Retrieve, Re vive, Relate.

OAKArt… A recommended

experience!!!

2014

COMMUNICATION FOR THE TOURISM IDUSTRY CHARA YIANNIKOPOULOU, SOFIATSEMPERA

INSTRUCTOR: CHRISTODOULAKIS ELIAS CN 6004 A1 AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE

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Table of Contents

Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2

Situation Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 3

Our Product ............................................................................................................................... 5

Key Publics ................................................................................................................................ 6

Stakeholders ......................................................................................................................... 8

Target Audience .................................................................................................................... 9

SWOT Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 9

Goal & Objectives ................................................................................................................... 11

Strategic intent ....................................................................................................................... 12

Message Style ......................................................................................................................... 14

Tactics ...................................................................................................................................... 15

Timeline & Budget .................................................................................................................. 19

Evaluation ............................................................................................................................... 20

References ............................................................................................................................... 22

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Introduction

In this project we are going to analyze and focus on the Greek abandoned Olympic venues,

and on the O.A.K.A area. We aim to proceed to the restoration of the specific Olympic venue

through a very extensive communication plan. Our customer is OACAD University who want

to promote the OAKART idea to the Greek market and specifically to the Greece’s ministries.

We will emphasize on our research, through the prism of strategic communication tools and

we will examine the present situation after ten years of abandonment and its future

perspectives under the light of possible challenges, prospects and possible threats.

We are going to analyze the major aspects of our strategy based on the theories and

practices in order to understand better the needs of our case study and to familiarize with

the OAKART idea because we believe that we want to attract a very difficult key audience

that are the Greek ministries, it is a must to follow specific strategies that are going to lead

us in an agreement.

For that reason the concepts of stakeholders and publics, our goals and objectives we have

to take under consideration in order to guide us to the formulation of a detailed

communication plan.

Finally, we are going to focus on the message styles, on our tactics and how we will

implement on our campaign.

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Situation Analysis

Ten years have passed since the organization of the Olympic Games of Athens, but the

Olympic properties look like they are abandoned for one more decade. A visit in these

properties is enough and every citizen will understand and realize images of destruction

and abandonment. Whole stages as softball and basketball is in disrepair, images

misery observed and in other athletic priorities and people in these specific areas start

complaining.

It is obvious, a country that lives in economic recession cannot afford the high cost of

maintenance of the Olympic properties. For that reason in the year 2005 parliament

passed the law to change the use of Olympic facilities in order to allocate to private and

commercial use.

The problems started before the beginning of

the Olympic games, the responsible ministers

wasted time and money in order to find a

correct location for the properties because

their goal was to have the Olympic venues the best reclamation after the games and

finally selected the dispersion of facilities in no tourist areas the siting of facilities didn’t

follow the successful model from other countries where the Olympics used as a catalyst

for the regeneration of a depressed central urban area.

Also, in the location of O.A.K.A stadium that was the heart of Olympic Games, where

took place the opening and closing ceremonies we can find signs of abandonment. Until

today the stadium has not been utilized as a theme park as was the plan in 2004.

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However, the need is through extensive research ministries to find an initiative in order

to assert the stadium and the surrounding area in relation to the games in 2004, the

ministry of tourism is in contact with competent institutions and examine proposals in

order to transform the Olympic Stadium into a tourist and Greek citizen destination.

Our goal and role as a team of Public Relations specialists of TGHS strategic corporate

planning company is to make a clear and understanding communication campaign for

our customers Canadians architectures that want to make a proposal for the

restoration of O.A.K.A stadium to responsible ministries and municipalities. We believe

that the restoration of Athens Olympic Sport Center is an opportunity for our country

and we want to be part of the whole transformation journey.

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Our Product

The restoration of the Athletic Olympic Sport Center as a multidimensional destination

through the interactive

Kinect installation and

augmented reality.

Stadium’s renovation is not

the difficult part of our

project, we need something

to differentiate, to attract

the ministries and in the

future the audiences. In order the whole area to be a unique Greek attraction.

The originality of our proposal is documented and enriched by the history and culture,

the diversity, the tradition and every tourist source and authentic component of the

destination Greece.

Our product is named OAKArt is an interactive Kinect Installation about the History of

the Olympics, by contemporary Greek art it shows another side of Greek culture that is

sometimes overshadowed by its past.

The user stands in front of specific stations, each station will represent a unique sport.

When the user is in a position in front of the station, will see a historic image of the

sport projected to the big screen of the wall of agora area. When the user mimics the

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pose of the ancient athlete correctly the image will transform into a modern

contemporary Greek artist’s implementation of the ancient sport.

The user will have the choice to scan two Augmented Reality tags located beside the

projection to get more information about the history of the specific sport and the

contemporary Greek artist. The contemporary Greek artist will change every few

months to keep visitors coming every time for something different as an exhibition at

an art gallery.

