WSA

WEEKEND STUDENT ADVENTURES VOYAGE MEDIA CONSULTING MAY 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary Introducing VMC
WEEKEND STUDENT ADVENTURES BACKGROUND

Company History Mission Objectives Product Description Market Research Market Evaluation Competitive Analysis Customer Prole Product Evaluation Key Insights
VMCs RECOMMENDATIONS
I. Campaign Campaign Goals Campaign Strategies and Tactics Creative Brief About Blend In, Stand Out Media/Sales Promo Recommendations Blend In, Stand Out Memevertisements Blend In, Stand Out YouTube Video Blend In, Stand Out Contest II. Internet Presence Optimization Internet Presence Optimization Goals Internet Presence Optimization Strategies and Tactics About Search Engine Optimization Online Review Sites WSA Website Design Calendar Budget Agency Compensation Evaluation and Measurement
FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS
Google AdWords Online Travel Ads Print Media NAFSA Advertising Integrating the Steves Name References Appendix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Andy Steves Weekend Student Adventures is a travel service dedicated to providing two to three day trips to Europes biggest cities for college students studying abroad in Europe. Weekend Student Adventures (WSA) tour benets include small group sizes, local tour guides, opportunity to skip the lines at major attractions, suggestions for local cuisine, scheduled free time, and safe, reputable hostels. According to Voyage Media Consulting (VMC) research, as of March 2012, WSA owns a 4.4% share of the market for study abroad students who are inclined to travel with a trusted agency. WSA competes with a host of other European travel companies that include SnoworSand, EuroAdventures, Bus2Alps, Stoke Travel, and Florence for Fun. Each competitor excels in a specic offering that goes beyond the offerings of WSA, but none match the unique local perspective that WSA provides. Key weaknesses of WSA trips (in comparison to the competition) include a lack of customizability, initial transportation not included, few promotions, and a limited number of destinations. VMC research shows that WSA must compete heavily with students who opt to schedule their own weekend trips. The vast majority of students (93%) prefer to research weekend activities online and customize their own trip without a travel service. Additionally, WSAs target market has little opportunity to develop brand loyalty and is very price conscious. VMC identied six key insights from its market research that guided the creative process. The insights showed that students want immersion in local cultures while still seeing the main attractions, seven percent of students are inclined to travel with a trusted agency, students conduct online research to plan a trip and value consumer reviews, students want a trip not just a tour, humor can be used to attract more males to WSA trips, and the campaign must be cohesive across all platforms for success. VMCs advertising solution for WSA is an online campaign titled Blend In, Stand Out. It is meant to help uniquely position WSA and differentiate it in the mind of the consumers. The campaign features memevertisements, YouTube videos, and an online contest. These media are low in cost, engaging, and easy to share. The campaign must be available across all platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Andys blog, and wsaeurope.com. Clever use of humor is meant to draw in consumers (especially males) and direct them to the WSA website. In addition to the Blend In Stand Out campaign, VMC has offered methods to improve WSAs Internet presence and the overall cohesion of the WSA brand. This includes a reorganization of the website and Facebook page, and the utilization of online trip review services. VMC also included solutions for future WSA advertising, including Internet advertisements using the memevertisements and advertising through the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors.
INTRODUCING VMC
Voyage Media Consulting (VMC) is an advertising rm that addresses the unique marketing issues facing travel agencies and tourist destinations. As passionate global travelers, the principals Brett Straka and Lauren Elliott were determined to use their strengths as marketers to help ll this niche gap within the advertising world. To complete their staff, Brett and Lauren hired fellow ND alums to assist in the writing, research, media, and graphic design facets of the industry. The two principals ensured that all employees within VMC are passionate about travel and passionate about advertising. Brett and Lauren believed that by stafng their agency with employees who were enthusiastic about their clients interests, VMC could offer clients a more dedicated, enjoyable and effective experience. The mission at VMC is to provide travel agencies and tourist destinations with innovative marketing solutions to address their clients branding, advertising, and overall marketing needs.
WSA BACKGROUND
COMPANY HISTORY
The very brief history of Weekend Student Adventures is one of expansion and exciting developments. CEO and founder Andy Steves grew up in a family dedicated to travel. His father, author Rick Steves, has written several guidebooks teaching American travelers how to become temporary locals in Europe. In the spring of 2008, while studying abroad in Rome, Andy Steves helped set up weekend trips for several of his friends across Europe. He soon became the ofcial trip organizer of the group, coordinating trips for upwards of 30 fellow students on weekly basis. Andy recognized a consumer need through this experience. He saw that students studying abroad are concerned with not just saving money, but time as well. They want to see as much of Europe as possible in the course of multiple two to three day trips across the continent. Andy knew he could help these students get in touch with local European culture. Upon returning to the States, Andy set up his website: andysteves.com. The rst editions of the site were meant purely as a guide, featuring 18 itineraries for traveling which students could download for free. With these itineraries, Andy recognized that while college students want to experience Europe for themselves, they often arent knowledgeable enough to travel without any sort of guide. Andys shorthand notes were meant to provide tips and tricks for students roughing it on their own every weekend. The idea for WSA blossomed from andysteves.com. As Andy began giving lectures on international travel across the country, he saw that students were longing not just for paper itineraries, but knowledgeable guides who could point them to local hot spots, or warn them against potential dangers. To serve this need, Andy developed Weekend Student Adventures as a college senior. In April of 2010, Andy won the Annual Business Plan Competition sponsored by the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Notre Dame. With the money from this award, Andy was able to ofcially set up WSA as a travel agency for students studying abroad in Europe. The agency was ofcially launched in the fall of 2010 when Andy began expanding WSAs outreach by visiting universities in Europe where American students were studying while abroad. The rst WSA tour visited London on October 22, 2010. Eleven students participated in the rst trip, ying in from all over the continent. Since that rst trip, WSA has offered weekends in London, Paris, Prague, Rome, Dublin, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. As the
WSA BACKGROUND
MISSION
Weekend Student Adventures mission is to help American college students experience Europe through expertly planned weekend tours. By exploiting local connections and the knowledge of founder Andy Steves, WSA empowers students to immerse themselves in cultures, rather than just observe from the sidelines. WSA gets students involved in the new culture, creating experiences and memories that will last them a lifetime.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of Weekend Student Adventures is to become the top weekend travel company for American students studying in Europe through unique, experience-based offerings. By allowing students to cut lines at popular tourist attractions and showing them destinations that only the locals know about, WSA makes the most of students time while offering an enriching experience. With the combination of these unique features, WSA hopes to become the rst choice of Euro-trekking college kids.
WSA BACKGROUND
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Weekend Student Adventures provides weekend travel tours for students studying abroad in Europe. WSAs destinations include: Dublin, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Prague, Gimmelwald, Barcelona, and Rome. These tours serve groups of no more than 30 students, and are led by local, experienced tour guides. What differentiates WSA from other tour experiences is that while aiming to give the students the best value for their dollar (or Euro), they are more than just a packaged bus trip with a bad hostel. Weekend Student Adventures provides a great balance between involved tours, immersion with the local people and culture, and ample amounts of free time for the students to explore Europe in their own way. WSA emphasizes its ability to allow customers to experience European towns as a local, forgo the stresses of organizing big travel groups, and take advantage of skip-the-line opportunities. These unique WSA aspects provide the ultimate experiential package for the student weekend traveler. company gains momentum, the number of cities and frequency of trips continues to grow. Currently, Weekend Student Adventures is looking to expand and invite more students to book trips with the agency. Beyond this, WSA is also looking for ways to partner with American universities, providing educators and parents alike peace of mind that their students getting the most out of their study abroad experience and doing so safely. Here are some of aspects included on every Weekend Student Adventure: 2 nights in a top-rated hostel in the heart of the city (Fri, Sat). Option for Thurs day night hostel stay for an additional 25 Euros that includes orientation walk on Thursday evening Top museum entrances (i.e. the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe etc.) Skip-the-line sightseeing entry, saving literally hours of students time Local group transportation (including metro and bus passes to get around the city) A small friendly group size of 20-30 (a fraction of the size of most tour groups) Local guides, walking tours and bike tours Suggestions on great local restaurants to give a true taste of local cuisine Touring with people of similar age (the potential to build friends)
The Primary mission of Weekend Student Adventure is to foster fun, respectful, indepth, stress-free and unforgettable travel experiences for students and backpackers.
WSA BACKGROUND
MARKET RESEARCH
Voyage Media Consulting conducted a survey to better understand the target market for Weekend Student Adventures and the targets buying patterns. Of the students sampled in the target market who either studied abroad, were currently studying abroad, or were planning to study abroad in Europe, the overwhelming majority expressed a similar sentiment: 100% either agreed or strongly agreed that it was important to them to immerse themselves within the culture and 95% either agreed or strongly agreed that is was important to see as much as possible during the tourist experience. By meshing these two almost antithetical ideas together, we found our wow statistic for our Blend In, Stand Out campaign described below. Students want to be as knowledgeable about the culture as a local would be but they also want to have an amazing study abroad experience where they can visit a number of destinations over the weekends. Essentially they want to blend in with the culture and while having a stand out weekend experience. The majority of students wanted to travel at least once or twice a month if not more, indicating that WSA Europe has a tremendous opportunity to book multiple trips with each student. In terms of pricing, according to the VMC survey 69% of students were willing to spend $100$299 USD per weekend trip, 13% were willing to spend $300-$499 USD. Though students may be price conscious, they have budgeted enough to purchase a WSA trip. Many students are also concerned about getting the best deal in terms of pricing, however, these same students strongly agree that maximizing their time is even more important. The key value proposition involves conveying the promise of the best weekend trip at the best possible price. Unfortunately for the student tourism industry, 93% of students believe this can be done independently. As a result, book-it-yourself trip planning is a signicant indirect competitor for WSA. Approximately half of the students surveyed (53%) stated that they are open to guided tours. This number could potentially be raised over time if inuenced by positive referrals, since 78% of students believe personal referrals are the most helpful form of communication. Our survey results indicate that 73% of students participating in the survey are females. This statistic is representative of the overall proportion of female to male students, in the 2009-2010 academic year the proportion of females to males was 63.5% to 36.5%.1 Andy Steves mentioned that on WSAs trips the majority of bookings are made by females, this makes sense given the proles of study abroad students however VMC feels that an opportunity does exist to better market to male study abroad students. This marketing scheme will be discussed later in the paper.
Institute of International Education. (2011). U.S. Study Abroad: Student Prole Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/US-StudyAbroad/Student-Prole/2000-10
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WSA BACKGROUND
MARKET EVALUATION
According to the Institute of International Education, in the 2009-2010 academic year there were 144,840 U.S. students studying abroad in Europe. This is a two percent increase over the 2008-2009 academic year.2 Weekend Student Adventures indicates that these students represent a market of over $600 million USD. A recent survey conducted by VMC of current and previous study abroad students indicates that seven percent of respondents are inclined to travel with a trusted agency. This means that there are 10,139 students looking to participate in a planned weekend tour during their study abroad experience. If each of these 10,139 were looking to take part in one weekend tour trip at a price of approximately 199, this would result in 2,017,621 in annual sales. However, VMC estimates that some of these students would be looking to attend trips over multiple weekends, raising the estimate for annual sales. As of March 28th, 2012 Andy Steves estimates that Weekend Student Adventures sold 450 trips for the spring semester, this means that WSA has a market share of approximately 4.4%, which is strong for a relatively new rm in the industry. Sales for trips by WSA have grown exponentially since the inception of the agency. In the fall of 2010, 85 trips were sold. Thus there has been a 529% increase in sales over the past two years. Though it is not possible to continue growing at this rate, VMC anticipates that with effective marketing to differentiate WSA from its competitors, WSA can continue to grow and capture a larger percentage of the market in coming years.
Institute of International Education. (2011). Host Regions and Destinations of U.S. Study Abroad Students, 2008/09 - 2009/10. Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/ opendoors
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WSA BACKGROUND
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS (see Appendix A)
