Advertising Effectiveness &

Brand Tracking Study

November 2013

Background

OMHT partnered with BPN to create the Explorers Welcome campaign, which launched in September 2012.

The purpose was to encourage tourism by building familiarity, establishing a positive perception of OMHT, and showcasing the scenery, activities and experiences OMHT has to offer.

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Background

In Fall 2013, OMHT and BPN partnered with Strategic Marketing & Research, Inc., (SMARI) to conduct research that:

• Assesses current perceptions about OMHT;• Measures awareness of the advertising campaign among targeted consumers and

assesses any changes in attitude or perceptions that can be linked to the advertising;• Determines the impact of advertising on interest in and likelihood to visit the area;• Gauges consumers’ reactions to the advertising and the key messages it

communicates;• Determines visitation drivers, including the three pillars of heritage and culture,

agritourism, and outdoor recreation.

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Methodology

This research surveyed OMHT’s primary and secondary markets to measure awareness of, and response to, the print and online advertising.

Data was also collected in two investment markets to gauge the potential response to future advertising there.

An e-mail with the survey link was sent to a qualified list of potential participants in the target markets, via an online panel that is demographically representative of the population.

Data was weighted to be representative of the DMAs within which surveys were conducted.

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LearningAdvertising Effectiveness & Brand Tracking Study

OMHT trip specifics

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Q9, 9A,(Select all that apply.) D1, D5.

Travel party and number of visits

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Q7. How many people traveled with you to OMHT?

Q7A. Who traveled with you to OMHT?

Almost 70% of visitors were accompanied by a spouse/partner or other adults. Only 18% brought children.

On average primary market visitors visited OMHT twice since September of 2011, vs. once for visitors from other markets.

Familiarity with destinations Familiarity is a travel precursor: Travelers start planning with a few familiar destinations in mind. Familiarity is highest with the larger, more metropolitan and more established tourism destinations of

Seattle, Portland, Tahoe, and Sonoma Valley. For the Oregon destinations, participants were shown a map with the regions indicated to aid

familiarity. OMHT is among the top three in terms of familiarity among Oregon destinations (behind Portland,

52%; OR Coast, 45%; and “tied” with the Columbia Gorge at 30% top 2 box familiarity).

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Q1. Please select the statement that best describes how much you know of each of the following destinations.

Familiarity with OMHT

Even in our closest market (primary), top 2 box familiarity is only 40%.

Some of this lack of familiarity may have to do with OMHT’s name, or actual boundaries, versus the place itself.

The low familiarity among the investment markets isn’t surprising since OMHT has not advertised there.

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Q1. Please select the statement that best describes how much you know of each of the following destinations.

Recent visitation (past 2 years)

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Q2. Please click on the map to show which region(s) in Oregon you have visited in the past 2 years.

Q2A. Within the Mt. Hood/Columbia Gorge region, please click on the areas you have visited in the past 2 years.

Likelihood to visit (next year)

15% of primary market participants, and 9% of secondary market participants are likely to visit OMHT in the next year.

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Q3. How likely are you to take a leisure trip to any of the following destinations in the next year?

Leisure destination ratings

OMHT’s rating of 3.5-3.7 could be considered “good,” but not much different than ratings for the Gorge or the Willamette Valley.

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Q4. How would you rate each of these destinations as a place to visit for a leisure trip? (1=Poor – 5=Excellent)

Leisure destination ratings

In addition to the 5-point rating scale, participants were given a “don’t know” option. The high number of “don’t know” responses illustrate the challenge facing OMHT. Even among the primary markets, more than one-third (35%) of respondents say they don’t

know enough about OMHT to rate it.

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Q4. How would you rate each of these destinations as a place to visit for a leisure trip? (Don’t know)

Brand perception: Rating of OMHT on attributes

The attributes on which OMHT is rated highest relate to scenic beauty and outdoor recreation.

These are the leisure trip attributes with which respondents most closely associate the Territory.

Rankings are consistent across age groups.

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Q5. How much do you agree that the following statements describe [DESTINATION]?

(1=Does not apply – 5=Completely describes)

OMHT trip specifics: Purpose

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Q8. What was the primary purpose of this trip?

Outdoor recreation and sightseeing were the dominant purposes behind visits to OMHT.

Heritage and culture and agritourism, OMHT’s other two pillars, were the primary purpose for 5% and 4%, respectively.

OMHT trip specifics: Activities

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Q10. Which of the following places or activities did you visit or participate in as part of your trip? (Mark all that apply)

During their visit, visitors were most likely to take scenic drives and to eat at local restaurants.

Beyond these common-sense activities, participants were most likely to visit a national or state park for a hike.

