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Discover Delaware Campaign 2018

Discover the First State with your Eyes, not your iPhone

I approached this task from the perspective of a communications professional working under the
direction of Michael Chesney, the Communications Director for the Delaware Tourism Office.
This plan will primarily focus on earned media, but will also utilize owned, shared, and paid
media as well. This campaign will align with the main business objective of the Delaware
Tourism Board, to increase tourism to the state, ranked as the last of the 50 states with only 7.3
million visitors (Thrillist). Further research from Thrillist indicates that a 20% increase within a
year would be ambitious but realistic in beginning to move Delaware up in the rankings. With
recent studies showing an increase in social media usage and social isolation, this campaign
will serve to establish Delaware among millennials as a place that encourages social interaction
and the decrease of social media usage while actually on vacation or a trip.

After researching the target audience of millennials, a major theme emerged. Society has
become increasingly addicted to technology. For example, people begin using their phones
early each day as “89 percent of consumers [look] at their phones within an hour of waking up,”
(Deloitte). Additionally, this addiction to technology has caused a shift in communication among
millennials. Each day, older millennials are twice as likely to interact with friends online than in
person and millennials ages 18-22 are three times more likely (Qualtrics). Around the world,
people have started to take action. In South Korea, millennials’ addiction to technology has
become so severe the government has plans to establish “treatment centres where youngsters
will be forced to live without their mobile phones and computers,” (AlJazeera). This idea holds
true in the United States as well. Adults can now attend a summer camp called “Camp
Grounded” where no technology is permitted (Forbes). As a result of this research, this
campaign is built around the “big idea” of using Delaware tourism as an opportunity to unplug
from technology.

Influencers: This idea will be communicated primarily through the use of social media
influencers who will in effect share with their followers that they will be disconnecting from time
to time and ask their followers to do the same. Additionally, the campaign will take place as part
of a temporary partnership with Apple as the company will be featured as an influencer in this
campaign. In light of the iPhone’s 10th Anniversary and an opinion piece from The Guardian that
criticized Apple for the world’s problems with smart phones, it is hoped that this campaign will
allow Apple to refurbish their brand, while also working to establish Delaware as a place to
unplug from cell phones and social media.

INFLUENCER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

This campaign will rely heavily on the use of social media influencers in order to promote
tourism in Delaware. A social media ambassador program will be established to engage a
variety of influencers. Primarily, Apple will be used as a major influencer as the company has a
vested interest in addressing society’s technology addiction. In addition to Apple, three other
groups of influencers will be recruited and were selected as a result of the research conducted
for this campaign. First, celebrities with a connection to Delaware will act as influencers on
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social media. Additionally, people that make a living from being an influencer will be selected as
well. These influencers reside in the states that have the majority of people that already visit
Delaware (secondary research). The Delaware Tourism Office would also create the opportunity
for emerging influencers to apply to be an influencer for this campaign. The influencer
engagement plan was designed so that the campaign can reach both current and prospective
Delaware visitors.

RESEARCH
Both primary and secondary research were conducted to gain information about Delaware,
millennial travel, influencers, and the way that millennials use their phones.

Primary Research
A survey was administered to 100 millennials at Elon University, Washington and Jefferson
College, Wake Forest University, NC State University, Columbia University, and college
graduates in their mid-twenties. The 100 respondents also included millennials without college
degrees and workers from several professions including firefighters and police officers. The
survey asked a series of questions about: travel companions, frequency of travel, activities
preferred, budget, any trips made to Delaware, impressions of Delaware, and preferred social
media influencers.

Major themes emerged from the survey relating to millennials’ travel preferences. For example,
respondents’ said that they travel often as 44% of respondents said they travel for fun once a
year and 43% answered that they travel for fun more than once a year. Additionally,
respondents showed an interest in dining and outdoor activities as 70% were interested in trying
new restaurants while on vacation and 65% were interested in being outside or doing outdoor
activities. The survey also provided information about millennials’ perceptions of Delaware. Of
the 100 respondents, 81% had never taken a vacation to Delaware. Those that had visited
Delaware said they went to Bethany Beach, Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach and the University
of Delaware. When asked what came to mind when when asked about Delaware, a few people
mentioned beaches and the University of Delaware, but an overwhelming majority said they
thought about the state’s small size or that they never thought about Delaware at all.
Participants also shared some of their favorite influencers on Instagram and people mentioned
various athletes, people from The Bachelor, the Kardashians, as well as several bloggers.