Weekend Student Adventures is competing in an industry that is in its early stages of growth. As mentioned in the Market Evaluation, approximately seven percent of American students studying abroad are inclined to travel with a trusted agency. This means that various tour organizations are viciously competing to grab the attention of and revenue from this seven percent. WSA has a number of competitors, both direct and indirect. The direct competitors of WSA are: SnoworSand, EuroAdventures, Bus2Alps, Stoke Travel, and Florence for Fun. The key indirect competitor of WSA is build-it-yourself trips that students organize on their own time. SnoworSand is a well-established student tour group, having provided student tours for over twenty years. It is similar to Weekend Student Adventures in that local tour guides also lead its tours, though many of the locations of the trips differ (with the exceptions of Dublin and the Swiss Alps). SnoworSand is present over various social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and its own blog however is poorly managing the activity. The last blog post was over a year ago, and responses on Facebook sometimes take multiple weeks. The locations are more adventurous and vacation-like, often being near water or mountains. This positions SnoworSand as more of a worldwide vacation destination tour group. EuroAdventures is positioned as the student travel group that removes the hassle of traveling for students. EuroAdventures is led by Shaun Hoffman an American who has lived in Europe for over ten years which allows for a similar synergy that Andy Steves of WSA offers, an understanding of the American culture to cater to their customers while providing the customers with the authenticity of a foreign tour. Many of the prices listed online are less expensive than most other weekend tour groups. EuroAdventures is able to offer these low prices because the costs of activities is not included in the package. EuroAdventures does this because they feel that not all students want to participate in every activity, offering the students the freedom to choose what they want to do on their trip and only do those activities that they are willing to pay for. EuroAdventures also hosts longer trips of about a weeks length as spring break trips for students. EuroAdventures is active on Facebook with over 1,800 fans. EuroAdventures also has its own YouTube channel showing its customers participating in fun activities and partying with upbeat, popular music as the backdrop. Many of the locations of EuroAdventures differ from those offered by WSA (with the exception of Prague), the EuroAdventures locations appear to be smaller cities that often do not conform to list of top European tourist destinations.
WSA BACKGROUND
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS (continued)
Bus2Alps is a student travel company catering to study abroad students in Europe. Its trips are organized by day trips, weekend trips, weeklong trips, or festival trip packages. B2A provides bus transportation to its customers located in Prague, Barcelona, Rome, and Florence, however it also allows students to y in from anywhere and meet the tour group on their own. Bus2Alps is extremely active on Facebook, Twitter, and even has its own YouTube channel which shows tour guides checking out a city and offering pieces of information about great views and the best local foods, at the end of the videos viewers are actively encouraged to check out Bus2Alps on Facebook integrating B2As various social media platforms. The trips offered by Bus2Alps vary in style quite a bit; there are many adventurous offerings such as bungee jumping trips and bike tours, tours with more local avor focusing on sites and food, and tour packages for various festivals. Bus2Alps has a number of locations for its trips both large cities such as Paris or Florence, as well as smaller locations such as the Greek Islands. As such this puts them in a position of greater competition with Weekend Student Adventures since many of the locations offered by WSA are covered by Bus2Alps. This variety in tour styles allows for a larger target market, since different students are searching for different experiences from their tours. Stoke Travel has an extremely strong brand personality, which they use to engage students with the company. Stoke Travel caters to those customers that want to have exhilarating fun, as indicated by their Facebook page (in which they have over 11,000 fans) Traveling, surng, backpacking, and partying. We just love having fun. Preferably with you. Innuendo intended. The locations for Stoke Travel vary; they include party cities such as Ibiza and Genoa for weekend trips, as well as major tourist locations (Prague, Rome, etc.) as a part of their Rolling Circus road-trip package. Though Stoke Travel offers some of the same locations as WSA, these are only offered via a road trip, which is a heavier investment of time for students and therefore attracts a different customer than would book with WSA. The only exception is the St. Patricks Day weekend, which Stoke Travel is planning on also hosting starting in 2013. The humorous and adventurous personality portrayed by Stoke Travel improves consumer attitudes towards the brand and is likely to attract both male and female consumers. FlorenceForFun is different from many of the other competitors in that it was not started as a tourism company. FFF began as a program to integrate students abroad in Florence into the culture of the area and introducing them to local nightlife and putting on events (such as cooking classes and fashion shows) for American students abroad in Florence. FFF has since grown and now also participates in the tourism industry with a
WSA BACKGROUND
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS (continued)
number of trips throughout Europe, though their signatures focus on Italian locations. Trips generally include transportation, FFF tour guides, and itinerary packages. Prices for FFF vary depending upon the trip length and distance to the location; prices are both below and above that of WSAs depending upon the trip. With a specialty within Italy and hosting events in Florence, FFF is not as great of a competitor for WSA as many of the above rms since their niche market varies enough from WSA. The indirect competitor for WSA is students organizing and booking trips themselves. Students are well adept to researching their personal activities versus having them planned by others, making this an extremely difcult competitor to combat. The book-it-yourself method provides students the freedom to personalize their own trips; none of the tour groups can offer this specication. In order to compete and differentiate, tour groups need to blatantly state and prove to students that the organized tours can offer more to the students in a trip than students could possibly nd on their own.
WSA BACKGROUND
CUSTOMER PROFILE
The prole of WSAs primary target consumer:
American student studying abroad in Europe Between the ages of 19 and 21 Wants to make the most of his or her time overseas Has three-day weekends Has little to no experience traveling in Europe Wants to travel with friends and classmates who may or may not be studying in the same European location Considers time abroad as a great opportunity to experience the cultures he or she has been learning about since high school
Beyond this primary target, there are other groups that inuence the purchase decisions for weekend trips, particularly students parents and schools. WSA is working to build awareness with these two groups, demonstrating the value of a WSA tour. WSA provides informative materials that allow parents to stay up-to-date on their childrens itineraries while traveling with WSA. For universities, WSA emphasizes the high student satisfaction rates available to the universities when pairing with WSA tours. Though it is important to address these secondary targets, since most tour bookings are done by the students themselves it is important for WSA to focus on building a relationship with its primary target audience.
BUYING PATTERNS
There are two important aspects to note about the purchasing patterns of students looking to travel over the weekend. The rst is the use of the Internet; it is generally the rst source of information for students, showing all trip options and prices available, as well as providing trusted online reviews. The second is the signicance of personal referrals, which can be quite inuential since friends are considered to be trusted sources. The Internet has proven itself as a major distribution channel for the travel industry. The Internet provides consumers with the opportunity to view online reviews, which are inuential in purchase decisions. Though the Internet has empowered consumers to research and book their own travel, it has created transparency, resulting in a much more price-sensitive shopper.3 As a result, students looking to book weekend trips will participate in extensive
Mintel: Internet Travel Booking US September 2005. http://academic.mintel.com.proxy.library.nd.edu/sinatra/ oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=160962
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WSA BACKGROUND
research to ensure they are receiving the best value for their money. Since a weekend trip is a large investment for a student, it involves intensive information seeking. WSA tries to help students to save their time and money by organizing all aspects of the trip: lodging, activities, tours, and restaurant suggestions. However, students willing to sacrice on the quality of the trip experience are able to research less expensive trips to the same locations as WSA and can build a trip itinerary on their own. Planning weekend trips is not a frequent occurrence for students; therefore there is little opportunity for brand loyalty within the student tourism industry. Though customer satisfaction may result in some repeat purchases, the majority of study abroad students are only abroad for short term (eight weeks or less) or mid-length (one semester) stays4 so there is limited opportunity for students to use WSAs services. Once a students term abroad has nished, loyalty is of little value to WSA since the consumer can no longer purchase a trip. Though brand loyalty does not have the opportunity for many repeat purchases, it can still bring value to WSA. Satised, loyal customers are more likely to speak highly about WSA to their friends. This buzz can lead to more trip purchases, according to the Qualtrics survey conducted by VMC 78% of respondents stated that they consider on personal referrals when making travel plans. This aspect of personal referrals is especially important for student travel since the VMC survey also states that students rank traveling with friends as one of the most important attributes of their travel abroad experience. As a result, one referral could in turn lead to multiple trip purchases.
FUNCTIONAL/ PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The main psychological consideration of students when booking weekend trips is the idea of getting the most from limited resources, with the two key resources being time and money. According to the survey conducted by VMC the majority of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed getting the cheapest deal is most important to me. All of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that maximizing time on the short trip was important with the majority strongly agreeing. Though saving money is important for students, respondents also stated that they sought lodging that was acceptable while taking into account the factors of price, location, and safety. This provides a great opportunity for WSA to position itself as the travel agency that will most efciently use the students time and money, and that provides students stays with their friends at top rated hostels. In addition to resources, another major consideration of students when booking a trip was the
Institute of International Education. (2011). Host Regions and Destinations of U.S. Study Abroad Students, 2008/09 - 2009/10. Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/ opendoors
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WSA BACKGROUND
popularity, or name value, of a destination. In the survey Paris, London, and Barcelona were cited multiple times as places respondents did or intend to visit. We feel it is likely that these cities are popular trip destinations due to personal referrals passed along to the study abroad students. There are additional minor factors that students consider when booking a trip. These include special events, and the weather of an area.
PRICE SENSITIVITY
Most respondents stated that price never stopped them from going to a particular city but the cheapest form of transportation was generally sought. A city would be chosen as a destination and then research was conducted to determine the cheapest form of transportation given their scheduling restrictions. Often respondents were willing to book inconvenient travel options (long layovers, multiple sources of travel) in order to receive a lower price. The location of the hostel was taken in conjunction with the price. Some respondents were more willing to sacrice location for a lower price, though not all respondents held this same sentiment. Students are searching for the best location given their budget, however budgets vary by person and thus so do their decisions. All respondents showed more interested in nding the best deals in transportation and lodging in order to spend their money to experience the city.
SAMPLE CUSTOMER
A sample of the target consumer for WSA is Jim. Jim is a junior, 20 years old, and is studying abroad for the fall semester in Europe. He prefers to travel independently with his friends, without using an agency, but is open to the idea of guided tours. He doesnt want to be shown around by a tour guide; he wants to be in charge of what he sees and does without appearing as an obvious tourist. He wants to travel at least once a month, spending $100-$300 a weekend. Pricing inuences how and where he travels. He prefers to hear about tours from people he trusts rather than to seek out the information. To make his travel decisions Jim prefers to listen to the personal references of people he knows and trusts, followed by Google searches, and then airline websites. Jim wants to maximize his time on his short breaks, and get the best price deal. He is unconcerned with the structure of his trip and just wants to have fun, but he is still concerned with safety while traveling. He is looking for adventure. The most important thing for Jim is sightseeing, visiting cool attractions, and experiencing the local culture rst hand. He wants a balance of his scheduled time and wants the freedom to go out and experience the citys nightlife.
WSA BACKGROUND
PRODUCT EVALUATION
To better understand Weekend Student Adventures position within the competitive landscape, VMC compiled a SWOT analysis of WSAs service. A SWOT analysis lays out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to better understand WSAs positioning, differentiating factors, and areas for potential growth. Strengths and weaknesses evaluate WSAs current offering, while opportunities and threats describe WSAs position within the competitive landscape of the European student tourism industry.
STRENGTHS
Offers trips to prominent travel destinations Provides students with free time for shopping and
WEAKNESSES
No ight included Ski gear/passes not included in ski trip Little trip customization available Price perceived as high since it is an up front fee Limited number of trip locations Only option is to stay in hostels Food not consistently included Few men attend WSA trips
entertainment
Offers fast passes for major tourist destinations
to bypass the lines

