ChatGP wrote my bio, and I love it
Like many people I have been playing around with ChatGP to learn more about how it works, what it can do, and if it is capable of writing with emotion, and reflecting a brands personality.
Today I asked ChatGP to write my bio, and I'm impressed with the result. It's a great start, and has saved me significant thinking time.
Bio written by ChatCPT - Alison McDowell, Director Roadmap Strategy
Alison McDowell is a strategic marketer and proven brand builder with a passion for creating strong, meaningful and lasting relationships between organisations and their customers.
Prior to founding her own business, Roadmap Strategy, she had a successful career in marketing, sales and strategy at organisations such as BIG4 Holiday Parks, RACV and Zoos Victoria.
Her expertise in brand building, customer engagement, strategic planning and business development has seen her recognised as a judge of the Victorian Tourism Awards, and appointed as a non-executive director of The Otis Foundation.
In addition, she is the founder of Live Love Work Port Phillip, an initiative that works to connect and support local businesses in the Port Phillip area.
Alison is an experienced and successful leader with a track record in developing and executing strategies that result in growth and success for her clients. She is passionate about helping businesses to understand their customers, build strong relationships and develop strategies that deliver real value.
Alison is an enthusiastic advocate for small businesses and the potential they have to make a real difference in the community. She is committed to helping businesses to grow and thrive in a competitive market, and her passion and enthusiasm for the success of her clients is evident in her work.
Brief provided to ChatGP
Who is Alison McDowell - write an article please
- Strategic marketer
- Passionate about building brands
- Judge - Victorian Tourism Awards
- Founder - Live Love Work Port Phillip
- Director - Roadmap Strategy
- Non-Executive Director - The Otis Foundation
What is cause related marketing?
Cause-related marketing is a mutually beneficial collaboration between a for-profit and a non-profit designed to promote the for-profit sales and the non-profit cause.
A great example of cause-related marketing is the relationship between Qantas and UNICEF Australia. Twenty three years ago, these organisations created their highly successful Change for Good partnership. The partnership invited Qantas passengers to off load unwanted foreign currency after travelling on an international flight, and has collected in-excess of $28 million to support UNICEF’s global child health, child protection and education programs.
Successful cause related marketing starts with selecting the right partner.
For-profits need to understand their customers values and what’s important them. When selecting your non-profit partner consider the relevance to your business ie industry, geographic connection, size, shared values and vision.
Choosing the right partner with a natural fit will improve engagement with your customers and brand association value and deliver better return for all parties.
Examples of industry collaboration ideas include:
- Camping industry - supporting dark sky conservation
- Accommodation industry – supporting OTIS Foundation
- Supermarket – supporting food charity
- Family fun experience – supporting Humour Foundation
Aligned values is critical to successful long term partnerships. Shared organisation values, supported by strong relationships between their people become the glue that build strong lasting partnership, that campion and celebrate each other’s businesses for the benefit of both organisations.
With consumers increasingly defining themselves with the brands they use, it is no surprise they are prepared to pay more for products and brands that that reflect their personal values.
So choose carefully, the benefits and value for all parties can be immense driving for-profit sales, promoting the non-profit cause, and stronger customer relationships.
Roadmap Strategy is a niche marketing agency based in South Melbourne. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to explore and develop for-profit and non-profit cause related business partnerships.
Successful Christmas campaigns build brands by tapping into our emotions.
John Lewis is famous for their Christmas campaigns. The essence and value of these campaigns is in their ability to build an emotional connection with their audience to ensure the brand is in the audience consideration set when choosing a Christmas shopping retailer.
With a big brand approach, John Lewis develops a deep emotional connection integrated across tv, outdoor and print, and supported instore, merchandise, social, and public relations.
Roadmap Strategy’s favourite John Lewis Christmas Campaign remains the 2014 classic, Monty the Penguin.
Monty won hearts around the globe with a story of friendship, giving and of course love. The campaign performance metrics were off the charts, with over 350m social media views, soundtrack reached #3 on iTunes charts, 89% of tv audience had seen the ad at least once, and the campaign delivering GDP 141 incremental income for John Lewis.
However the 2014 John Lewis Monty the Penguin campaign, had an additional layer that made a real difference. Partnering with two charities, John Lewis promoted WWF’s Adopt a Penguin scheme to help support their work in conserving penguin habitat. In addition John Lewis donated a portion of every Monty the Penguin book sold to children’s charity Barnados’.