Secondary Research
Influencers
The Huffington Post defined influencers as “individuals who have the power to affect purchase
decisions of others because of their (real or perceived) authority, knowledge, position, or
relationship.” Social media influencers play a huge role in today’s society as the “[employment]
category is a $1 billion dollar industry and it’s projected to grow to $2.4 billion in just two years,”
(CBS News). Influencers can make a living from their social media. James Nord, the CEO of
Forh Card (a company that focuses on influencer analytics) explained, “ [If you have] 100,000
followers on Instagram, you probably make $100,000 a year; 200,000 followers, $200,000;
300,000 so on and so forth. So, people at a million followers should quite easily be able to make
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$1 million a year," (CBS). Influencers also have a major impact on the travel industry as more
millennials rely on social media than travel agents when making decisions about travel (Forbes).
Additionally, when selecting influencers for a campaign, it is important to “know your target
audience,” “find values that align with yours,” “have a goal,” and “have a crisis plan in place” if
any issues arise (The Huffington Post)

Delaware
Delaware, also known as the first state, is on track to have a population of 1 million people by
2025 (US News & World Report). The state’s population is diverse with 22% identifying as
black, 4% identifying as Asian, and 9% identifying as Hispanic with the remainder identifying as
white (US News & World Report). Delaware has a more diverse population than other New
England states such as Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire; states with populations that are
about 96% white (ABCNews). Additionally, Delaware offers tax-free shopping and hosts the
popular Firefly Music Festival each year (US News & World Report). The state also features
several popular beaches including Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany Beach,
Dewey Beach, Lewes Beach, and Fenwick Island (Visit Delaware).

Delaware Tourism
The most recent report from the Delaware Tourism office shared that in 2015, 8.5 million people
visited Delaware and the state generated $486 million in fees from the corporate profits tax,
sales taxes, and public accommodation taxes (Visit Delaware).The report also shared that of all
the visitors to Delaware in 2015 31.6% came from Maryland, 15.2% came from Pennsylvania,
12.4% came from New Jersey, 11.2% came from Delaware, and 5.9% came from New York
(Visit Delaware). Approximately 25% came mainly from other states. In 2015, tourism
contributed to 5% of the state’s GDP (Visit Delaware). Only 5% of the visitors to Southern
Delaware in 2016 were millennials (Visit Southern Delaware).

Millennial Travel
Millennials clearly regard travel as an important experience. A survey from Realty Mogul
showed that 47% of people, 18-34, said they would rather spend money on travel than on
purchasing a home (CNBC). Additional millennial travel trends include the idea of “bleisure,” or
adding a few extra vacation days to a business trip (US News & World Report). A recent
international study by Airbnb also provided some information regarding how millennials travel.
Among the most notable findings, Airbnb found that 55% of American respondents said they
would prefer to stay in “cool, local neighborhoods” and 75% of American respondents wanted to
try local dining options instead of restaurants they could find at home (Airbnb). The majority of
American respondents also said that they would rather explore the area and see what they find
instead of visiting tourist attractions (Airbnb). Over 75% of Americans surveyed said they would
prefer to plan their own trip instead of going on a “packaged tour.”

Severity of the Digital Addiction

One study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine “assessed associations between
social media use (SMU) and perceived social isolation (PSI) among U.S. young adults,”
(Primack, Shensa, Sidani, Whaite, Lin, Rosen, Colditz, Radovic, & Miller, 2017, p. 1) The study
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found that participants with higher social media usage had higher perceived social isolation
(Primack et al., 2017, p. 7). For the purpose of this study, the researchers defined perceived
social isolation as “the perception of being socially isolated and lonely” which has been linked to
“mental and physical conditions” (Primack et al., 2017, p.2). Another study found that “people
felt worse and less close to others when mixing computer-mediated and [face-to-face]
communication than when interacting solely [face-to-face],” (Kushlev & Heintzelman, 2017, p.7).

COMMUNICATION PLAN

Goal: The goal is to help the tourism office achieve 20% growth in tourism by focusing on the
fast-growing millennial tourism market.

Target Market: The target market for this campaign will mainly be the 79.8 million American
millennials (Pew Research Center).

Strategy 1: Launch Influencer Engagement Plan through Social Media Ambassador Program

Tactic 1: Recruit Celebrity Ambassadors. Due to busy schedules, the celebrity ambassadors
would only do a day trip and could attend restaurants, beaches, and other popular locations.
The celebrities would be allowed to bring along a few friends or family members but would have
to give up their phones. The tourism board would send a camera crew to capture clips for their
social media accounts later on. The celebrities would also be interviewed at the end of the day
(by Apple) about what they enjoyed in Delaware and the experience of not having a phone.
Celebrity ambassadors would include actress Aubrey Plaza as she is from Delaware and
starred on Parks and Rec, former US Vice-President and US senator from Delaware Joe Biden,
as well as Delaware Governor John Carney, Miss Delaware USA 2017, and Miss Teen
Delaware USA 2017.

Tactic 2: Recruit Famous Influencers. Certain influencers would be selected to attend a free
weekend trip along with their friends and family. They would also be asked to download the
Discover Delaware app to disconnect from social media and texting but would be given a
camera to share memories on Instagram later. A total of 8 famous influencers will be recruited.
Kate McCulley as well as Murad and Nataly Osmann will be selected as they were named by
Forbes as top travel influencers for 2017 (Forbes). Additionally, McCulley has experience
working with tourism boards (Forbes). Former contestants from the Bachelor Becca Tilley and
Joelle Fletcher would be recruited as several survey participants reported that they follow them.
The other influencers will come from states that already have the most visitors to Delaware.
Leandra Medine and Grace Atwood from New York, Nikki Brooks-Revis and Eliza Romero from
Maryland, Kristin Summers and Amanda Culen from Pennsylvania, and Everyday Cori and Lillie
Morales from New Jersey were chosen for these reasons.