Key Publics

Producers:

Groups and individuals that will contribute to the implementation of the project.

OCAD. The organization that proposed and introduced us OAKArt project which

we are responsible to promote.

Ministries (Ministry of tourism, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of education,

Ministry of athletics). All public bodies that could potentially contribute to our

project either by licensed it or fund it.

Funders

Donors

Artists. All contemporary artists that will give their art pieces in order to be

displayed at the OAKArt project.

Personnel.

Constructors.

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Enablers:

Groups or individuals that serve as regulators by setting the norms or standards for the

project, opinion leaders with influence over potential customers and everyone else that

help make OAKArt successful.

Professional associations

Governmental agencies

Mass Media

Travel agencies

SETE (Association of Greek Tourist Organizations)

EOT

Tourist / Cultural / Technology conferences

Opinion Leaders

Limiters

Anyone that undermine the success of the project.

Opponents (Based on financial crisis). There will be many to be against to the

project due to the fact that Greece is facing a severe financial crisis and

expenses for such a project might seem a kind of lavishness for the country.

Competitors. Museums, amusement parks and other tourist attractions that

could reduce visitors traffic us alternative solutions of entertainment.

Secondary Customers (Visitors):

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Any group or individual that will visit the new Agora and the OAKArt project.

Families

Tourists

Tourist Agencies

Educational Institutions (Schools, Universities, Colleges)

Artists

Athletes

Local communities

Stakeholders

Internal Stakeholders:

OCAD

Construction company

Funders

Sponsors

Investors

Distributors

Suppliers

Employees

Artists

Legal advisors

Government

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External Stakeholders:

Visitors / Consumers

Media

Regulators

Opinion Leaders

Local Communities

Target Audience

In this specific case we are targeting the government, all kind of decision makers like

the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, SETE, EOT, Travel blogs, tourist agencies etc.

We are targeting all opinion leaders and decision makers that are relevant to the

tourism industry in order to have their contribution for our mail target which is the

government and specifically the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and the

Ministry of Interior to license the project.

SWOT Analysis Strengths:

Combination of both education and entertainment.

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This project gives the opportunity to the visitor to have a unique experience

that combines knowledge and amusement. The visitor not only can enjoy

himself with all the outdoor activities but also learn about the ancient Greece,

the history of the Olympic Games, Greece’s heritage and contemporary culture

and art.

Family and children friendly. OAKArt is a perfect alternative for families with

children as they can participate to the activities together, there is a lot of free

outdoor space for the children to play and many options for parents to enjoy

themselves.

Innovative and pioneering.

OAKArt is pioneering and unique idea that combines new technologies (Kinect)

and new forms of entertainment.

Suitable for all ages.

Potential to make Athens an international destination.

Promotion of Greek ancient history, culture and modern art.

Weaknesses:

Difficulty in transportation.

The access to the Olympic Stadium (OAKA) is quite difficult in terms of public

transportation for those who stay downtown which is the majority of tourists.

Not suitable for all weather conditions.

The downside of the project is that OAKArt is located in an outdoor setting that

is not suitable in case of bad weather.

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Opportunities:

Restoration and utilization of an abandoned Olympic Venue

Great potential tourist attraction

Worldwide publicity for Athens and Greece

Opening of work positions (job offer opportunities)

Promote Greek culture/contemporary art

Source of income

Based on the new law about tourism industry that supports new touristic

products, secures the quality of tourist services and foundations and

modernizes institutional frameworks concerning certain special forms of

tourism OAKart has the opportunity to be successful

Threats:

Legal abeyances (legalization of Olympic Venues).

Financial crisis.

Competitors (museums, amusement parks etc.).

Goal & Objectives

Goal:

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Our goal is to restore the abandoned Olympic Venue through the Kinect

technology, in order to retrieve its old glory and all the visitors can have the

opportunity to revive the Greek history and the Olympic spirit and relate to

our country’ s culture.

Also our goal is for us and our project to be included to EOT’s strategic plan

for the years 2015, 2016 that aims to the expansion of the city breaks with

trial destinations to Athens and Thessaloniki as well as all themed touristic

products that enhance those specific destinations against international

competition

OAKart and EOT share the ambition to promote proposals for special

audiences like educational tourism, school tourism, cultural tourism,

heritage tourism, pop culture tourism, archeological tourism, sports

tourism

Objectives:

Raise awareness about OAKArt project.

Inform about all the possibilities of the project.

Find budget for the implementation of the project (sponsorships,

donations).

Attract interest.

Motivate the public.

Strategic intent

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Our strategy is to organize, develop and promote tourism in Greece with the full

potential of the country. Following specific tactics and promoting the country through

the restoration of Olympic venues we support the overall tourism market with a very

strong product “Greece”, Olympic Games and Greek contemporary art. Our nation has

the routes and the knowledge to succeed to go one step further its cultural heritage.

