18 | Dunedin: Dunedin Airport T T Richard Loader Awards showcase airport’s iniatives The marketing campaign was directed to residents in Hawke’s Bay and Dunedin, and designed to boost demand for travel between the two locations, in both directions. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3 Benson Close In Collaboration with the Dunedin Airport. A marketing campaign initiated by Dunedin Airport and Hawke’s Bay Airport, and run in collaboration with Air New Zealand and NZME, was recognised at the 2023 Grand Business South Business Awards. Dunedin Airport was named Finalist in the Marketing Excellence category for its project designed to boost demand for air travel between Dunedin and the lower South Island and Hawke’s Bay. Dunedin Airport’s CEO, Daniel De Bono, says entering the Awards and named Finalist, provided the opportunity to showcase the airport’s initiatives and actions to connect Dunedin and the lower south with the rest of the world. “People don’t fly to airports; they fly to destinations. Dunedin’s purpose as an airport is to share the beauty of the lower south with the world, connecting people, businesses and communities to the treasures that make up this part of New Zealand. Entering the awards also provided the opportunity to celebrate the hard mahi put in by our team throughout the campaign, and particularly Megan Crawford, our GM Business, who did the bulk of the campaign work at both ends of the route – Dunedin and Hawke’s Bay. The project is something that we’re immensely proud of and it’s nice to have received the recognition as a Finalist.” The spark for what became a very successful collaborative campaign, occurred when Dunedin Airport examined its unserved markets — those markets where people fly into from Dunedin but there is no direct service. “Top of the list was Hawke’s Bay,” says Daniel. “We’ve been working on a direct domestic route between the two airports, which we currently don’t have. This campaign allowed us to boost demand through the indirect network to test the waters for a direct route. Effecting that change is slow and long, but we can now measure what the demand for air travel is between the two destinations. The end game is to gain a direct service.” Essentially, the campaign was a multi-airport and airline marketing campaign directed to the residents in Hawke’s Bay and Dunedin, and designed to boost demand for travel between the two locations, in both directions. “Airports don’t operate in isolation. When we talk about air-route development, which is about growing demand between destinations and the route network, you have to work on both ends of the route. For us that was collaborating with Hawke’s Bay Airport, and Air New Zealand as the national carrier.” Through multiple NZME channels, including on-line and radio, Hawke’s Bay residents saw real stories and material promoting Dunedin, while Dunedin residents saw the same thing about Hawke’s Bay. “Marketing is really about bringing a subject front of mind, so the campaign was about getting the destination as a primary thought. For Dunedin it is really about a far broader catchment and part of the country.” The campaign, which Daniel believes to have been the first collaboration of its type between two airports and the national carrier, was run over two, two-week periods in 2022; August and September, achieving 2.5 million impressions in one two-week period alone. “There was also a spike in indirect bookings over the periods of the campaign – Hawke’s Bay – Wellington – Dunedin and vice versa — but that was the point of the campaign. I “f you can build the indirect demand then you get closer to the carrier making it a direct service. That’s why Air New Zealand was an important key partner. They can see where people are ticketed to — bookings from Hawke’s Bay with Dunedin the final destination. They were able to monitor reaction to the campaign by comparing bookings to the week before the campaign went live, and see where the spikes were. More work will continue in this space working towards a direct service between Dunedin and Hawke’s Bay.” Dunedin Airport is the fifth biggest in New Zealand, serving not only Dunedin, but also the lower South Island, which has a catchment of about 365,000 residents throughout Central Otago, Clutha, Waitaki District, and Dunedin. “Last year, there were 925,000 combined arrivals and departures with a third leisure, a third business and a third visiting friends and relatives. In FY23 Dunedin Airport generated $140m in GDP for the local economy, supported about 1233 full time jobs in Dunedin city. Last year, Dunedin Airport re-set its strategic vision, which we have named ‘Flight Plan 2050’, where we intend to be a sustainable and thriving gateway in the lower south. “From a regional perspective we want to connect up the lower south of New Zealand using the next generation of zero emissions aircraft.”
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