MUDGEE Regional Tourism is set to continue its 10-year plan to become Australia’s go-to long weekend destination, following the success of its ‘Mudgee Monday’ advertising campaign late last year.
Chief marketing officer Beau Kassas believes the campaign’s success has put Mudgee back on the map, particularly in terms of media visibility and brand recognition.
“The campaign ultimately was trying to shift the perception of the region so from an earned media perspective, we had over 14 million opportunities to see or hear about the campaign across 125 media clips which drove our share of voice to 33% from 2%”, he said.
Kassas said the campaign repositioned Mudgee as a high-impact destination despite its smaller size, particularly for short-break travel.
The success of the campaign could be heightened too, as NSW Premier Chris Minns considers adding a public holiday following the ANZAC Day weekend this year, which Kassas said would directly support rural destinations such as Mudgee.
“The need for us to have more conversations about balance and taking rest before wreckage is incredibly important,” Kassas said.
“The fact that the Premier is considering an additional long weekend to align with ANZAC Day because it falls on weekend will only support that extra day for New South Welshman this year.
“Next year, or for the years where the public holiday falls on a weekend, I think there’s still merit to try and even the stakes, and have a NSW-specific public holiday.”
Mudgee’s goal will now be to differentiate the region from other nearby markets, some of which are larger, through its food, wine, and country experiences.
“Our size has been considered a weakness for many years, and something that we hid from our audiences, because we needed to compete with the big guys,” Kassas said.
“We needed to compete with the Hunter region; we had to compete with the Orange region, because we’re all a couple of hours from Sydney.
Kassas explained to tB that the shorter length and slower pace associated with a trip to Mudgee makes it important for the tourism board to focus on bringing in what it considers the “right” visitor.
“I think every brand, every product, every destination has a visitor that’s more aligned to it,” he offered.
“Where the Mudgee region really shines is in attracting people that are looking for those experiences that are ‘perfectly imperfect’,” he added.