WWF reported a 350% increase in Penguin Adoptions, as a direct result of the campaign, and indirect value returned though awareness of the plight of penguin habitat, and knowledge of their broader adoption program.
John Lewis 2014 Christmas campaign is unquestionably one of the best they have delivered. It strengthened their brand, ensured they were in the consumers Christmas retailer consideration set and supported causes close to the audience’s heart.
Authenticity and connecting with your customers in an emotional way is where the magic happens. And this is never more pronounced and import as Christmas.
Roadmap Strategy is a niche marketing agency based in South Melbourne. We welcome the opportunity to develop your next campaign and get the rubber hitting the road, and helping you achieve your business goals.
Purposeful thinking is repositioning Toyota
Toyota is undertaking a once in a century profound transformation. “Moving forward, Toyota will provide a diverse range of mobility services and transport solutions to people around the world as we transform Toyota into a mobility company” says Toyota President Akio Toyoda.
As the global ‘mobility partner’ of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Toyota has been working with Australian para-athletes to refine their equipment to ensure they can perform at their best.
Engaging the community in their journey as they transform into a mobility company is critical for Toyota’s success. Toyota engaged Saatchi & Saatchi to create a campaign to showcase their ‘mobility for all’ philosophy.
This ad is the centre piece of the campaign. It immediately captures the audience’s attention, sharing the brutal reality of wheelchair rugby, giving the audience insights into the strength, skills and determination of our incredible athletes......and the demands on their equipment.
The audience will see leadership, innovation, purposeful thinking and start repositioning Toyota in their mind from being a vehicle manufacturer to a mobility company bringing the ‘joy and freedom of movement to all’.
We hope you enjoy the Toyota ad, and meeting Riley Batt, OAM, Australian wheelchair rugby player and duel gold and silver medallist at four Paralympic Games.
We’d love to know how this ad made you feel. Please share your thoughts with us at hello@roadmapstrategy.com.au
Why entering awards is good for business
Entering awards are good for your business, your brand, and your people. This article explores the benefits of entering awards and how to get the most value for your business.
Awards give your business a story of excellence, build your industry profile, and recognise the hard work and achievements of your team.
While winning is great, and is often rewarded with a trophy, press interviews and bragging rights, but don’t underestimate the value and promotional opportunities of entering and not taking home the gold.
This is why you should enter awards and thoughts on how to leverage your entry, and how to step it up when you win.
Brand differentiation
Becoming an award-winning business is a great way to set yourself apart from your competition. It also aligns your business with the best of industry, giving your customers another reason to select you over another business in your sector.
Promotion - celebrate your entry and your result
Being associated with an industry or business award is an excellent PR opportunity before, during and after the event. As soon as you have entered, start sharing your story, pride at entering and aligning your brand with the award brand which is likely to include; excellence, leadership and prestige.
In the lead up to and during the event share your journey with your audience; build your story of excellence, share your teams excitement leading up to attending the awards, and pride at attending the ceremony.
Building Relationships
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and building connections with other entrants cannot be under-estimated.
Win, loose or draw, be gracious and promote, celebrate and support all entries in your category with a post on social media and phone call to personally congratulate fellow entrants. Not only is it good manners, it aligns your brand with the best in class and that’s always a good thing.
Take a step back from your business
Preparing your entry forces you to step back and look at your business from a different perspective. You will identify your strengths, weaknesses, achievements, uncover new opportunities and interrogate and refine your business and marketing strategy.
The process will uncover opportunities for improvement, and that’s got to be good for business.
Boosts team morale
Awards remind your team of the great work that has been done, why they should be proud of their effort, and give everyone an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate their achievements.
Regardless of winning, entering or being a finalist, awards are a very public way of recognising everyone’s hard work and commitment.
Build your credibility
When awards are judge by industry-leaders and experts, winning builds recognition of your teams work, and certifies your place within the industry. Feedback on your entry from industry experts is invaluable resource you may not normally have access to.
Attracting talent and investment
Businesses who enter and win awards are recognised as being or inspiring to be best in class. This positioning helps attract and retain the best employees, and opens doors and dialog with partners, alliances and potential investors.
Entering awards are good for your business, your brand and your people, giving you a story of excellence and commitment to share with your audience to build your business profile, and recognise the hard work and achievements of your team.
Nominations for the Victorian Tourism Awards close on 30th June
We encourage our tourism colleagues to nominate and enter the 2021 Victorian Tourism Awards.