Also, we want to enhance the value of Greek tourism, in collaboration with the

Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior,

Ministry of Athletics and tourism industry and all stakeholders / key influencers in

order to increase incoming tourism choices and tourism revenues, as well as w. Our

operation guided from the development of tourism and the rehabilitation of the

Olympic venues. Greek Olympic venues have been in a grey zone for many years and

hundreds of negative critiques and comments have been made about them and need

to be reversed.

We want this project to be diffused through all social groups in the country because

directly affects the quality of Greek citizen’s life and not only the tourism sector in

order to respond successfully to a highly competitive international environment.

Our strategy focuses on a very difficult to approach target audience stakeholders and

opinion leaders for that reason AIETA (awareness interest evaluation trial and

adoption) model we help to attract this audiences properly. AIETA model shows how

our target audience, in an order of importance, respond to new ideas and services. At

the awareness stage the target audience moves from the state of unfamiliarity to

obviousness and introduction an innovation, it is the stage that the customer gains

knowledge about the existence of our concept. In the interest stage customer start to

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pay attention to the know idea and be conscious about it. We need the evaluation in

order to observe the target audiences reactions towards the new product idea and we

must understand how to respond to the innovation in terms of meeting their

expectations. Customer in trial stage will experiment our product and finally decides

if the product will be adopted.

Message Style

Our message style is a combination of both rational and emotional appeal. Rational

because it is based on the accomplishments and delivered benefits that the

government will have of the OAKart project, meaning the restoration and utilization of

the abandoned Olympic venues and the benefits that will have as a country from

implementation of the specific project. Our message is emotional because we attempt

to provoke involvement and positive reactions through reference to positive emotions.

This specific approach appeals to specific positive or negative emotions nostalgia

because it refers to a very sensitive issue for Greece, regret for the neglecting venues,

excitement for the hope that generated from the OAKart solution.

The core message of our campaign is “Retrieve, Revive, and Relate. OAKart…A

Recommended Experience!!!”

Retrieve: We want our stakeholders to dream of retrieving the old glory of the

Olympic venues and the significance that they have for Greece

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Revive: Through this concept we give the opportunity to all of our audienciences

to revive Greek history and culture not only an idea but also as formatted

picture

Relate: We invite the visitor to relate with the Greek contemporary Art

Tactics

External Tactics

First of all we must present our communication campaign with passion and

enthusiasm. The first days of our communication campaign in order to OAKArt project

generate noise and attention are the most crucial. For that reason we will introduce

our idea with an experienced approach involving media and public relation tactics and

special events. Opening our campaign with an informative event inviting the most

important stakeholders we create awareness to our product, the best concept to

implement this idea is to participate to the GTE (Greek Tourism Expo) 2014 that will

take place 5, 6 & 7 of December at Metropolitan Expo Athens.

In the occasion of this special event we must prepare our participation with some

basic elements:

We must do our presence noticeable with a well-organized exhibition stand

(Appendix 1).

Invitation-Informative emails to our Key stakeholders about our participation to

the exhibition

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Brochure will be printed

Flyers will be printed in order to attract visitors attention in the entrance of the

exhibition

Projector with the Kinect installation will be needed for the trial

We will create Video spot to present the situation and the project (Appendix 2).

OCAD representatives will participate in order to give adequate information about

the project

We will create questioners so as to measure the public interest about the

utilization of the abandoned Olympic Venues

This particular special event is going to be the stand point in order to create awareness

in our key publics, with this events will make important contacts that will helps us to

create a professional presence to places of interest that we want to attend.

We want to participate to conferences events and conventions that project the

image of Greece via innovative and original initiatives.

As far as the online and print media is concerned, OAKArt project will appear to

websites which are related to the Greek tourist attractions and with all levels of

tourism industry from travel agencies, airlines, hotels, cruise companies and

responsible travel in non-tourism business, business travelers and frequent flyers are

playing a very significant role to the promotion of our project.

In order to have the appropriate use of these mediator we will take in to consideration

the following parameters:

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We will interview key opinion leaders such as Evangelos Christou professor who

is specialized in Tourism Marketing as an expertize on our issue and also will

interview Mirela Maniani who is Greek Olympic Medalist that will express their

views for the OAKArt project and how this idea will help the restoration of the

Olympic venues. This interviews will be sent and publicized to credible touristic

websites such as traveldailynews.gr, are Alternative-Athens.com, Athens.gr,

Greece-athens.com, athensquide.org, Historvious.com as well as to travel and

tourism magazines such as Travel Magazine and Alternative Tourism. This sites not

only recommend Athens tourist attractions but propose and promote new ideas and

alternatives in order to enhance Athens city breaks. (Appendix 3)

We will write an extended article and a feature story about our project’s

innovative idea enhanced with a feature story that will highlight all the important

aspect about the OAKArt and significance of the utilization of the abandoned

Olympic Venues for Greece.

