Reflections Chief Marketing Officer Pete Chapman

Reflections Holidays, the largest holiday park group in New South Wales, will throw down the travel gauntlet this week during Channel 9’s State of Origin II to reveal a large-scale advertising campaign designed to inspire Australians to take a break – even if not as originally planned.

Reflections Chief Marketing Officer Pete Chapman said the “Travel Near” campaign – which showcases how local travel is a brilliant alternative when global uncertainty kiboshes best laid plans for holidays further afield – was devised after the organisation surveyed 10,000 of its Loyalty Club guests as the fuel crisis broke in March. 

“We wanted to understand how our guests were impacted by the rising prices at the fuel pump and so we surveyed them every two weeks, and their initial responses told us that while they were really worried about the increase in travel costs, they still wanted to get on the road and were prepared to be flexible, for example shortening their itinerary or travelling closer to home,” Mr Chapman said. 

Drawing upon the data, Reflections – which operates 40 holiday parks in NSW and reinvests profits back into its holiday parks and the 45 reserves it cares for – was able to:

• Introduce a $25 fuel offset voucher for guests to use in March and April

• Offer a fuel voucher for staff in its regional parks, assisting with their costs

• Introduce a highly successful Locals Deal, including discounts and a free night of accommodation with bookings of four days  

Mr Chapman said his team developed the Travel Near campaign as an extension of these “crisis deals” not only to benefit their customers, but because he believes brands need to back themselves and work harder during economic uncertainty, rather than hide in the corner and pray for the best.

“The research we gathered was not only an incredible source for informing our own strategy, but we were also able to share it with our industry peers, government agencies and governing bodies to assist the industry at large in our collective response to the ongoing fuel and cost of living crises,” he said.  

“The data gave us a real-time understanding of where consumer sentiment sat in relation to travel and this solved that typical issue of research being delayed, meaning the data is redundant once published.”

Mr Chapman said the Travel Near campaign, which will roll out across broadcast TV, SVOD, BVOD, radio and digital – was designed to inspire action, as opposed to leading with a retail offering.

“We chose this approach as we usually do because it will drive immediate demand while still building long term desire for the brand, as opposed to heavy retailing more typically seen in these times which we believe erodes brand equity and operational margin,” he said.

“Times are uncertain and ironically people need a holiday more than ever but they are not sure what to do, so we saw the opportunity to lessen the confusion by serving an easy, approachable option right on their doorstep.”

“We think the campaign will stimulate regional domestic tourism broadly, which is fine by us.  If we are doing something that can help small operators in regional locations that need it most, all the better. 

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