Local tour guides Shows a side of the cities beyond the typical tourist
cliff-notes
Special event offerings (i.e. St. Patricks Day Dublin,
Gimmelwald Ski Trip)

Discounts on some activities Recommendations for food/travel arrangements Association with Steves name Travel tips Same-age trip attendees
OPPORTUNITIES
Develop relationships with ight companies, offer
THREATS
Some competitors are more experienced already
discounts and/or include ights in tour package

Provide customizable travel packages. Allow students
established reputation
Many competitors have already established a niche
to design their own trips based on their suggestions, creating the feel of independence without having to do all the booking/research themselves.
As a recent student, Andy is a very relatable leader
(i.e. Florence for Fun with Italian adventures, or SnoworSand with off-the-beaten-path destinations)
Some competitors host smaller tour groups (Snowor
Sand has <15 person groups)

Most competitors also offer local tour guides
to the students on his trips

Most students on WSA tours are women, provides
merely a point of parity for WSA

Many students studying abroad want a sense of
opportunity to market to men

Opportunity to offer more promotions utilizing social
independence when they travel; having a strict itinerary does not t their traveling prole
media
Include local eating as part of all trips budget
WSA BACKGROUND
KEY INSIGHTS
Key insights were drawn from our research and analysis. These key insights were the basis for our recommendations and campaign concept.
Students are looking both to be immersed in a culture while seeing as many destina-
tions as possible
Cohesion is necessary to create a strong campaign Seven percent of students are inclined to travel with a trusted agency Students start their search on Google and value consumer reviews Students are interested in a trip not tour, WSA can market itself as such WSA struggles to bring in male consumers, however it has the ability to reposition
itself to also appeal to men by including humor in its campaign
VMCS RECOMMENDATIONS
VMCs recommendations for Weekend Student adventures can be broken up into two main components. First, create a cohesive campaign surrounding the concept Blend In, Stand Out. And second, work to optimize WSAs Internet presence. It is important to ensure that WSA is available to students on all appropriate platforms and is easily found by students searching for weekend trips. These two components will be further explained and examined in the following sections.
I. CAMPAIGN
CAMPAIGN GOALS The goals for our campaign are to form a unique positioning for Weekend Student Adventures in the eyes of study abroad students, create a strong brand personality, augment consumer engagement, increase usage among men, and increase WSAs overall trip sales. Each of these goals builds upon one another to ultimately increase trip sales for WSA. The rst step is to form a unique positioning for WSA, this will allow for WSA to be differentiated from its current competitors. Building upon its unique positioning, it is important for WSA to build a strong brand personality, which will aid with consumer engagement and also help to rmly establish WSAs position within the student tourism industry (differentiating it from competitors). The hope is that with rm positioning and increased consumer engagement, stronger relationships will be built with consumers leading to improved consumer attitudes towards WSA, which is one metric that can indicate future sales increases for a product.5 The campaign will reach these goals through the tagline Blend In, Stand Out. This theme will be prevalent throughout all aspects of our campaign, which includes YouTube videos, memevertisements, and an online contest. These three mediums were chosen because of their low cost, their ability to engage consumers, and their ability to be easily shared with others (the potential to go viral) outside of WSAs current consumer base.
Marketing Science Institute: Consumer attitude dynamics and marketing impact on sales. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.msi.org/publications/publication.cfm?pub=1788
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CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
To achieve the campaign goals listed above, a number of strategies and tactics have been developed to maximize the campaigns results. The key strategies behind the Blend In, Stand Out campaign are to: emphasize cohesion, use humor, break out beyond the current customer base, and start a conversation with customers. These particular strategies were chosen for a number of reasons. The rst strategy is the use of cohesion throughout the Blend In, Stand Out campaign. It is necessary to help build a strong brand image and personality for Weekend Student Adventures to better position the brand in the eyes of consumers. By having one, clear message consumers will better be able to understand what WSA is and why it can be of use to them. Humor is necessary to reach a number of the campaigns goals. First, humor will help create the brand personality and image for Weekend Student Adventures. Research shows that humor is often used by companies to increase consumer attitudes towards a brand,6 thus by positioning WSA as a likeable rm, students will be more likely to be interested in WSAs offerings. Second, humor aids in consumer engagement. If consumers are more engaged in a brand, they are more likely to prefer the brand to its competitors. And third, humor appeals to men. According to Andy Steves (Founder and CEO of Weekend Student Adventures), WSA is sitting at about 90% female bookings. WSA is looking to reach out and appeal to male consumers; humor provides a route to accomplish this goal. The nal strategy of the Blend In, Stand Out campaign is to engage customers by create a conversation with customers. One of the key strengths of social media in marketing is its ability to form relationships with consumers. The campaign will run across three platforms of social media Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest and will spur conversation with consumers by providing humorous content through videos and memevertisements which consumers can comment on and share with their friends. Beyond this, the Blend In, Stand Out contest hosted by Weekend Student Adventures will create a conversation between WSA and consumers since it asks consumers to provide content to WSA. This contest will also create buzz and interest around WSA as consumers share the contest details with their friends due to their excitement from the chance of winning.
Belch, G. (2012). Source, message, and channel factors. In M. Belch (Ed.), Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective 9e (pp. 205-206). New York: McGraw-Hill
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CREATIVE BRIEF
KEY FACTS: (consumer marketing situation) According to a Qualtrics survey, 93% of students abroad prefer to plan their own weekend travels over using a travel agency and the majority of students are looking to be immersed into a foreign culture. These students make up a market of approximately 145,000 persons (this only includes students abroad in Europe). WHAT CONSUMER PROBLEM MUST THE ADVERTISING SOLVE? The consumer problem is that students want the opportunity to immerse themselves into a culture, but struggle to do so in a foreign environment on a monetary and time budget. WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE ADVERTISING? Show students how WSA provides local experts and allows students to immerse themselves in a new cultural environment in an intimate, time efcient manner. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BENEFIT/PROMISE/OFFER? Provides the experience of a local for the weekend, providing unique opportunities that a tourist could never see. Does so efciently and on a budget. Local air when you want it. WHAT FACTS SUPPORT THIS BENEFIT, PROMISE, OR OFFER? Local tour guides, passes to skip lines, knowledge of where the locals eat/play, all with opportunities for unstructured exploration. WHO ARE WE TALKING TO? Study abroad students, an emphasis on males. WHO OR WHAT ARE WE COMPETING WITH? Mainly build-it-yourself trips, as well as other tour agencies. WHAT SHOULD THE TONE OF THE ADVERTISING BE? More local are, fun, adventurous, atypical, cultured. (Use the words cultured and immersion whenever Andy would want to say educational) ARE THERE ANY MANDATORIES WE MUST ACCOUNT FOR IN ADVERTISING? Mandatory that each piece of advertising gets across this feel.
ABOUT BLEND IN, STAND OUT
The tagline for our campaign is Blend In, Stand Out. As discussed below, we suggest that this tagline be displayed across all mediums (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, wsaeurope.com, Andys blog) to create a cohesive image for Weekend Student Adventures. The idea behind this tagline is that WSA offers students the opportunity to blend in like a local while creating a weekend that will stand out in the students memories for a lifetime. Blend In, Stand Out illustrates the idea that WSA delivers an unforgettable experience, showing students all the top sites without wasting time standing in lines looking like a tourist. A local guide takes students around the city to all of the local hotspots, providing the experience from a natives vantage point. Blend In, Stand Out means students can do everything they desire, and do it like a local would with the help of WSA.
MEDIA/ SALES PROMOTION RECOMMENDATIONS
As expressed by the budget portion of our campaign pitch, VMC is working towards creating a brand personality for and engaging consumers with Weekend Student Adventures. Since the marketing budget does not allow for paid advertisements, VMC suggests that WSA direct its efforts towards social media. Fortunately, a survey conducted by Sheraton Hotels & Resorts stated that among 4,204 mobile-phone users in the US, the UK and China 64% of travelers were now using social media to research and plan their trips. Among younger travelers, the percentage was even higher. Of those, 76% said that they had visited popular social-media sites in order to plan a getaway.7 Still the Blend In, Stand Out campaign we have created is essentially free for WSA, we do suggest that if a budget becomes available for marketing that WSA invest in more effective forms of marketing and advertising. This topic will be covered later in the Future for WSA portion of the paper. Currently, WSA is taking advantage of social media through Facebook and Twitter, as well as Andy Steves personal blog. These mediums are excellent for building relationships with customers. However, there is little opportunity to spread the word to those who have not liked the Facebook page or who do not follow WSA on Twitter. Beyond this, we at VMC feel there are opportunities to build cohesion and create a strong brand personality, which are currently not being captured by the current WSA pages. To create this cohesion and personality we feel it is rst important to have a consistent name across all mediums. We suggest Weekend Student Adventures and have the Blend In, Stand Out campaign integrated across all mediums (Facebook, Twitter, Andys blog, and wsaeurope.com). To create better results and garner larger levels of awareness, we believe that our campaign needs to break the barriers that keep the WSA brand from being shared. Our solution is to build a brand personality surrounding the Blend In, Stand Out concept that can be shared outside of the circle of current WSA customers. VMC has created three sharable ideas that will allow the Blend In, Stand Out campaign to break into news feeds across social media. The three platforms for the campaign are: (1) memevertisements, (2) a Youtube video, and (3) a contest. All three platforms are cohesive and bound by the Blend In, Stand Out tagline, and are comedic and engaging so that students are more likely to share them. The idea of memevertisements is to create an advertisement for a brand that is simple, concise, funny, and meant to be shared like a meme. The concept is cutting-edge since it is rare to see a brand (aside from celebrities) associated with memes. This provides the opMintel. US Youth Travel Market February 2011. http://academic.mintel.com.proxy.library.nd.edu /sinatra/oxygen_academic/my_reports/display/id=545349&anchor=atom/display/id=566528?select_section=566529
