DAS1

Digital Advertising Strategy – Bunk Campers 1

The History of Bunk Campers …………………………………… PAGE 002 Bunk’s Long and Short-‐Term Objectives…………………….. PAGE 003 Market Trends – Car and Motorhome Rental……………… PAGE 005 Bunks influence on the market………………………………….. PAGE 006 Customer and Target Audience Analysis ……………………. PAGE 007 INTERNATIONAL target audience……………………………… DOMESTIC target audience…………………………………………

PAGE 008 PAGE 010

NOTE – This project is also available in virtual book form. Please go to… www.issuu.com/stevengurney/docs/das1

Contents!


The History of Bunk Campers Established in 2007, the award winning Bunk Campers brand has grown to be one of the largest campervan hire companies in the UK with a fleet that is 100% company owned. Before Keith and Louise started Bunk Campers, they were career-‐minded thirty-‐somethings wondering what to do next. Taking time out to travel, they found themselves exploring Australia and New Zealand in their trusty campervan when they were hit with a ‘big idea’… On returning to Ireland they established Bunk Campers, a modern day budget campervan hire business with a fleet of vehicles that are bang up to date! Bunk are the only all-‐Ireland campervan rental company and have recently expanded -‐ now offering campervan hire in Scotland with depots located only 10 minutes from the Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh airports. (Gurney, 2012)

Bunks future Last year Bunk Campers became the largest campervan and motorhome rental company in the UK and Ireland by opening their Edinburgh based rental station, and adding a further 15 vehicles to the fleet. This year they are expanding even further with new locations in Prestwick, Glasgow and London. Bunks future directly depends on the success 2013’s bookings. Bunks digital strategy is a large part of this success. (Bunk Campers, 2013 [iii]) Bunk continues to lead the charge in the digital domain, but there are still many areas where they could be doing more.

From humble beginnings, Bunk have now become the

largest campervan and motorhome hire company in the UK!

Did you know? Bunk Campers were the first campervan rental company in the UK to

integrate digital payment solutions! It wasn’t long before rival companies

took notice.


Bunk’s Long and Short-‐Term Objectives Bunks objectives are directly influenced by seasonal change. Bunks customers traditionally book 6 months in advance of their holiday (Bunk Campers, 2012 [i]) – meaning that customers who book their campervans in the month of March will be travelling in September and October – this in turn highlights several key groups of customers worth focusing on. This will be discussed in depth on page 007. Short Term Objectives Bunk Campers maintains a day to day document internally referred to as ‘Sales tracking’ (Bunk Campers, 2013 [ii]). It’s an excel document which details the day to day status of all 50 vehicles. Information includes each vehicles booking status, the depot in which the vehicle is currently situated and details about the customer who is currently renting the vehicle. Off season, the document also contains data about the mechanical welfare and taxation status of the vehicle. Looking at March 2013’s ‘Sales tracking’ document, it becomes easy to pinpoint areas of concern (aka blank gaps where vehicles are not booked out by a customer) within the next 8 weeks. Filling these gaps is a short term sales objective (Corkin, 2011 [i]). The easiest way of filling these gaps in sales is short term sales promotions – I will talk extensively about this at a later point in this report. Vehicle utilisation is of paramount importance to Bunk – Each vehicle must be on the road a specific number of days out of the year in order to pay for itself and turn the required amount of profit (Wells, 2011 [i]). This years required vehicle utilisation is around 65% or 200 days out of the year(Wells, 2013 [ii]).. Success or failure for the rental calendar is calculated by the number of days on the books. This years minimum is 6000 days.

{200 days per year, per vehicle x 50 vehicles = 6000 days} Failure to maintain short-‐term momentum can have a very detrimental effect on the company’s longer-‐term objectives. If vehicle utilisation is running behind schedule by the end of the summer, it becomes much more difficult to pull the sales back in the winter months, as less and less people go travelling. Luckily, Bunks sales for 2013 have been incredibly strong (Bunk Campers, 2013 [ii]), leaving very little gaps in Sales Tracking, which allows a digital strategy to focus on gaining new customers, rather than try to fill last minute availability. As previously stated, Bunks customers traditionally book 6 months in advance of their holiday, so Bunks main short term objective is simply to…

• Develop a strategy for the months of September and October, which will go live at the end of March. If the digital strategy is successful, bookings will come in for September and October, and Bunk maintains its momentum into the winter months.

