Objectives -  ​

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Get North Island put back onto the map for Ski New Zealand in Australia.  ​

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The ski travel trade and Tourism NZ had removed Mt Ruapehu from their programmes after years of declining service, commitment and information from the ski area.  Destinate NZ as engaged to rebuild those relationships, manage stakeholders in the region, and grow winter business into the Central North Island. ​

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There was also an added challenge that Mt Ruapehu was primarily a domestic destination – approx. 90%, and they all tended to want to visit on the weekends, leaving the mid-week quiet.  Kiwis will book midweek but if the weather isn’t looking favourable, they cancel in big numbers, leaving the region empty.  We identified that the Aussies would come anyway once booked, and they would explore further than the ski areas.  For our families and first time ski audiences, we promoted it as a North Island winter holiday rather than just a ski holiday – and we included experiences like Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton as part of the road trip from Auckland. ​

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The terrain at both Whakapapa and Turoa is some of the best in NZ, with both ski areas being the two largest so for the advanced riders, and those who liked to get off-trail, Ruapehu offered a lot for them.

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Target Audience – ​

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• Families with young children​

• First time skiers ​

• Advanced riders looking for something new ​

 

Communication Channels – ​

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We adopted a multi-channel approach to our communications as we literally were starting from scratch.  We attended ski and snow consumer shows, TRENZ and other trade events, we used PR to get coverage in national newspapers and ski magazines in Australia, we hosted agents, influencers and journalists right through the winter months to get our story into market.   We launched events that would attract major freeride talent, and offered attractive first time ski packages to beginners. ​

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We collected emails from every show we attended, and incentivised visitors to sign up to get access to earlybird offers and deals, and access to special events.   ​

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We partnered with airlines, hotels, and other tourism related businesses to create joint marketing campaigns.   And we led two regions into a campaign – the first of its kind in the ski industry – two local councils financially supporting it on top of their RTO funding, and Tourism NZ matched it to create a $500k Australian campaign.  Ski wholesalers and travel trade leveraged our activity to turn awareness into conversion.

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Key Messages – ​

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• You can ski in the North Island of NZ…. And it’s good! ​

• Central to everything – ski in the morning, surf in the afternoon​

• Loads of fun activities in the region – bungy, skydiving, rafting, jet boating (on a par with Queenstown)​

• Great local food and drink – more sophisticated than you think ​

• Most of all – Geothermal – warm up at the end of the day in geothermal hot pools on your doorstep.  (Unique to us) ​

 

Results – ​

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Mt Ruapehu wasn’t just included back onto the New Zealand ski map, it led the campaign!  Filming for the Australian TVC took place onsite and we were featured in every ski wholesaler programme. ​

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During the first year, bookings were slow as we expected – we had a lot of work to do in the awareness space, but by year three, agents were reporting that people were calling to ask for Mt Ruapehu!  Agents regained their trust in us, and were happy to include us not only in brochures, but also as the lead for their campaigns. ​

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After the first year, I was then employed full time by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts as their GM Sales & Marketing and was there until July 2020 when they made my role redundant due to the border closures. ​