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portunity to break into a larger fan base for WSA while not bringing any nancial risk to the company. WSA should have these memevertisements present across all available platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Andys blog, and Wsaeurope.com. This will allow for maximum exposure and provide more opportunities for the memevertisements to be shared/retweeted/ pinned. If future revenues increase enough for WSA to form a media and advertising budget, these memes can be used in print, online, and ofine advertising, as will be discussed in the Future for WSA portion of the paper. The Youtube video that VMC has sketched out for Weekend Student Adventures is purposely lively and comedic, meant to appeal to men while still tying into the Blend In, Stand Out campaign. The video can be hosted on WSAs YouTube channel and the WSA website. The primary benet of video advertising is that it adds a sense of life to a brand by including sound, sight, and motion. This sense of life will help to solidify the brand image and personality for WSA and will also engage WSAs target consumers more strongly. According to EMarketer, combining video and social media advertising together can generate high user engagement. In this EMarketer report it is noted that of surveyed customers 75% of them said that an advertisement or a direct social invitation played a direct role in their decision to like or follow a brands social media efforts.8 Like the memevertisements mentioned above, the video have the potential to be shared across social mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Beyond being shared, the video can be the basis for a series of videos following the two lead characters on various adventures, allowing for spin-offs that also encapsulate the Blend In, Stand Out tagline. Ideally the sharing and spin-offs could lead to a viral status for the video(s), however it is nearly impossible to achieve this level of success. Nonetheless, the video will manage to help create the brand personality for WSA and has the potential to be shared by consumers. The Blend In, Stand Out photography contest will allow consumers to participate in a chance to win a free trip with Weekend Student Adventures. The compiled photos on Facebook for this contest will provide appealing images that users are likely to be interested in looking at and liking or sharing. The contest can be shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest by users and can also be posted by Andy Steves on the Wsaeurope.com website and Andys blog. This contest will improve consumer engagement, allow for more creativity surrounding the Blend In, Stand Out idea which can be a resource for furthering the campaign into the future, and will help to improve consumer excitement and attitudes towards WSA as a result of the giveaway.
Belch, G. (2012). Source, message, and channel factors. In M. Belch (Ed.), Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective 9e (pp. 205-206). New York: McGraw-Hill
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BLEND IN, STAND OUT MEMEVERTISEMENTS
Memevertisements are a new form of advertising developed by Voyage Media Consulting that combines the ability of an Internet meme to be shared with the branding ability of an advertisement. VMC feels this new medium will be very effective due to the popularity of memes amongst college students. The term meme is an Internet slang word that means an idea that spreads like a virus by word of mouth, email, blogs, etc.9 Memes generally take the form of a picture on which clever and funny comments are made. The memevertisements we are creating have pictures with captions that are used to promote WSA through the campaign Blend In, Stand Out. These memevertisements can essentially function as memes do, but have the added bonus of spreading buzz about and building a brand image for WSA. Memes spread ideas and images quickly via the Internet. They have recently become a popular form of communication on the Internet that people repost and share with their friends. Since memes are easy to share via social media sites and gaining in popularity, WSA can use this to their advantage to increase awareness and build a brand image and position. The idea behind our memevertisements is to use a picture and add a fun/comedic phrase along with the Blend In, Stand Out tagline, making it a funny and memorable image that people will want to share with their friends. These memevertisements are one part of our Blend In, Stand Out campaign and t well with the contest and YouTube video which makeup the campaign. The memevertisements are both repeatable and extendable; a number of pictures can be used with comedic slogans that show students blending in and having a standout time on a WSA trip. The memevertisements can be used online or, as mentioned in the Future for WSA section, they can be printed to act as posters, handouts, or iers. We hope students nd the memevertisements funny enough to repost while learning more about WSA.
Internet Slang. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.Internetslang.com/MEME-meaning-denition.asp
MEMEVERTISEMENTS MOCK-UPS
MEMEVERTISEMENTS MOCK-UPS
BLEND IN, STAND OUT YOUTUBE VIDEO
A YouTube video can help promote WSA through the Blend In, Stand Out campaign by providing an element of life, and further engaging consumers with the campaign. VMCs goal with the YouTube video is to create a viral video that will increase the awareness of WSA, help to build a brand image for WSA, and use humor to increase WSAs appeal towards men as well as encourage a favorable attitude towards WSA. VMC has written a storyboard for a video that we hope people will enjoy and want to post to Facebook to share with their friends. The video idea, that compares WSA to make your own trips, is a good platform to teach consumers what WSA has to offer as well as spark the interest of consumers towards WSA. VMCs thought is that if the original video takes off, each of the characters in the video can have spin-off videos, which show more about their personal trip and experiences. By going more into detail with each person it a more in depth story is created, which will further engage and interest viewers, keeping them watching the WSA YouTube channel. This video script is easily repeatable and adjustable; it can be set to almost any situation and location. The basic script could easily be altered to t various cities with different attractions and involve different people this allows for campaign extendibility. If WSA chooses to create the spin-off series more people can interact and enjoy the stories behind the characters. VMC wants the video to be enjoyable so viewers will want to share it. By allowing viewers to see further into the characters and showing funny experiences we hope this increased engagement will improve consumer attitudes and help to foster a viral nature for the video.
YOUTUBE STORYBOARD
BLEND IN, STAND OUT CONTEST
Two of the goals for the Blend In, Stand Out campaign are to increase consumer engagement and form a fun brand personality for Weekend Student Adventures. VMC feels that hosting a contest that is attention grabbing and primarily consumer-generated through the use of social media is a fun way for WSA to work towards and achieve these goals. The contest is one element of the Blend In, Stand Out campaign. The contest will center on the idea of taking photos that t the tagline Blend In, Stand Out. This will provide contestants with creative liberty to take unique photographs, which show how they can physically interpret the slogan Blend In, Stand Out. Photos will need to be posted on Facebook and then the photographer must tag the Weekend Student Adventures Facebook page. The combined number of likes and shares of the submitted photograph will determine the winner. Any inappropriate photographs will be automatically disqualied and removed from WSAs Facebook page. Weekend Student Adventures needs to announce the contest on across all of its media vehicles (Facebook, Wsaeurope.com, Twitter, Andys blog, and Pinterest) to ensure that maximum awareness is achieved. In the announcement, WSA will indicate the prize available to the winning photographer. Based on past contest prizes offered by WSA, we suggest that the offered prize include a free trip on the premise that the participant creates a photo-blog based off of the free WSA trip. This is a great offering for the winner, and will also provide a greater web presence for WSA.
II: INTERNET PRESENCE OPTIMIZATION
INTERNET PRESENCE OPTIMIZATION GOALS The goals for Weekend Student Adventures Internet presence optimization are to create a level of cohesion across all platforms, to be available to students when and where theyre looking for trip information, to provide positive and authentic buzz and reviews for WSA, and to ensure that information about WSA is presented in an easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate fashion. It is important for WSA to have a sense of cohesion across all its online platforms so that consumers do not become confused struggling to nd a page or wondering whether two sites are in fact related. Having a sense of cohesion will create a simpler and more memorable experience for consumers. Cohesion will also assist with search engine optimization, which is of vital importance for WSA. Most students start researching trips on search engines such as google.com, making the results of these search engines extremely important for WSA to stand out against competitors. Another element that can help with search engine optimization is online consumer reviews. According to the survey conducted by VMC, consumer reviews are one of the most trusted sources when consumers are looking to purchase a product/service. Having these online reviews can both increase the number of results on a search engine as well as provide a sense of authenticity to all positive reviews for WSA. The nal goal for WSAs Internet presence optimization is to present information in an easyto-read and easy-to-navigate fashion. By streamlining the WSA website and presenting key information in a more manageable fashion, this will help readers to better understand WSAs offering and minimize the risk of turning off consumers due to a confusing interface.
INTERNET PRESENCE OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
VMC feels that a number of strategies and tactics should be put in place to reach the Internet presence optimization goals set out for WSA. The rst goal is to have cohesion across all platforms. This level of cohesion is important to minimize the potential for confusion amongst consumers. In order to achieve this cohesion, it is necessary for WSA to have the same look, feel, and name present across all pages. Below are sample mockups of potential Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest pages for WSA which all include an element of Blend In, Stand Out to show a cohesive campaign across all platforms. VMC feels that most important element of cohesion is the same title across all pages. We suggest that the title of the Facebook page be changed from Andy Steves Weekend Student Adventures to Weekend Student Adventures to match the website. Similarly, the YouTube channel Andy Steves WSA Europe should be titled Weekend Student Adventures. The second goal for WSAs Internet presence optimization is to be available to students on the appropriate platforms. In order to be relevant to consumers when making a purchase decision, it is important to be available to consumers at their point of purchase. According to the Qualtrics survey by Voyage Media Consulting, when looking to book a weekend trip while abroad most students start their research by looking on a search engine website such as google.com. Capitalizing on search engine optimization will make WSA the rst brand that students see when looking to book weekend trips while abroad, providing WSA with an advantage over competitors. When consumers research products, often they look at customer review sites to see whether or not purchasing the product is in their best interest. Consumer recommendations and opinions are the most trusted source of product information.10 By partaking in trip review sites, WSA can accomplish its third Internet presence optimization goal of having positive and authentic buzz surrounding the brand. Consumer reviews create a sense authenticity and trust with its potential consumers and build a strong brand image for WSA. Thus, to be available and relevant to students searching for weekend trips it will be important for WSA to be optimize its search engine abilities, participate in consumer review sites, as well as having Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages. During VMCs research of WSAs online presence, we noted that WSA currently owns a Facebook Landing Page. VMC suggests that WSA delete this landing page, because students looking for WSA on Facebook could be confused as to whether this is the fan page for WSA. The landing page also is missing important links such as a place to like WSAs fan page this could further confuse consumers, which is why we suggest simply deleting the page.
Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey July 2009 (http://www.slideshare.net/paulsmarsden/social-commerce-thecase-for-user-reviews)