Long Term Objectives Long term objectives are traditionally formed as a result of successful short term objectives being achieved. Bunks main long term objective is for the Ireland portion of the business to successful reach 6000 days on the books. This will allow Bunk to continue to expand in new areas like Prestwick, Glasgow and London. Future expansion is only capable if the core of the business is both efficient and self-‐sustaining.

• Maintain the momentum of the existing business, as a means of supporting future expansion.


Additional Objectives -‐ Branding Issues 2013 sees a refresh of the bunk campervan line-‐up. Bunk has introduced two new campervan sub-‐brands. – The remodelled ‘Ranger’ and the brand new ‘Nomad’. Establishing the brands in the eyes of the consumers and Bunks tour operator partners around the globe must be part of any digital campaign in 2013 (Charlton, 2013 [iv]).

Historically, confusion between the sub-‐brands has been the result of misunderstandings on the part of the Tour Operators (Charlton, 2013 [iii]) who sell packaged Bunk trips around the world. However recent qualitative studies have suggested that there is significant confusion on the part of the online customers regarding the unique benefits and drawbacks of the different vehicle types. This is something to consider during the implementation of any digital advertising campaign in the near future.

“Traditionally, online customers have struggled to understand the subtle nuances between the different sub-‐brands. Adding a remodelled Ranger and the Nomad into the

mix is sure to complicate things, not just for our online customers, but for our network

of tour operators too.”

-‐ Keith, Managing Director


Market Trends – The Irish Tourism Industry

The above information is published by Tourism Ireland as part of their monthly SOAR (Situation, Outlook and Analysis Report) (Tourism Ireland, 2013 [ii] [Online]), which looks at key trends in tourism for the island of Ireland. Bunk checks this information monthly to keep on top of key trends. INSIGHT: The report itself is rather lengthy, but the above paragraph is of particular note as it addresses two of our target markets (outlined later in this report). Germany is in positive movement, while French tour operator activity fell by 4%. PLEASE NOTE: Market trends have only been touched upon in this part of the report. Market trends will be covered in depth throughout the strategy part of the report, where trends become more pertinent. Market Trends – The Campervan and Motorhome Rental Industry The idea behind camping and motorhome holidays is not a new one by any means, however the packaging of such holidays within a commercial context is rather new. The trend emerged from Australasia, where companies like Spaceships and Wicked first pioneered a ‘cheap-‐as-‐chips’ packaged campervan experience. It was also in Australia that Keith and Louise Charlton, the Managing Directors of Bunk Campers first found their inspiration…

“Both Spaceships and Wicked were renting out 8 year old vans, Old Bangers! And they were making a mint! When we came back to Ireland we checked out the completion and found that where was a gap in the market for a youthful, but middle class take on the ‘down under’ campervan package experience.” (Corkin, 2011)

“Even back then we were thinking that we could take this little idea to an international audience, and that Ireland was a stepping stone.” (Charlton, 2011)

The market in Ireland was stagnant; the only competition was Celtic Campers, who catered for retirees from Holland. Bunks arrival spawned copycats in the form of Vanderlust and Detour, both of which have not been able to capture the success of Bunk thus far. “Internationally, Spaceships and Wicked had their eyes on us. They used to rent four-‐

person or two-‐person campers, then they copied us and started sub branding their vans but we were the first to do it. We’re seeing nearly every major player worldwide using our foreign marketing as a model for their own packages.” (Corkin, 2011)


At Bunk we believe in being trend-setters, not trend-

followers. We’re never afraid to experiment, especially when it comes to our marketing and

digital strategies

Bunk is changing the market… 1 – Bunk were the first Irish rental company to truly exploit the power of the internet. Where other companies had relied heavily on their websites to be sources of information, Bunk established their website as an enabler – allowing customers to book their own holiday online with a digital checkout. Not advanced stuff for 2007, but still ahead of the competition. 2 – Bunk invest heavily in their vehicles – every vehicle owned by Bunk is under two years old and comes jam packed with cutting edge technology and extras. 3 – Bunk are an award winning investor in people, having received several awards from local government – something unmatched by rival companies. 4 – Bunk have the largest network of tour operators of any rental company in the UK and Ireland – and its still growing! 5 – Bunk are the first and only Irish campervan rental company to date, to expand into mainland UK – they have the biggest fleet too.