Tactic 3: Recruit Aspiring Instagram Influencers. The Tourism Board would select 20 Instagram
users with at least 1000 followers. In order to recruit these users, the celebrities (from Tactic #2)
would share a link for them to apply. Half these participants would be selected to attend a free
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weekend trip along with their friends and family.The other half would be invited to attend the
Firefly Music Festival. Delaware’s Firefly Music Festival is certainly a popular event as it had
nearly 90,000 people in attendance in 2015 and 2016 (Delaware Online). Members of both
groups would be asked to download the Discover Delaware app and given a camera to take
photos to post later. An article from Time explained that millennials “understand how to turn
themselves into brands, with "friend" and "follower" tallies that serve as sales figures,” (Time).
W. Keith Campbell, a psychology professor at the University of Georgia, explained, “People are
inflating themselves like balloons on Facebook.” (Time).

Strategy 2: Engage Apple as an Influencer

If Apple agrees to partner as an influencer, the company would post content on all of their social
media channels encouraging people to put down their iPhones and explore their surroundings.
The company would also share social media posts about experiencing Delaware without social
media. Representatives from Apple could be the people to conduct on-camera interviews with
the celebrities (Tactic #2) about the experience of exploring Delaware without their cell phones.
Though it may seem counterintuitive for Apple, this partnership can act as the company’s
corporate social responsibility. If Apple advocates for people to disconnect from their
technology, the statement will carry more weight due to their reputation. An opportunity exists
for Apple to brand themselves as a transparent company that gives back to its customers. This
strategy also aligns with a national trend of making corporate social responsibility a priority.

Strategy 3: Establish a Netflix Reality Show that Incorporates Digital Detoxification

Tactic 1: Recruit Cast Members. The cast would consist of “every day” millennials and they
could upload a video of themselves on their Instagram explaining why they should be selected
for the show and use the hashtag #DelawareDetox. A role on this show could appeal to
millennials as an article from Forbes found that “one in 10 millennials would choose fame over a
college degree,” (Forbes).

Tactic 2: Establish the Show. The show would be called “Delaware Detox” and cast members
would stay in various AirBnB’s and have challenges all over Delaware. The show would also be
sponsored by Camp Grounded, a California-based camp that helps adults to unplug (Camp
Grounded). To make the show difficult, cast members would not be allowed to have their
phones and would have to “detox” from social media. The show would demonstrate the severity
of society’s technology addiction while also using humor as well.The show would be shown on
Netflix, as the company had around 104 million subscribers as of June 2017 and is known for
launching its own shows such as Orange is the New Black and House of Cards (CNN).

Strategy 4: Design a Discover Delaware Experience for every day millennials

Tactic 1: Make an App. For this tactic, a tourism app would be designed which allows millennials
to experience Delaware. The app would include coupons for Lyft and Uber, a setting to disable
social media and texting for the duration of the trip, a link to an Airbnb special of the week, and
links to restaurants and activities at each beach location. Additionally, the app would provide
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information and directions to Delaware locations featured on Delaware Detox and the social
media ambassadors. Finally, the app would include directions to the Delaware Tourism Office if
visitors wanted to check out a camera instead of using their cell phones to take pictures.

Tactic 2: Progressive Dinner. As many survey participants expressed that they want to try new
restaurants, several restaurants at each of the beaches would host a progressive dinner so that
visitors could experience many different restaurants in a short period of time. Experience
Columbus (Ohio) hosted a similar event called “Columbus Ale Trail” which allowed visitors to
experience many brewpubs around the city (Skift). The progressive dinner was chosen for this
tactic because meals can be a social experience and participants would be encouraged to use
the social media and text disable setting during this experience.

Detox Periods
Detox periods wills vary. Celebrity influencers will give up their phone for day and be followed by
a camera crew. Social media influencers and aspiring influencers will be asked to download the
Discover Delaware app to disconnect from social media and texting for a weekend.

Stakeholders
Stakeholders will include the Delaware Tourism Office, the citizens of Delaware, the Delaware
state government, the social media influencers, Apple, and Delaware businesses new and
established.

Evaluation
This campaign primarily focused on the goal of increasing tourism by 20%. The major standard
for evaluation will be whether or not we achieve this 20% growth in tourism.

Budget
Celebrity Influencers: $50,000 Trips for Social Media Influencers: $12,000
Camera Crews for Celebrity Influencers: $11,250 Trips for Emerging Influencers: $20,000
Day Trips for Celebrities: $2,500 Delaware Detox Production: $1,000,000
Social Media Influencers: $70,000* App Development: $150,000
Total: $1,315,750 The total budget is exponentially less than Hawaii’s total advertising budget of $82
million (U.S. Travel Association). The cost difference comes from earned, shared, and owned media
(public relations) versus paid media.
*Payment based on industry standards and ethical guidelines