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The nal goal for WSAs Internet presence optimization is for WSA to present information in an easy-to-read, easy-to-navigate format. Currently, the wsaeurope.com website is missing integral links and contains too much text. This will turn off readers from engaging with the website. Streamlining the information and providing consistent links for viewers to easily navigate the website will allow for viewers to better understand WSAs offering and keep viewers interested in the sites information.
FACEBOOK MOCK-UP
TWITTER MOCK-UP
PINTEREST MOCK-UP
ABOUT SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the practice of optimizing a web site to increase its visibility in search engines and increase its trafc due to the search engines. Basically this means that it puts the website higher up on search sites like Google and makes the site easier to nd when searching. SEO can help boost rankings so the site can be more easily found where students are looking for it, companies that use SEO have a huge advantage over the companies that do not. The sites that come up rst have the biggest advantage because people usually look at the rst few promising sites rather than going through pages of search results. While there are agencies that specialize in SEO for their clients, there are ways to increase this without hiring specialized help. There are terms and phrases that can be present on a website to generate more trafc through searches. Search queries that people type in contain phrases that companies need to utilize on their site to generate the highest results possible. In order to be found sites need to use the words that people will use in their searches. When searching for a site like WSA, people do not always know specic words to search for. It is important to really use wording that basic tour searches will come up with. People do not always know what exactly they want before starting a search, so the search engines are an important part of their quest for knowledge. In order to utilize SEO the keywords that will be searched for need to be determined so that the content on the website can utilize the specic words that are searched. The content needs to utilize keywords in the writing on the website without affecting the ow and wording. If the words are used too often they can be distracting and actually hurt the site so this needs to be done carefully. The keywords should also be used in titles, image descriptions, and links. Cohesion across services can also help with SEO. Links to other sites and their relevancy and content help increase your search relevancy. The more prominent linkages created through websites will provide credibility that shows your site is valuable. Social media helps to build this relevancy. Google uses communities and groups to help personalize search results and interaction with consumers, sites like Twitter and Facebook can help attract trafc to the site by establishing an online presence. Another important step in SEO is to use analytics to determine if the efforts have been helpful. After implementing changes to attempt to increase SEO it is necessary to keep track of any growth in rankings and views. Google Analytics can help with this as well as view counts of the site.
VMC feels it is important to note that there is abundant room for growth for WSA within the SEO eld. When searching for WSA on Google (without including any qualifying terms like tour) wsaeurope.com did not come up as a result until the fth page. By using SEO, WSA could increase its relevancy and search results. VMC has compiled a list of terms that we feel should be strategically included in WSAs website text to hopefully increase SEO:
Trip Weekend trip Weekend tour Europe trip Europe tour Europe vacation Barcelona/Rome/Gimmelwald/Paris/Dublin/London/Amsterdam/Prague trip Barcelona/Rome/Gimmelwald/Paris/Dublin/London/Amsterdam/Prague tour Barcelona/Rome/Gimmelwald/Paris/Dublin/London/Amsterdam/Prague vacation WSA Weekend Student Adventures Steves Andy Steves Rick Steves Vacation Weekend vacation Weekend Student Adventures Travel Student travel Travel to Barcelona/Rome/Gimmelwald/Paris/Dublin/London/Amsterdam/Prague Discount trip Discount travel Discount vacation Discount trip to Barcelona/Rome/Gimmelwald/Paris/Dublin/London/Amsterdam/Prague Student travel agency Student tour group Tour group College tour College trip University tour group University trip
ONLINE REVIEW SITES
One of the greatest strengths of Weekend Student Adventures is its ample supply of satised customers. With over a thousand students choosing to travel with Weekend Student Adventures in the companys short history, WSA has an untapped source of word of mouth promotion and personal recommendations. VMC would like to utilize this valuable resource. Personal recommendations have become the gold standard for spreading positive reviews about a growing company. The Weekend Student Adventures website does currently incorporates some alumni reviews, but this occurs entirely in the context of the WSA website. One aspect of personal recommendations that make them so reliable and effective is the unbiased view of the reviewer. When a potential WSA customer reads these reviews on the wsaeurope.com, that sense of honesty and lack of bias is weakened because of its location. Readers will think of course the reviews for WSA on wsaeurope.com will be positive. In order to harness the strength of the alumni of WSA, VMC suggests that Weekend Student Adventures becomes active on Google Places, tripadvisor.com, and epinions.com. Google Places is a service through Google that allows users to search for all types of businesses and rate their experiences. By using a third party review system, Weekend Student Adventures can ensure that its reviews will retain a level of authenticity. Users can easily search for travel agencies or student trips and, assuming enough reviews are present, Weekend Student Adventures will always appear on the list. To start a Google Places account, Weekend Student Adventures would simply register on Google Places and set up a page. The page can offer an extremely detailed description of the company and display the WSA logo, so reviewers know they found the correct site. WSA should encourage its alumni to visit the site and rate their experience, and should begin including messages such as Find us on Google Places or Review us on Google Places on its website, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Tripadvisor.com and epinions.com are similar websites to Google Places, which can also be used to write and read consumer reviews for WSA. Like with Google Places, WSA would register and create a page on tripadvisor.com and epinions.com making it easier for those who have traveled with WSA to write about their experiences. These websites are low input initiatives that serve the vital purpose of creating positive online buzz for Weekend Student Adventures. It is important that WSA be present on these review sites, since consumers value user reviews and will look to these sites to determine if purchasing a trip from WSA is a good idea. A lack of presence on these sites could deter students from booking with WSA.
WSA WEBSITE DESIGN
HOMEPAGE The structure of the homepage is clean and simple, VMC feels this should be imitated across the rest of the website. Our main recommendation is to make everything compact so more content topics are visible and there is less text to take up the page. People rarely scroll down when they reach the landing page of a website, so the vital information should be visible without scrolling. Shrinking the main graphic on the homepage would increase room for a detailed sidebar and allow for the animated links at the bottom to be moved up. NAVIGATION BAR AND SIDEBAR Currently, there is a useful sidebar present on the majority of the pages, but it is not present everywhere and the content occasionally changes. That sidebar needs to be consistent on all pages of wsaeurope.com. It must contain the same links and be in the same location, and cannot be crowded by other promotions or columns of text. The Navigation Bar at the top of the website is an excellent example of consistency that the sidebar should imitate. CONDENSE TEXT There is a lot of information on wsaeurope.com and oftentimes it can seem overwhelming to the reader. Some of the pages have signicantly more text than others and that causes stress on the readers expectations. The testimonials page is overowing with text and is not easy to absorb in one sitting. We suggest shortening the length of the featured testimonials to one or two lines, with a link to the entire review. The How We Stack Up Page, one of the most valuable pages on the website, is extremely cluttered and difcult to navigate. The use of tiles to display the information is useful, but we believe that very few readers would take the time to navigate the entire page simply because of the sheer amount of information. An introduction summarizing the key points at the top of the page would give readers a quick snapshot of how WSA compares to its competitors, and why WSA is the best student tourism agency in Europe. PARENTS & UNIVERSITIES PAGES Although the site is aimed at students, WSA originally identied three markets to which they want to appeal. The website is clearly designed for the students ease of use, but it
almost ignores parents and universities. The links for parents and universities are hidden in a side column at the bottom of only a select few pages. We suggest making these links more prominent and including them on every page of the site. One possibility would be to include a Parents & Universities tab on the xed navigation bar at the top of the site.
CALENDAR
Below is a suggested media calendar for the Blend In Stand Out campaign. VMC recommends using a pulsing media strategy, which will help build awareness for WSA without being so overbearing that consumers are driven away. Certain recommendations, such as the release of memes, contest, and YouTube video will be timed according to when study abroad students are thinking about travel and are most open to WSAs message. We feel that most of VMCs recommendations should launch in August 2012, which is when fall semester study abroad students will begin planning their semester. The only two vehicles that will not be launched in August are the YouTube video and the contest. The YouTube video will be launched in October to push trip sales over the fall break period. The contest will run from January 2013 to March 2013, this push in promotion coincides with the beginning of the spring semester and runs to spring break so that the winning student could use the prize over spring break. Most of the advertisements and promotions run continuously throughout the year, with the obvious exceptions of the contest (January through March) and the search engine optimization and web design changes, which are a one-time activity. The calendar for VMCs recommendations runs a full year, which provides enough time for the campaign to have an effect and allows for enough time to measure the results of the campaign.
BUDGET
Currently, due to the companys limited resources, WSA has an advertising budget of $0. Therefore, all aspects of the Blend In, Stand Out campaign will be carried out through nocost vehicles, primarily social media sites. In the future, if WSA ever does have the nances to support a marketing budget, the zero cost ideas that we have developed will be easily transferable to various other forms of media. Because these are all hypothetical strategies, VMC has not provided a budget for what these vehicles would cost. Instead, suggestions have been made for WSA to easily seek out which vehicles would work best for the company. Please see the Future Recommendations section for further details.
AGENCY COMPENSATION
VCM breaks its cost structure down in two ways: by the number of employees with a certain job title, and by how many hours those employees worked. Below is the breakdown of the total number of hours worked per position, sometimes spread across several individuals, and the charge per hour for their work.
EVALUATION
In order to determine the effectiveness of the campaign and the recommendations presented in the report we have selected four measures to analyze: overall sales, social media interaction, referrals, and number of contest contestants. WSA currently does not have metrics in place to determine increases in objectives such as brand awareness or consumer attitudes towards WSA, but the measurements that we feel should be analyzed will give indications of brand awareness and brand attitudes. To see if the campaign and recommendations are effective it is important to know if they led to an increase in overall sales for WSA. We feel that WSA should analyze the total sales from the previous semester and compare them to the two subsequent semesters following the release of the Blend In, Stand Out campaign. WSA should also analyze the sales based on the sex of the purchasers in order to determine if there has been an increase in usage among males. The measurement of these two sales indicators is important because two of our campaign goals are to increase overall sales and usage amongst men. One emphasis of the Blend In, Stand Out campaign was on connecting with consumers on various platforms to improve consumer attitudes and form a brand personality and position. This consumer engagement can be measured by the number of shares, friends, and likes on Facebook, an increase in the number of Twitter followers, the number of new followers, likes, and repins on Pinterest, and the number of peer reviews on third-party websites. The Blend In, Stand Out campaign includes memevertisements, a YouTube video, and a photography contest that will take place primarily on Facebook. The number of contestants, the number of photos posted, and the number of viewers who liked or shared an image or video can help to measure consumer engagement with the campaign. The campaigns effectiveness can also be measured by determining how the trip purchasers heard about WSA. When purchasing on WSAs website, a required eld asks the purchaser to state how they heard about WSA. We suggest rather than having an open answer for the referrals, produce a drop down box that has several stock answers including: Facebook, Twitter, third-party review website, WSA website, personal referral, (Google) search result, and other. The data will be much easier to analyze under this format. It can also help determine which platforms are successful and which platforms are underperforming.
As of now, WSA has stated that it does not have the nancial resources to invest in traditional marketing programs, which is why we have suggested the recommendations above. However, marketing investments are a necessity for building a sustainable brand and VMC recommends investing in the following forms of media once the nancial resources become available. GOOGLE ADWORDS As mentioned above, Google is an excellent resource for promoting a website through Search Engine Optimization or Google Places. However, the most effective tool Google has made available to companies like WSA is Google AdWords. AdWords is a program where Google displays the link to a website at the top of its Results page when certain keywords are searched. Google places these ads on several different search engine sites, and uses its keywords technology to ensure WSA would be reaching targeted consumers. VMC feels that this should be a primary marketing investment for WSA for several reasons. First of all, when asked how they plan their weekend trips online, 62% of students surveyed said they use Google searches. Clearly, this search engine is a touch point for WSAs target consumer. Placing a link to WSA at this touch point will increase awareness for WSA among these students, as well as provide an easy access to the website in order to check out what WSA offers.11 Also, Google AdWords is a nancially sound investment. Google allows AdWords customers to set their own budget, so WSA can invest as much or as little in AdWords as the rm can afford. The higher the AdWords budget, the more often the WSA website will appear as a sponsored link on these searches. Finally, Google charges rms based on a click-through rate, not on how many times the link appears. Therefore, WSA would only have to pay Google for times when consumers actually reached the WSA website via these searches. VMC feels $500 would be an appropriate starting point to spend on Google AdWords. With this cost not only will WSAs advertisement be placed on Googles search results but WSA will also receive measurements from Google stating the level of effectiveness for WSAs advertisement. This makes Google AdWords the most effective, cost-efcient media vehicle in which to invest, and VMC suggests this be WSAs rst major marketing investment.
Google AdWords. (2012). Retrieved from https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=AdWords&hl=en_US&l tmpl=jfk&passive=false&ifr=false&alwf=true&continue=https://AdWords.google.com/um/gaiaauth?apt%3DNone%26lt mpl%3Djfk%26ltmpl%3Djfk&error=newacct&sacu=1&sarp=1