Keith Charlton, Managing Director of Bunk Campers


Customer and Target Audience Analysis To understand the Bunk customer, one must first understand where Bunks customers come from – To make this section clearer, I have divided Bunks customers into two groupings – International Customers and Domestic Customers. INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS -‐ Bunk have a two-‐pronged approach to attracting new international customers – Their own website (bunkcampers.com) and a large network of renowned international Tour Operators.

INSIGHT -‐ Bunk would like to attract a larger amount of customers via their own website, as the profit from website bookings is more profitable (Bunk pays a 10-‐20% commission rate for Tour Operators). This is where digital strategy is key. (Charlton, 2012 [ii]) However, Tour Operators cannot be ignored completely, as they lend a certain amount of International legitimacy to the business. They also serve as a functional sales partner in international countries, to customers who may not find the Bunk brand online of their own volition. PART 001 – TOUR OPERATORS When Bunk Campers first began, Tour Operator bookings accounted for almost 80% of the company’s business. As of today, tour operator bookings account for 45% of the company’s business. Tour operator bookings have not fallen, rather Bunks own online presence is much stronger today than in 2007. Tour operators…

• Have access to exclusive deals like extra bedding and hot water bottles in the winter

• Share strong business bonds backed by personal relationships

• Share daily correspondence with Bunk

• Actively sell on Bunks behalf


PART 002 – BUNKS WEBSITE Bunks website is accessed yearly by around 120,000 users and accounts for roughly 55% of the company’s bookings. Bunk has been eager to raise its online booking ratio to around 75%. Currently customers find bunkcampers.com by a variety of means…

• Search engine searches • Paid Search engine keyword links (adwords campaigns) • The Google extended display network (via adwords) • Links from tour operator sites • Links from supplier sites • Links from sales sites (like usedcarsni.com) • Social Media (Facebook, wordpress, Twitter, Linkedin)

These methods will be broken down and covered extensively in the next section of this report, alongside a charted customer journey of the Bunk site. For now however, we will look at the numbers and personality profiles of international customers…

THE INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMER

Tour Operators Accounts for 450 bookings (45% of overall bookings)

Bunkcampers.com Accounts for 550 bookings (55% of overall bookings)

WHO IS THE [INTERNATIONAL] TARGET AUDIENCE?

French Customers who book in March and travel in September German Customers who book in March and travel in September

Using an important internal Bunk document called ‘Bookings by Nationality’ (a compendium of the previous years bookings according to the nationality of the driver of the vehicle) we can surmise that our key demographics for a digital campaign are French customers and German customers (Bunk Campers, 2012 [i]). How this conclusion was reached – Using the knowledge that Bunk customers book an average of 6 months in advance of travel, one must look at the ‘Bookings by Nationality’ document and count forward 6 months. Looking at the document, one can see key rises in the number of French and German customers travelling in the months of September and October. Any digital campaign must target these customers NOW, 6 months in advance of travel, to secure their booking. NOTE – This important ‘Bookings By Nationality’ spread sheet is summarised in the appendices.


INTERNATIONAL Target Audience Personality Profiles Several years ago, Tourism Ireland (the corporate function of Discover Ireland) identified a key demographic of customer, hitherto referred to as a ‘Sightseer and Culture Seeker’ (Tourism Ireland, 2013 [i]). This subset of ‘Sightseer and Culture Seeker’ perfectly encapsulates the traditional Bunk Campers customer. This report has sourced the Tourism Ireland breakdown of the Sightseer and Culture Seekers’ within our two target groupings. IMG SOURCE (Tourism Ireland 2013 [iii] & [iv]) NOTE (i) – These breakdowns have been used internally by Bunk Campers for the last 3 years as a means of profiling and generating appeals to their target customers. Any digital strategy recommended in this report will also adhere to Tourism Irelands ‘Sightseer and Culture Seeker’ generalisations for our target groupings. NOTE (ii) – Particular attention should be paid to the ‘NI potential’ field. This report will use these estimated figures as a means of calculating a percentage of the target groupings that are likely to visit Derry/Londonderry, city of culture on their travels.