TGHS will build alliances with international publications which are trend setters for

the independent visitors

In our case social media can be included as an additional channel to increase our visibility

via sharing posts and comments that will be made when OAKArt idea become popular.

We will establish a specific section about the project that included to OCAD’S official

website

Internal Tactics

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All the above external tactics can also be used as tools for our campaign to implement our

internal tactics in order to reach our key influencer’s attention.

Our goal is to attract this specific group of key stakeholders by arranging

appointments in order to have presentation for our project with direct mails.

We will organize Face to Face meetings with this specific group of key influencers in

order to have a feedback on their impressions about our project.

As a first step we have planned to attract the attention and interest of Travel agencies,

S.E.T.E, E.O.T, H.C.H (Hellenic chamber of hotels)

We target to attract SADAS( association of Hellenic Architecture) so as to have the

opportunity to participate and present the OAKart idea at Tourism Landscape:

Remaking Greece in 14th International Architecture exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia

It is very important for us to have a presentation to Hellenic Company for Rolling

Stock Maintenance S.A aiming of their funding.

All the above associations and organizations are very important influencers for our

communication strategy because if we accomplish to gain their support we will have

an advantage when we will address to the decision makers who are:

Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of

Interior, Ministry of Athletics and the Municipality of Amarousion

Ministries are the main target and most important, our purpose is to have their

approval and a possible funding for the OAKArt project.

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Timeline & Budget

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As far as the implementation and budget is concern we spend approximately eight

months from the starting points of our research until the final organizing to start plan

implementation that will be active for six months. We tried to keep the budget in a low

level for a communication campaign of that range gathered our main expenses in the

cause of the special event (exhibition) that we think is the key point to be introduce to

the public and raise awareness. The rest of the tactics where very low cost including

the campaign’s promo video that did not financially affect OCAD organization since we

covered all the expenses.

Evaluation

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In the evaluation stage, it is very important to go one step further as a professional

team. From our extensive research we conclude on how we communicated the OAKArt

concept to the key publics with very specific strategies and tactics. These two main

aspects we must evaluate in order to see finally if we met our goals and objectives.

Furthermore we will examine the if campaign raised awareness to influencers and

stakeholders and also to observe the attitude of these specific groups as long as the

behavior, for instance if the project was clear, if the public’s understand the purpose of

the campaign, if we changed their opinion about the abandoned Olympic venues and

in what level we activated them with our campaign because from this project we had

an ultimate scope, the revival of Greek’s heritage lost dignity.

As a second part of our evaluation it is demanding to focus on both qualitative and

quantitative measurements:

Websites statistics (page views, downloads shares, search engine rankings)

Qualitative data from stakeholders involved (questioners, interviews, surveys,

focus groups)

Event attendance (inquires database)

All the above practical issues and principles will guide and inform us for the results

about the formulation of the communication strategy in order to measure the

effectiveness of the OAKart campaign in changing stakeholders opinion and their

support towards our plan.

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References

CHARTS Project | EOT | ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΣ ΟΡΓΑΝΙΣΜΟΣ ΤΟΥΡΙΣΜΟΥ. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.gnto.gov.gr/en/charts-project

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Alternative Athens | Cultural Walking tours and Workshops in Athens | Culinary culture,

Shopping, Arts and Crafts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alternative-

athens.com/tours.html?gclid=CL7PkaTUkMICFWPmwgodtX4AKw

Tourism Landscapes: Remaking Greece | The Book | Tourism Landscapes. (n.d.). Retrieved

from http://www.tourismlandscapes.gr/content/tourism-landscapes-remaking-greece-book

Ολυμπιάδα 2004 δέκα χρόνια μετά. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.paraskhnio.gr/ereyna-toy-p-olympiada-2004-deka-xronia/

ΓΓΑ: Να τι... θα κάνουμε με τα Ολυμπιακά Ακίνητα. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.protothema.gr/sports/article/401384/gga-na-ti-tha-kanoume-me-ta-olubiaka-

akinita/

Evaluating PR Campaigns. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.prca.org.uk/default.asp?pid=1295

Macnamara, J. (n.d.). Evaluating PR Campaigns. Retrieved from

http://www.prca.org.uk/default.asp?pid=1295

Smith, R. D. (2009). Strategic Planning for Public relation. Routledge.

McCabe, S. (2009). Marketing communications in tourism and hospitality: Concepts,

strategies and cases. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Cornelissen, J. (2011). Corporate Communication, A guide to theory and Practise. SAGE

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APPENDICES

Appendix 2

Appendix 1

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Appendix 3