appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, the Portland Oregonian and the Seattle Times.
In addition to the 100,000 yet to be mailed to American Express customers, about 90,000 will be circulated to travel agents in trade publications.
Most of the funding came from advertisers such as Hilton Hotels, Budget Rent-A-Car, the Sheraton, Hyatt, Westin, Outrigger and Castle hotel groups, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines and American Express.
