Beware of sceptical consumers: Jasons Travel Media is getting some heat because of a recent marketing video in which the company emphasised how much travelers still love print media.
Jasons, a specialist in online travel information in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific, launched a new campaign last week along with a 22-second marketing video that was filmed in Auckland Airport, New Zealand.
The time lapse video showed how travelers emptied its brochure stand (at the airport) in just 2 hours and 31 minutes.
But something wasn't quite right.
New Zealand-based motel industry blog Motella looked closer at the video and noticed that only two people empty the entire brochure stand, simply by changing their clothes and wearing hats, etc.
Motella then decided to create a slow-motion version of the clip to highlight its findings.
Clearly something a bit untoward was going on. Adding fuel to fire, it later emerged that one of the two chaps who appeared in the video was none other than Jasons marketing manager, Pascal Languillon.
This week the YouTube video was changed to "private", with another clip being uploaded with the same content but with a caption: "This video is staged".
Local tittle tattle, to some extent, but in some countries (the UK, for example where the Advertising Standards Authority takes a dim view of such things) Jasons might find itself in a bit of trouble.
Nevertheless, Tnooz spoke to Pascal Languillon about the episode:
What was the aim/objective of this campaign?
Jasons is a leading provider of travel information in New Zealand, the South Pacific and Australia.
Our love print campaign is targeted at the New Zealand travel industry and designed to raise awareness about the fact that travellers still use print publications when dreaming, planning and booking their travel.
Because of the digital era we live in, there is now widespread belief that print is dead, and that it’s only worth advertising on the web or mobile to generate bookings.
We believe that this approach is dangerous, because it is only based on suppositions and not on facts or research. The reality is that travellers still love print!
We have distributed ten million tourism brochures over the last year, so we are well placed to know that there is still huge demand for those. We therefore believe in using a multi-media approach to tourism marketing.
What's your comment to the allegation that the video is faked? Did all brochures really got picked in 2 hours 31 mins?
No, this video was not faked, because it was not the intention to pretend this was reality. This video was just an illustration, trying to make a point.
Ads are always a bit provocative and exaggerated, otherwise they are just plain boring, aren’t they? It does not really matter if those brochures fly off our stand in just 10 seconds (definitely pushing it…) or less than 24 hours (the reality).
What matters is that despite widespread belief that print is dead, most people still love print.
Was it you who appeared multiple times in the video?
Yes, I appear in the video as well as another team member.
In reality, the video was filmed in just 12 minutes and then compressed to about 10 seconds, so in fact there was a lot of running around to empty this brochure rack.
When we finished, intrigued people waiting in the departure lounge gave a round of applause, which was quite unexpected and funny.
Why the 22-second YouTube video in your website was marked 'private'?
It has now been changed, since we have uploaded a new video ad after removing the imaginary timeframe and making it clearer that the video was staged.
Obviously our goal is to raise awareness, not to mislead anyone, despite what Motella was thinking.
Is print media still relevant in this digital market place?
Of course it is. It is really a mixed media world, and both print and digital are important, and that is why our company is providing travel information on all platforms (web, mobile, email and print).
We have placed trackable phone numbers in our print publications and we can see how many phone booking enquiries our print ads generate.
We have been pleased with those results: 100% of our print advertisers get phone calls. A recent independent research showed that 78% of hotel bookings in New Zealand are still made offline.
So how can people think that print is dead? Print is not dead, it is just changing and adapting, and with online and offline integration, print is actually getting more exciting than ever!