Chris Amson's guest appearances

Chris Amson

The Destinationists

David Gilbert

David Newman

James Thornton

David Beebe

Brent Hill

Hari Nair

Celeste Barber

Rosie Spinks

Visit Berlin

Burkhard Kieker

Leslie Dance

Rowan Worner

Jan Hutton

Jodi Williams

Jon Mamela

OwlTail

Subscribe to The Destinationists on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Google PodcastsWe kick off 2019 talking to Chris Amson, Content Marketing Manager at Tourism Western Australia, about how they have deliberately shied away from big budget TVCs with their content-centric brand platform Just Another Day in WA.Amson says that when the destination marketer launched the platform in 2016 they knew that whatever they did could not simply rely on TV alone. “What we were looking to do was create a platform that can bring stories and real peoples’ stories into the heart of our marketing,” says Amson. Instead of having a thin layer of content that was distributed above-the-line Amson says that they actively looked at how they could capitalise on the vast range of opportunities to distribute content via social and earned media.Harnessing the storytelling power of industry was also critical to the success of this approach, according to Amson. TWA uses a device they call a “gather round story” to get someone from industry to tell a personal story of how a place is significant to them as well as getting operators to share how they tell stories about experiences that are uniquely Western Australian. Amson also talks about the state’s approach to attracting different audiences including intra-state audiences and international audiences such as Singaporeans who are close enough to WA to come for a long weekend.Amson’s lesson for others wanting to build a content-centric brand platform? Consider the problem that you want content to solve within the customer journey and continually test your approach. As Andrés says: “Sometimes, in the content world we are driven by the story and the qualitative element, but setting some metrics, understanding if something is performing with the audience, is critical as well as understanding if it’s operationally efficient to make.”In Trend Monitor we discuss the newly-released New York Times “52 Places to Go” list and the headline trends including eco tourism and food tourism. Lauren notes that while eco tourism has been around for some time hotels and resorts, in particular, have started to really to up the ante. “I think that makes the job of marketers easier in a sense, the fact that the product has moved so far along so eco tourism isn't that token-istic thing anymore, it really is kind of integrated into the product.”And, finally, in Campaign News we dissect the latest #TassieStyle campaign from Tourism Tasmania, launched in early January and aiming to drive interest in travel to the state during winter. Andrés says it’s a good reminder for destination marketers about the timing of winter campaigns. “You probably need to be thinking about how you can showcase some of the [winter] value proposition earlier on, and really hit those key booking periods. In particular, obviously, this is a great time of year of people coming back from their Christmas holidays in Australia, domestically at least, and they are feeling maybe a little bit sad about having to go back to work.”

Subscribe to The Destinationists on <a href="https://www.thedestinationists.com/episodes?format=rss" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-destinationists" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stitcher</a> or <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlZGVzdGluYXRpb25pc3RzLmNvbS9lcGlzb2Rlcz9mb3JtYXQ9UlNT" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a>We kick off 2019 talking to Chris Amson, Content Marketing Manager at Tourism Western Australia, about how they have deliberately shied away from big budget TVCs with their content-centric brand platform Just Another Day in WA.Amson says that when the destination marketer launched the platform in 2016 they knew that whatever they did could not simply rely on TV alone. “What we were looking to do was create a platform that can bring stories and real peoples’ stories into the heart of our marketing,” says Amson. Instead of having a thin layer of content that was distributed above-the-line Amson says that they actively looked at how they could capitalise on the vast range of opportunities to distribute content via social and earned media.Harnessing the storytelling power of industry was also critical to the success of this approach, according to Amson. TWA uses a device they call a “gather round story” to get someone from industry to tell a personal story of how a place is significant to them as well as getting operators to share how they tell stories about experiences that are uniquely Western Australian. Amson also talks about the state’s approach to attracting different audiences including intra-state audiences and international audiences such as Singaporeans who are close enough to WA to come for a long weekend.Amson’s lesson for others wanting to build a content-centric brand platform? Consider the problem that you want content to solve within the customer journey and continually test your approach. As Andrés says: “Sometimes, in the content world we are driven by the story and the qualitative element, but setting some metrics, understanding if something is performing with the audience, is critical as well as understanding if it’s operationally efficient to make.”In Trend Monitor we discuss the newly-released New York Times “52 Places to Go” list and the headline trends including eco tourism and food tourism. Lauren notes that while eco tourism has been around for some time hotels and resorts, in particular, have started to really to up the ante. “I think that makes the job of marketers easier in a sense, the fact that the product has moved so far along so eco tourism isn't that token-istic thing anymore, it really is kind of integrated into the product.”And, finally, in Campaign News we dissect the latest #TassieStyle campaign from Tourism Tasmania, launched in early January and aiming to drive interest in travel to the state during winter. Andrés says it’s a good reminder for destination marketers about the timing of winter campaigns. “You probably need to be thinking about how you can showcase some of the [winter] value proposition earlier on, and really hit those key booking periods. In particular, obviously, this is a great time of year of people coming back from their Christmas holidays in Australia, domestically at least, and they are feeling maybe a little bit sad about having to go back to work.”

Episode #011 - Chris Amson (Tourism WA), NY Times 52 places, Tourism Tasmania's #TassieStyle