While shopping was a main purpose or visit motivator for almost nobody, 26% of visitors did a little shopping during their stay.

OMHT trip specifics: Influences

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Q11. Of these activities, please indicate if there were any that were a major influence when you selected the destination for this trip. (Choose up to 3)

Outdoor recreation (hiking/backpacking and snow sports) and national/state parks were the major influencers behind the choice of OMHT as a destination.

Museum/historical attractions and wineries/brew pubs were less influential, at 6% and 8%.

Quality of experience

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Q12. Overall, how would you rate the experience you had in Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory?

The vast majority of OMHT visitors report having had a great experience.

Awareness of OMHT ads

Participants were shown OMHT ads and asked whether they had seen them before.

Just more than 13% of primary market participants are aware of OMHT ads, and a slightly higher percentage of secondary market participants.

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Q17A. Have you seen this ad before?

Awareness of individual ads

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Sweepstakes banner, winter

Promotional banner

Brand print

Cost per aware household (CPH)

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One way to look at how well the advertising campaign worked is to look at how much it cost OMHT to reach a target household.

SMARI’s benchmarks are $0.25 per household for a national campaign, and $0.50 per household for a spot market campaign.

OMHT’s results outperform these benchmarks considerably, performing as efficiently as a national campaign, with secondary markets being even more efficient to reach.

By medium, print ($0.13) was a slightly more efficient tool for OMHT than online ($0.17).

Creative ratings

This research also evaluates consumers’ reactions to the creative elements to ensure that they are meaningful and persuasive.

The strength of the campaign is evaluated in terms of the ads’ ability to communicate the intended messages and generate interest in visiting the state.

After viewing the OMHT ads, respondents rated each campaign medium on a 5-point scale in terms of effectiveness at communicating a set of intended messages. Two groups of attributes were used in the process:

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Communication ratings

The ads receive excellent ratings (top 10%) for showing “a place that is good for active adventure.”

Ratings for these ads are in the top 25% of all ads SMARI has rated for showing OMHT as a “fun getaway” where people can relax and explore year-round.

The only communication attribute that received a neutral rating is the one focused on OMHT as a unique experience.

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Q18. Thinking about the ads you have just seen, please indicate how much you agree that these ads...

Impact ratings

Impact ratings move more slowly, typically trailing movement in communication ratings. These ratings are likely to increase over time, as the advertising wears in with the audience.

The ads are drawing ratings in the “good” range for impacting travelers’ desire to visit OMHT, and to learn more about things to see and do there.

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Q19. Please indicate how much you agree that these ads make you…

Impact of the ads

The ultimate goal of the advertising is to cause people to travel to OMHT. There are, however, other measures that are precursors to actual travel that serve as indicators of the ads’ success.

For example, familiarity with OMHT was clearly positively impacted by awareness of the advertising.

The ads are already positively influencing likely future travel.

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While looking at the levels of

overall travel from a market is

important, the methodology

SMARI uses for calculating the

impact of the advertising relies on

determining incremental travel. A

certain level of travel to the area

occurs regardless of the ads, so

SMARI’s methodology accounts

for that by removing it from the

aware travel figure.

For example, if 10% of unaware

households visited OMHT but 15%

of aware households visited, the

incremental travel is 5%. It is only

this level of travel that is

considered influenced.

Incremental travel

Incremental travel is the difference between the level of travel of those who are aware of the ads vs. those who are unaware.

These trips were likely influenced by the ads.

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Incremental travel

OMHT’s ads increased travel to the region by an increment of 2.6% overall. (Only trips that occurred after the advertising began in September are considered.)

Most of the incremental travel came from the primary markets.

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Impact on likely future travel

To gauge the likely impact of ads on the two investment markets (Washington, DC, and Austin), we asked respondents how likely they were to travel to OMHT – both before being exposed to the ads, and after.

The likely impact is positive in all markets. Assuming a comparable level of awareness as in the other markets, OMHT could expect almost 30,000 estimated trips from investment markets.

28*Assumes comparable awareness to other markets

OMHT’s three pillars

Outdoor Recreation, Agritourism, and Heritage & Culture are the three brand pillars. This research gathered information on perceptions and travel behaviors relative to these pillars, and how the advertising has impacted these perceptions and behaviors.

As the prior section shows, the ads are making inroads into the primary and secondary markets, the creative receives good ratings, and the ads are already positively impacting travel behaviors.

The following section explores the dynamics of the brand relative to the advertising, visitation, and perceptions.

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Ad impact on Outdoor Recreation pillar

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Not surprisingly, given the high association with OMHT and Outdoor Recreation, the rating for this pillar overall remains high – and unchanged – among both ad-aware and unaware travelers.