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ONLINE ADS
One way that WSA can further use the memevertisements recommended above would be as advertisements on various websites. The memevertisements can be made into banner or side ads and put on websites that relate to WSA so that we reach potential consumers at another point of contact. These ads will link students directly to the WSA website. VMC feels advertising on the websites of various airline and travel sites would be appropriate placement for WSAs advertising since students often rely on such sites when researching and organizing a trip. VMC asked students who had traveled abroad what airlines and what sites were most popular when booking trips. The most popular results were: Ryanair, Easyjet, Skyscanner, and Cheapoair. Ryanair was by far the most popular airline with students. We suggest advertising on these websites, starting with Ryanair and then including more advertisement locations as WSAs budget increases. On ryanair.com, there multiple places in which WSA could advertise, however VMC suggests focusing on Home Page advertising and Destination Page advertising. These two placements will allow for maximum coverage, and then be available to more target market consumers. Through these advertisements WSA will be able to reach potential consumers while they are making their travel decisions and inuence them towards planning a trip with WSA.
In the far future, advertising on travel websites such as Expedia or Travelocity would be benecial for WSA. However, given WSAs current budget we assume this will not be possible for a number of years since these more popular websites are more expensive to advertise on Expedia sets a minimum $10,000 campaign budget.12
Expedia Media Solutions: FAQ. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.advertising.expedia.com/en-us/about-ems/faq/ Pages/default.aspx