Now is the time to celebrate your business, tourism in Victoria, and share your story of resilience and excellence with your loyal supporters and potential visitors.
Our founder, Alison McDowell is a six year veteran Victorian Tourism Awards Judge. If you need to be convinced how important entering the awards are for your business and your town, give Ali a call on 0411 135 317 or email alison@roadmapstrategy.com.au
Find out more
About the 2021 Victorian Tourism Awards
Smart brands don't go dark
When the people couldn’t visit the little penguins at Phillip Island, Phillip Island took the penguins into lounge rooms across the globe - 25 million times.
Madeline Blaer, Monash University uncovered a number of insights from this virtual initiative that included; watching the penguins became a ritual for people, helped people cope during lockdown, built communities, audiences built relationships with Rangers wanting to visit to meet them, conservation messages connected and the audience took action, and the initiative positively influenced future visitation from intrastate, interstate and overseas.
Phillip Island Penguin Parade did not go dark. They built stronger relationships with existing visitors, amplified their voice globally when competitor brands fell silent, and built their brand awareness and knowledge.
Phillip Island Nature Park grew their share of voice in a mostly silent market, as a result the little penguins and Phillip Island have entered the consideration set of a higher proportion of consumers.
Congratulations Phillip Island Nature Park on an exceptional industry leading marketing initiative.
If you need a hand developing with your marketing or brand strategy, or next marketing campaign, give Alison McDowell a call to discuss how Roadmap Strategy help you get the rubber hitting the road and your business achieving their marketing and business goals.
Destination Canada - a campaign on point
Destination Canada’s ‘Heartbeat of Canada’ campaign has been developed to inspire Canadians to travel locally, and it is brilliant.
An integrated campaign that launched on 23rd May with National Tourism Week, it was supported by a tourism anthem video, locals sending postcards to their friends, and now regions strengthening the campaign with local messaging.
Our article takes a quick look at each aspect of the campaign, and explores how this campaign is connecting with the people and how it will make a real difference.
Launching with National Tourism Week, the industry came together to demonstrate the enormous value tourism brings to the life of Canadians. While they acknowledged the incredible difficulties of the past year, they showed their industry is strong, and ready to welcome back visitors when the time is right.
National Tourism Week was marked with the launch of their new Tourism Anthem. Set to the timing of our beating hearts, it highlights the makers, business owners, performers and people that make up Canada’s tourism sector. It showcases the richness of diversity, heartbeat of their country, and spiritual connection to place. I dare you not to be moved watching this video.
With 39% of Canadians expecting their first trip to be visiting friends and relatives, Destination Canada’s local postcards initiative connects and inspires and VFR travel. Canadian’s simply enter the web portal, select a postcard with a message such as ‘Miss You, Come Visit’, type a personal message and recipients address, and Destination Canada print and mail the postcard at no cost to the sender.
Destinations across Canada are now releasing their own campaigns to build on the Heartbeat of Canada campaign. Destination Toronto has just released their Love Letter to Toronto. Another exceptional production, the video that connects the audience with Toronto Ambassadors who offer their diverse perspectives on the city they love and call home.
Heartbeat of Canada is an integrated campaign at its best. Powerful, emotional, spiritual and most importantly authentic, the campaign connects its audience with the place, the industry, their friends, its cities, and its people.
It's like an orchestra, with each piece adding to the brilliance and power of the performance. An exceptional campaign, that shows that when we work together, and all sing from the same hymn book we are more likely to be heard.
I cannot wait to watch this campaign continue to build, grow, and roar.
If you need a hand developing your destination marketing campaign, give Alison McDowell a call to discuss how Roadmap Strategy can work with you to create a campaign to build your destination brand and achieve your business goals.
How to choose the right advertising channels
Consumers are served over 10,000 advertisements every day.
Understanding how to develop and execute an advertising strategy that will cut through the noise, and achieve your desired advertising goals is more important than ever.
Success relies on a number of factors including; your brand, your target market, your creative, getting the media mix right, and of course your budget.
It’s about constructing integrated messaging across the right media, that seamlessly engages the target audience. And when you get this right, your audience responds, and you achieve the desired goals for your company.
Here are some tips to consider
Budget - Be clear on your budget. This will help you prioritize the channels that will give you the best return, and achieve your campaign goals.
Know your audience – Have a deep understanding of your target market, know who they are, where they are, how they consume media, understand their values and how to speak to them.