DOMESTIC CUSTOMERS – There are several key ways that Bunk can reach a domestic customer -‐ conversion of walk-‐in enquiries, sales promotions via social media, the Bunk website, festivals and once off events.

THE DOMESTIC CUSTOMER

Walk-‐in Enquiries

Social Media

Website

Festivals

WHO IS THE [DOMESTIC] TARGET AUDIENCE?

Last Minute Local customers who can be reached via sales promos How this conclusion was reached – Bunk do not keep up to date records of the demographics and booking dates of domestic customers. This assumption is based on first hand interviews conducted with members of staff and is based on several key pieces of information…

• Domestic customers book all year round

• Domestic customers are more likely to be swayed by sales promotions and discounts

• Domestic customers who are susceptible to sales promos are often reached via facebook

• Many domestic customers are people who are thinking about buying a campervan for

themselves and want to see if the lifestyle of suitable for them – so they rent in advance.

MOST IMPORTANTLY – domestic customers fulfil a valuable service as they can be targeted at a moments notice if an international booking falls through. This helps maintain a vehicles utilisation and overall momentum. Domestic customers tend to vary greatly, therefore an accurate personality profile cannot be drawn up, we can however chart their buying behaviours ie. – the fact that they are susceptible to sales promotions and last minute booking in exchange for discounts.


Reference List Corkin, L [i] (2011) Personal Conversation. Placement Interview. Bunk Campers Head Office, Belfast, 05th November. Corkin, L [ii] (2012) Personal Conversation. Placement Interview. Bunk Campers Head Office, Belfast, 10th February. Corkin, L [iii] (2013) Personal Conversation. Digital Advertising Strategy Interview, 12th March. Corkin, L [iv] (2013) Telephone Conversation. Digital Advertising Strategy Interview, 14th March. Charlton, K [i] (2011) Personal Conversation. Placement Interview. Bunk Campers Head Office, Belfast, 05th November. Charlton, K [ii] (2012) Personal Conversation. Placement Interview. Bunk Campers Head Office, Belfast, 10th February. Charlton, K [iii] (2013) Personal Conversation. Digital Advertising Strategy Interview, 12th March. Charlton, K [iv] (2013) Telephone Conversation. Digital Advertising Strategy Interview, 14th March. Wells, D [i] (2011) Personal Conversation. Placement Interview. Bunk Campers Head Office, Belfast, 05th November. Wells, D [ii] (2013) Telephone Conversation. Digital Advertising Strategy Interview, 14th March. Tourism Ireland (2011) [i] Tourism Ireland FACTS: 2011 Ed. Dublin, Ireland. Tourism Ireland. Available from: http://facts.tourismireland.com/2011-fact-figures Tourism Ireland (2013) [ii] SOAR (Situation, Outlook and Analysis Report). Dublin, Ireland. Tourism Ireland. Available from: http://www.tourismireland.com/Home!/Latest-Presentations-and-Reports/Tourism-Ireland--Situation-and-Outlook-Analysis-Report_1.aspx Tourism Ireland (2013) [iii] Sight Seekers and Culture Seekers: France. Dublin, Ireland. Tourism Ireland. Available from: http://www.tourismireland.com/Home!/Research/Target-Market.aspx Tourism Ireland (2013) [iv] Sight Seekers and Culture Seekers: Germany. Dublin, Ireland. Tourism Ireland. Available from: http://www.tourismireland.com/Home!/Research/Target-Market.aspx Gurney, S (2012) [i] About-‐us. Belfast: Bunk Campers. Available from: http://www.bunkcampers.com/en/why-‐bunk/about-‐bunk-‐campers/ Bunk Campers (2012) [i] Bookings by Nationality Report. Belfast: Bunk Campers. Bunk Campers (2013) [ii] Sales Tracking; March. Belfast: Bunk Campers. Bunk Campers (2013) [iii] Monthly Summary; February. Belfast: Bunk Campers.

DAS1

Documents

year bunk campers

holiday bunk campers

history of bunk campers

sales tracking bunk

largest campervan

bunks customers

motorhome rental page

bunks future