However, the advertising is helping to dimensionalize the outdoors perception. Ad-aware travelers were more likely to choose the Territory for the purpose of enjoying a variety of outdoor activities than unaware travelers.

Ad impact on Heritage & Culture pillar

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The ads also positively impacted the Heritage & Culture perception.

While OMHT’s advertising campaign targeted travelers between the ages of 25 and 54 years old, there was interest in promoting the Heritage & Culture pillar among travelers between 55 and 65 years of age.

The table below shows the age groups most impacted by the ads on this pillar. Note that the table shows the difference between ad-aware and unaware ratings, and not the ratings themselves.

Ad impact on Agritourism pillar

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The Agritourism perception was also positively impacted by the ads.

The brewery/winery aspect of the Agritourism pillar was more impactful among the older age groups, while the farm-to-table Agritourism message appears to resonate more with younger travelers.

Other metrics by age group

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* Sample size for this cell is small.

Ad impact on association with OMHT

Participants were given a list of attractions, and asked which ones they thought were part of OMHT. Ad-aware participants were more likely to get these right, and were also somewhat less likely to get

them wrong.

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Q13. Which of the following do you think are part of Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory?

Conclusions & implicationsAdvertising Effectiveness & Brand Tracking Study

Conclusions OMHT has an opportunity to increase familiarity among the primary and secondary

markets. OMHT is appealing but only somewhat familiar, and that may be because it is not clear in

people’s minds how it is different from the areas that border it. When compared to the competitive set, OMHT does not stand out. This appears to be a

function of low familiarity. There is an opportunity to clarify which events and places are within OMHT’s borders – if

this is an important objective. Outdoor recreation is the pillar that is the strongest visitation driver. Those who have visited the Territory are very positive about their experience. Older travelers seem to be more interested in heritage and culture than younger travelers. Younger travelers seem to be more responsive to farm-to-table dining, and the

juxtaposition of such experiences with opportunities to enjoy outdoor recreation. There seems to be an opportunity to be better known as a family-friendly destination.

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Conclusions Findings regarding OMHT’s Explorers Welcome advertising campaign are encouraging. Awareness is good, and the campaign was efficient in reaching the target audience, even

surpassing SMARI’s benchmarks for cost per aware household. The ads are having positive impacts on perceptions, on visitation, and on likely future

visitation. They are also helping to drive travelers toward OMHT for outdoor recreation activities. Additionally, the ads communicate OMHT as an upscale destination.

Communication ratings for the ads were strong. Impact ratings were slightly weaker. This suggests that the campaign is succeeding in building familiarity and interest, and that impact ratings should increase over time.

There appears to be good response so far among the primary and secondary markets to the advertising, and plenty of opportunity to grow awareness and visitation within these markets.

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Implications: Big picture

This research establishes a baseline for future comparison. It provides a valuable snapshot of brand perceptions and the performance of our campaign among the target audience.

This research suggests that OMHT should continue to define and differentiate the brand:

• Define: What does the territory mean, and what does it encompass?

• Differentiate: What’s unique about what we have to offer? The three pillars are unequal. Outdoor recreation is clearly the dominant pillar. It’s the

anchor of most visitors’ trips – and the meals, winery visits, and shopping go along for the ride. It’s the “crown jewel” in OMHT’s offering, and should be maintained to provide the best possible experience.

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Implications: Big picture

The campaign demonstrates positive ROI in terms of perceptions, visitation, and likely future visitation, which suggests that even if the campaign continued to run “as is”, we could expect continued incremental improvement.

The findings reinforce the campaign’s messaging strategy: emphasize outdoor recreation while educating the target audience about the diverse offering at the Territory.

Wherever possible, continue to watch for opportunities to do a “soft segmentation” of messages in the appropriate media vehicles.

The “low hanging fruit” opportunity is to maximize our efforts against the primary market:

• Encouraging daytrippers to become overnight guests, and encouraging overnight guests to stay for a long weekend.

• Encouraging multiple visits across different seasons.

• Encouraging adults to bring their kids and grandkids along.

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Implications: Tactical

Consider supporting more events which create or tap into visitation anchors. Consider creating multi-day/overnight packages which are synergistic across the three

pillars. Consider harnessing the tremendously positive experience of those who have visited, in

social media or through other messaging. Consider a stronger appeal to families with children, especially for overnight trips. If OMHT wants to promote an upscale image, there’s a nascent perception to build on. Consider tactics for building on outdoor recreation, the primary driver.

• Outdoor events

• Outdoor concierge/rental services

• Upscale/innovative dining where hiking boots are welcome

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