News

At least our marketing is working at home! My daughter surprised me in July when she asked for an "Ahipara Day" as a special treat for her birthday. I was delighted and put together something based around her interests - a helicopter tour over the city and visits to a few designer boutiques as well as a trendy little French cafe. She's a very mature 8-year old. However, my second daughter... > Read More

Added: 6 Nov 06

That little ridge in the centre of the photo is where you can find Silver Pine. Obviously the location (on the cross-bar of the H formed between the junction of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea) is quite special. If you have a look on their website, you will also see that the architecture is special. What is not immediately apparent - and another reason why web-searches alone cannot give you... > Read More

Added: 6 Nov 06

Our marketing trip to Russia at the end of September went very well. As we expected, there was an almost desperate requirement for any sort of information as to what was available in this country. The Russian monied classes have travelled most... > Read More

Added: 22 Oct 06

Takaro Lodge is not what one would expect. Not a "discerning" place for the lodge trophy hunters. No ties for dinner. No lists of sanctioned local activities. No "children not allowed" rules. And no spa which only pays lip service to modern spa... > Read More

Added: 18 Oct 06

We spent the last 12 days trialling a top of the range Maui campervan in New Zealand's South Island. This also gave us the opportunity to catch up with some existing suppliers and some new suppliers. We will occasionally profile some of these in... > Read More

Added: 16 Oct 06

We were delighted when Jean-Michel was asked onto the Steering Committee looking at the future of tourism for Auckland. Quite apart from the recognition this showed, it also allowed small innovative businesses a voice in this process. The... > Read More

Added: 8 Oct 06

"Experience" is the latest buzzword to fall foul of tourism marketing people. Research tells them that "experiences" are what travellers want, therefore, as good marketing professionals, everything they look at suddenly become "experiences". ... > Read More

Added: 19 Sep 06

Grigory was our first client - way back at the start of 2001. He and I were sitting at Auckland Airport and he was taking his leave before boarding his aircraft back to Russia. He had spent the morning out at Great Barrier Island surfing with... > Read More

Added: 30 Jun 06

So many times we have explained to people that we can only work wonders if we know our client. If we know what they like, what they don't like in terms of activities, approach, pace, control. Therefore our first response to an enquiry is... > Read More

Added: 15 Jun 06

We're talking with an Auckland corporate. We had an introduction and rather than talk about "events" I wanted to talk about client relationship management. As a former management consultant, business and business jargon don't hide many... > Read More

Added: 6 Jun 06