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PRINT MEDIA
In regards to more traditional media, VMC suggests that WSA stick to print media in the form of handouts, bulletins, and mail. Memevertisements in the form of handouts and bulletins will help WSA gain awareness among its target market. The handouts can be passed out at European universities where American students study so we can specically target locations where our primary audience has access. The bulletins can also be posted in schools that have study abroad students. They can be placed around the school or in the dorms. By targeting schools with study abroad programs rather than creating billboards or more public advertising, WSA can reach a more effective audience. Through research we found that 1000 full page, color handouts can be printed for less than $300.13 Another method of print media would be to turn the memevertisements into postcards and mail them to students studying abroad so we can directly reach the potential consumers. 1000 standard (5.47x4.21) post cards that are full color can be purchased for less than $100.14 The memevertisement will be on the front of the postcard and more information to the consumer on the back. Beyond students studying abroad in Europe, the post cards can be sent to students that are planning to study abroad the next semester that are still in the US. This way we can reach consumers before they even go abroad with the focus of building awareness and trust. This advertising would be very informative and direct people to learn more from the WSA website. By using the memevertisements in this form we are furthering the brand image through the clever nature of the ads and also helping to further differentiate WSA from the competition.
HP: Printing with color. Retrieved from http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/sbso/productivity/color/print_cost.cgi?site=smb& percentage=.6&quantity=1000&x=32&y=13 14 Vistaprint: Postcards. Retrieved from http://www.vistaprint.com/postcards.aspx?GP=5%2f7%2f2012+1%3a44%3 a29+PM&GPS=2437660845&GNF=0&GPLSID=&rd=1
13
NAFSA ADVERTISING
Another online location where WSA could pay to run advertisements is the NAFSA website. NAFSA (National Association of Foreign Student Advisors) is an association of individuals advancing international education and exchange and global workforce development. NAFSA serves international educators and their institutions and organizations by establishing principles of good practice, providing training and professional development opportunities, providing networking opportunities, and advocating for international education. Essentially, NAFSA connects those involved in all aspects of international education together to collaborate and builds a better abroad experience. There are several key opportunities for WSA to invest within the NAFSA community. The rst is in NAFSAs two regular publications, International Educator and NAFSA.news. International Educator is a bimonthly magazine published by NAFSA that offers a refreshing view of whats new and promising in the profession as well as various editorial on traveling.15 NAFSA.news, on the other hand, is a weekly e-newsletter that delivers authoritative information, advocacy, and news. Advertising in NAFSA.news can be bought in weekly increments of either two, four or eight weeks. The costs of these ads range from $1,185 for two weeks to $4,625 for eight weeks. The nal location where WSA could advertise through NAFSA is on the organizations Travel Planning site.16 Companies who advertise here are listed as Featured Partners of NAFSA, therefore giving these companies the prestige and reputation associated with the NAFSA organization. Their advertisements are displayed throughout NAFSAs website as banner ads on both the side and top of the page, once again making it easy for consumers to click through directly to WSAs website. VMC feels that building a relationship with NAFSA would be a smart move for WSA to make in the future. However, given WSAs current goals, we at VMC believe that investing in this website for advertising would not be an effective use of resources at this time, because the target audiences of NAFSA are professors and universities who are involved in abroad programs. While such organizations fall in the target audience of WSA, they are not really the primary target. WSAs rst goal is to build awareness among students, and therefore WSA should invest in resources that reach students directly. Its true that schools and professors will affect the purchase decisions of students, however there is no guarantee that schools and professors will pass along the message. VMC recommends waiting until awareness among the primary target audience has increased, then investing in reaching the secondary audiences of universities
NAFSA: International Educator. Retrieved from http://www.nafsa.org/publications/default.aspx?id=5591 NAFSA: Travel Planning. Retrieved from http://nafsainternationaleducationmarketplace.com/results. php?page=1&category=Travel%20Services&heading=122&headingname=Travel%20Planning&num_page=10
15 16
and professors. Also, because the audience is different, the message of Blend In Stand Out will have to be modied in order to appeal to this new group of consumers. This strategy could affect the coherence of the newly formed WSA brand image, endangering the success of the campaign.
INTEGRATING THE STEVES NAME