Good creative and messaging will make your campaign – work with the best agency you can afford. Develop a solid brand and creative platform and stick with it – remember you’ll get tired of you creative before your consumers have even caught on to it.
Know your competitors – Know what they are doing, where they are advertising and if it is working. Don’t be obsessed, but learn, listen and leverage.
Be clear on your advertising objectives - Prepare a cracking brief – the best briefs return the rockstar status work. And ensure your product, brand, and value proposition are clearly defined.
Be brave– your media choice will be informed by your brief, budget, product and brand. At all times keep the customer at the centre of your media decision making, and think beyond social media and digital - traditional media will often deliver better cut through in a less cluttered market . And be brave, test and trial new media .
Measure, measure, measure – Measuring and monitoring the performance of your advertising is critical to allow you to adjust your advertising strategy to continually improve performance
When you reach the right person, at the right time with the right message you will achieve your goals.
If you need a hand developing your advertising plan, creative and messaging, give Alison McDowell a call to and let Roadmap Strategy help take away the pain and get the rubber hitting the road.
What do resilient businesses do differently?
Why did some businesses bounce back more quickly after Victoria’s year of double disasters? What did these businesses do differently?
Victoria University and Victorian Tourism Industry Council collaborated to investigate the impacts of crises on the Victorian visitor economy to develop strategies to help the industry build resilience to future crises and shocks.
So why did some businesses fair better during 2020 the year of double disasters – bushfire and pandemic? What did they do differently? The report identified that the most resilient businesses had strengths in planning, were connected and collaborated – working on their business before the double disasters put them in good stead to the resilient.
We believe the learnings from this report can be adapted to any business and any industry, and provide us all with an opportunity to build resilience in our own businesses and industries.
The top-line learnings from the report were:
Resilient businesses are;
- Accredited
- Connected and Collaborate
- Technology users
- Planners
- Leaders
Resilient destinations have:
- Strategic Tourism plans
- Collaborative leadership
- Regulatory support
- Stakeholder engagement & Communication
Beneath these findings it was also identified that businesses and destinations that had a Risk Analysis within their suit of business planning tools where more likely to bounce back more quickly. While no one would have considered a pandemic as a risk, having considered other risks to their business and how to manage these was a learned skill that these businesses were able to quickly adapt to the pandemic.
It should also be noted that businesses who had previously entered the Tourism Awards were more agile, resilient and also bounced back more quickly than other businesses - another testament to businesses who have business and marketing plans in place were better prepared, able to pivot and weather the storm.
We would also suggest that successful brands didn't ‘go dark’ during 2020 and maintained relationships with their customers, and increased their share of voice in the market will result in bouncing back faster. We know that brands who go dark loose share of voice in market, and their space is taken up by competitors. The result - brands that go dark are slower to recover and often never really catch up. On the other hand brands that maintain or grow their share of voice in market during difficult times are more likely to thrive in sales and profit growth.
If you’d like to learn more, click on the link to the report. Or if you would like to chat though your business resilience and how we can help you give Ali a call on 0411 135 317 or email alison@roadmapstrategy.com.au
Victoria University - Building The Resilience of Tourism Destinations to Disasters:
The 2020 Victorian Bushfires and COVID-19 Pandemic - April 2021
https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/tourism-resilience-report.pdf
Brands getting it right
No question, 2020 has been a shocker for many brands, and as we enter 2021 we will need to come to terms with how we navigate the recession.
Research of the past four recessions shows each has followed the same pattern, some businesses don’t survive, most take three years to get back to where they were, and 9% flourished.
So what did those who flourish do differently:
- Balance between cost cutting and operational spend
- Increased marketing, R&D and new assets
- Cost cutting focused on improving operational efficiency rather than cutting staff
- Stayed closely connected to their customers needs
- Increased their share of voice
Businesses who maintained or grew their advertising spend during recessions not only set the company up to survive the recession, but they thrived in the period that followed.
This result has nothing to do with the recession, it has everything to do with advertising share of voice. Simplistically, if you are the only brand in the market advertising and promoting yourselves, your brand becomes the only brand in the segment for the consumer.
While during the recession it is likely you will experience a reduced return on your advertising investment, you will likely increase market share, and once the economy improves your chance to maintain market share is strong.
The choice is yours, you can stay brand bright, maintain and grow your market share, and attract customers from your competitors………..….. or you can go dark.
What are you going to do?
