During The Business of Wine & Food Tourism Conference, held recently at Spier in the Western Cape, renowned US-based big data specialist, Cathy Huyghe of Enolytics LLC, outlined an approach suggested for the Cape Winelands wine, food and hospitality establishments using big data as a powerful and innovative tool to get closer to consumers.
“Consumers tell us every moment of every day what they think and experience. We need to meet consumers where they are – literally, and with our words,” Huyghe explained. “It’s all about knowing our consumers: who they are, where they are; what, when and how they purchase; what else they buy; and so forth.
“Quantitative data tells us the ‘what’, while qualitative data answers the ‘why’. With the huge amount of data that can tell us exactly what our consumers think, feel and want, there’s no longer any reason for businesses to be out of touch or in the dark. The data is out there, and so are sophisticated algorithms used to analyse data – it just needs to be utilised.”
She also said big data was especially effective when aggregated or pulled from multiple sources and streams of information, to make up a fuller and clearer picture of the consumer landscape, segments thereof, or even individual consumers.
“What big data does is make us move from the gut to the head, through the heart,” she proposed. “It gives us a treasure chest of information required to better understand our consumers, enabling us to come up with more suitable strategies, tactics and approaches to better serve them, ultimately leading to improved consumer experiences that supports tourism growth.”
Huyghe cited various examples and, in particular, mentioned the Sonoma wildfires in northern California last year. She outlined the learning that could be taken from how many businesses in the region successfully navigated crisis communication by using big data to collaborate and inform effective messaging strategies. “By analysing data, they came to understand that their consumers are more interested in the emotional than the functional. They found an appropriate way to authentically connect with their consumers,” said Huyghe.
Wesgro CEO Tim Harris, focused on Cape Town’s public-private management of the water crisis in relation to tourism, with his talk entitled ‘The power of a single voice; don’t let a crisis go to waste’.
“The recent drought in Cape Town with the explosion of negative press, marks the decisive moment when as a province, we embraced the opportunity to change our relationship with water forever by collaborating as a province and one of the world’s most sought-after tourist destinations, with a single message,” Harris said.
“We fought successfully to keep the province open for business, especially for tourists, given that they support 300 000 jobs in the Western Cape tourism sector, while they use very little of the available water resources. Together with the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Province and private sector, we raised R13 million (€782 494) for our campaign
“A key take-out of this effective collaborative experience, is now informing our new marketing campaign for the province, developed and promoted with the support of the industry and government.”
The promotional drive will soon launch its ‘Nowhere does it better’ advertisements, designed to allow collaborators and partners to include their own emblems on campaign material. This is intended to underscore the collaboration and single message proposition.
Innovation thought-leader, Peter Greenwall, presented on innovation IQ, how ‘what the fail’ moments could trigger problem or issue detection (frustration), resulting in random ideas generation (curiosity) that through connective intelligence brings about a vision and ultimately a creation.
According to Greenwall: “Innovation is the translation of ‘what the fail’ moments into products, better systems, art and so much more.” He went on to explain how innovation could result from knowing what consumers want to hear and experience.
Joe Public MD, Khuthala Gala-Holten also acknowledged online relevance, PR innovations with authentic influencers, curated and relevant experiences, and collaborations, as key drivers for marketing success within this segment.
The 2019 edition of The Business of Wine & Food Tourism Conference will take place at Spier near Stellenbosch, on September 17. The annual get-together is convened by seasoned tourism specialist, Margi Biggs.
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