Given the connection with Rick Steves and WSA it might be benecial to use this to gain consumers for both parties. Both companies are geared towards very different target audiences. Rick Steves company is for an older, wealthier target than can afford to pay in the thousands for a trip. WSA, on the other hand, is going for a much more price sensitive market of college students. If Rick Steves were to agree to align with WSA he could put a link to WSA in the Tours section with the title For College Students. WSA could do a similar service on their site such as a For Your Parents section creating an alliance between the two companies. This way both companies might gain more of the market without interfering with the other companys sales in a negative way. Advertising on Rick Steves site could be a very protable connection for WSA, because parents that are interested in helping their children with their traveling would likely know of Rick Steves and visit his site to nd travel destinations to suggest for their children.
HP: Printing with color. Retrieved from http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/sbso/productivity/color/print_cost.cgi?site=smb& percentage=.6&quantity=1000&x=32&y=13 14 Vistaprint: Postcards. Retrieved from http://www.vistaprint.com/postcards.aspx?GP=5%2f7%2f2012+1%3a44%3 a29+PM&GPS=2437660845&GNF=0&GPLSID=&rd=1
13
REFERENCES
Andy Steves Weekend Student Adventures Facebook Fan Page. (2012). Retrieved from http:// www.facebook.com/wsaeurope Andy Steves WSA Europe YouTube Channel. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ user/wsaeurope?feature=watch Belch, G. (2012). Source, message, and channel factors. In M. Belch (Ed.), Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective 9e (pp. 205-206). New York: McGraw-Hill Bus2Alps. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.bus2alps.com/en/ Bus2Alps Facebook Fan page. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/bus2alps. travel?ref=ts Bus2Alps Twitter. (2012). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/#!/bus2alps Bus2Alps YouTube Channel. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/ Bus2alps?ob=0&feature=results_main EuroAdventures. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.euroadventures.com/ EuroAdventures Facebook Fan Page. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/Euroadventures EuroAdventures Twitter. (2012). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/#!/euroadventures EuroAdventures Youtube Channel. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/euroadventures Epinions: Hotel and travel. (2012). http://www.epinions.com/trvl Expedia Media Solutions: FAQ. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.advertising.expedia.com/ en-us/about-ems/faq/Pages/default.aspx FlorenceforFun. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.orenceforfun.org/LENG/Z2/C15752-1/ hhcm-home.html FlorenceforFun Facebook Fan Page. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/ FlorenceForFun?ref=ts
REFERENCES
FlorenceforFuns Channel. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/FlorenceForFun? ob=0&feature=results_main FlorenceforFun Twitter. (2012). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/#!/FlorenceForFun Google AdWords. (2012). Retrieved from https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=AdW ords&hl=en_US&ltmpl=jfk&passive=false&ifr=false&alwf=true&continue=https://AdWords.google. com/um/gaiaauth?apt%3DNone%26ltmpl%3Djfk%26ltmpl%3Djfk&error=newacct&sacu=1&sa rp=1 Google Places. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/places/ HP: Printing with color. Retrieved from http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/sbso/productivity/color/print_ cost.cgi?site=smb&percentage=.6&quantity=1000&x=32&y=13 Institute of International Education. (2011). Host Regions and Destinations of U.S. Study Abroad Students, 2008/09 - 2009/10. Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/opendoors Institute of International Education. (2011). U.S. Study Abroad: Student Prole Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/Research-andPublications/Open-Doors/Data/US-Study-Abroad/Student-Prole/2000-10 Internet Slang. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.Internetslang.com/MEME-meaning-denition. asp Marketing Science Institute: Consumer attitude dynamics and marketing impact on sales. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.msi.org/publications/publication.cfm?pub=1788 Mintel: Internet Travel Booking US September 2005. http://academic.mintel.com.proxy. library.nd.edu/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=160962 Mintel. US Youth Travel Market February 2011. http://academic.mintel.com.proxy.library.nd.edu/sinatra/oxygen_academic/my_reports/display/id=545349&anchor=atom/display/ id=566528?select_section=566529 Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey July 2009 (http://www.slideshare.net/paulsmarsden/ social-commerce-the-case-for-user-reviews)
REFERENCES
NAFSA: International Educator. Retrieved from http://www.nafsa.org/publications/default. aspx?id=5591 NAFSA: Travel Planning. Retrieved from http://nafsainternationaleducationmarketplace.com/ results.php?page=1&category=Travel%20Services&heading=122&headingname=Travel%20 Planning&num_page=10 SnoworSand Facebook Fan Page. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/ snoworsand?ref=ts SnoworSand: Our Story. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.snoworsand.com/init/about/ourstory Stoke Travel. (2012). Retrieved from http://stoketravel.com/ Stoke Travel Facebook Fan Page. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/ stoketravel?ref=ts Stoke Travel Twitter. (2012). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/#!/stoketravel Stoke Travel Channel. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/StokeTravelChanne l?ob=0&feature=results_main Trip Advisor. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.tripadvisor.com Video Advertising & Social Media Together Drive Consumer Engagement Most http://www. reelseo.com/video-social-media-brand-engagement/#ixzz1tXvDDCrZ Vistaprint: Postcards. Retrieved from http://www.vistaprint.com/postcards.aspx?GP=5%2f7%2f 2012+1%3a44%3a29+PM&GPS=2437660845&GNF=0&GPLSID=&rd=1 Weekend Student Adventures. Retrieved from http://www.wsaeurope.com WSA Blog: Andys Blog. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.wsaeurope.com/blog/ WSA Twitter. (2012). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/#!/WSAEurope
APPENDIX A

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WEEKEND STUDENT ADVENTURES VOYAGE MEDIA CONSULTING MAY 2012

WEEKEND STUDENT ADVENTURES BACKGROUND

FUNCTIONAL/ PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

to bypass the lines

Gimmelwald Ski Trip)

discounts and/or include ights in tour package

Sand has <15 person groups)

to the students on his trips

merely a point of parity for WSA

opportunity to market to men

Internet Slang. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.Internetslang.com/MEME-meaning-denition.asp

Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey July 2009 (http://www.slideshare.net/paulsmarsden/social-commerce-thecase-for-user-reviews)

Google AdWords. (2012). Retrieved from https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=AdWords&hl=en_US&l tmpl=jfk&passive=false&ifr=false&alwf=true&continue=https://AdWords.google.com/um/gaiaauth?apt%3DNone%26lt mpl%3Djfk%26ltmpl%3Djfk&error=newacct&sacu=1&sarp=1

Expedia Media Solutions: FAQ. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.advertising.expedia.com/en-us/about-ems/faq/ Pages/default.aspx

INTEGRATING THE STEVES NAME

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