The manager for recreation and tourism within Forest NSW approached Engineroom to help her facilitate the launch of a tourism and recreation body within Forests NSW.
The aim was to:
Develop a consumer-facing brand that will drive commercial value and improve FNSW's relationship with the broader community
Increase Tourism development within State Forests i.e. events and Tourism Operators within sustainable levels
Increase tourist visitation within State Forests within sustainable levels
Identify and understand current user groups of State Forests
Increase awareness/profile of FNSW Tourism assets, services and facilities offered to general public. Change perception of Forestry Corporation
We implemented a three-step process to achieve the project objectives:
research, strategy development and positioning
visual communication, brand identity, usage and guidelines
development of 1-3 year communication strategy
In this stage Engineroom gained:
An understanding & assessment of Forestry Corporation's vision, mission, values, business plan, current services, capabilities, limitations and internal culture
An understanding of Forestry Corporation's competitors i.e. National Parks and other State Forests
Category and future industry trends e.g. eco tourism
An insight into customers, both commercial outdoor operators and end users - outdoor enthusiasts. Their beliefs and motivations, basis for loyalty and the role Forests NSW played in their lives
Once the brand positioning and tagline was agreed upon we developed the visual communication
Brand identity
Brand Elements
Style guidelines
Introductory collateral such as: pull up banners, web banners, social media presence, PowerPoint templates and press and editorial adverts
Due to limited budget and limited internal support a cost effective strategy was developed focussing on targeted print and digital mediums
Target specific marketing
Social media
Tourism publications, newspapers and information booklets e.g. South Coast Style, Pacific Coast, Focus Magazine, Go 55s, Great Escapes etc
Entering Tourism Awards
Event specific marketing and sponsorship
The team at engineroom design co. are the creative force behind our exciting new tourism branding and communication strategies. They have been extremely easy to deal with, interpreting our needs and goals into exciting imagery and tools which are successfully moving our organisation in a desired direction.
The team is personable, friendly, smart - and they deliver. They understood the constraints and pressures surrounding our project, and have maintained a fluid and dynamic approach to working with us that I know will see our relationship continue into the future.
Over the course of the campaign as the Tourism brand obtained more and more internal backing the look has evolved to be more mature and slightly more corporate to greater align the Tourism brand with Forestry Corporation
This was done slowly without compromising public awareness on the campaign created thus far, resulting in a seamless and low cost transition
annually to NSW State Forests
and growing
FCNSW Tourism & Partnerships team has grown from 1 employee in 2012 to 6 & an additional 10 permanent contractors
FROM UNDER 20 EVENTS AND 10 TOURISM OPERATORS PER YEAR, THEY NOW HAVE OVER 100 EVENTS AND TOURISM OPERATORS
Dedicated Tourism Pages as part of the Forestry Corporation corporate website
Forestry Corporation received the gold award for Destination Marketing at the North Coast Tourism Awards for three consecutive years and was inducted into the Tourism Hall of Fame in 2016
FROM 0 FACEBOOK LIKES TO
19,500 LIKES
In 2016, FCNSW engaged a consultant to undertake a project to benchmark the attitudes of NSW residents towards forests and the environment and benchmark current perceptions towards FCNSW. Over 400 people were surveyed from urban, rural and regional areas across NSW
Results supported the work in tourism branding and marketing
Increased awareness of:
Public access to recreational sites
FNSW link to State Forest Recreational sites
Changing the potential mindset conflict of LOgging vs conservation vs eco tourism
The overwhelming majority of those surveyed found tourism marketing material positive and format is familiar and creates a sense of 'trust'
"Experience a Forest Playground" catch-cry and logo were perceived as "positive and playful, welcoming and inviting"
FCNSW now plays host to a range of sporting events including the International World Rally Championship held annually.
Engineroom have played a major role in reshaping community perceptions of Forestry Corporation, and in "gathering our tribe" of people who love to Visit NSW State Forests. Since the 2012 presentation of a proposed Tourism Brand Strategy for Forestry (which we adopted as-is) we have worked with Bec and her team to create bold and effective marketing collateral for NSW State Forests.
We now have over 27.9 million visitors to NSW State Forests annually and growing, and have positioned ourselves as a desirable location for commercial tourism operators as evidenced through increased demand for our tourism product. This is reflected nowhere better than in our own resourcing of our FCNSW Tourism & Partnerships team (from 1 FTE in 2012; now a team of 6 FTE + 10 permanent contractors in 2016). Our Tourism Brand Strategy has worked and continues to do so with the help of engineroom.
Industry recognition via tourism awards also reflects the success of our tourism marketing. In particular, we have won the gold award for Destination Marketing at the North Coast Tourism Awards for 3 consecutive years, and have been inducted into the Tourism Hall of Fame for same in 2016. None of this would have been achievable without the great work and creative energy of the engineroom team.
Native Forests Forests NSW
Manager Recreation & Tourism 2016
Native Forests Forests NSW
Manager Recreation & Tourism 2016