The Problem:
The following graph depicts data from U.S citizen traffic to overseas regions for the year of 2016, collected and distributed by travel.trade.gov.
The graph shows travel patterns which are cyclical in nature. The highest volume of visitors travel during the month of June to July and November to December. The lowest points are in January to February and October to November.
According to the data, there were 80 million trips out of the United States for the year of 2016. In comparison to the 74 million trips in 2015, there has been an increase in air traffic by 8.1%
From the total market mentioned above, 0.5% of these flights have been to Africa with a 4.1% increment from the previous year.
The flight patterns show that travelling for leisure changes drastically throughout the year.
Flights to Europe show significant variations.
Countries like the Middle East and Africa show relatively lower variations, in addition to a total growth year on year. There is a lack of growth in the leisure travel industry compared to markets like Europe.
The goal is to increase leisure travel to the African markets.
Demographic Insight:
With regard to leisure travel, many of the differences between millennial and non-millennial reflect life stage factors such as their discretionary income, marital status, whether there are children in the household, how demanding their jobs are, and how much vacation time they have.
Half of the millenials we surveyed report taking four or more overnight leisure trips per year compared with more than 75% of non-millennials. It’s not surprising that the frequency of leisure travel increases with household income. High-income millennials travel for leisure as much as non millennials and much more than low income millennials.
Those who report the most frequent business travel also report the most leisure travel, and this is especially true of millennials and businessmen. Millennial men say that they take more leisure trips each year than do women who travel primarily for leisure, and Hispanic millennials report the least amount of leisure air travel on average. Men of both generations report travelling alone for leisure more than women.
Analytics:
Using a combination of demand side ad-platforms, tools and marketplaces, unique users that fit specific demographic criteria can be targeted.
5,000,000 unique individuals have been identified within the United States, Mexico and Canada between the ages of 18-35 with digital patterns of travelers.
The user base includes identifying users based on device location patterns, airport check-ins/check-outs and general behavior showing international travelers.
The following travelers can also be indexed against time. (Travelers within the last 30/90/180 days).
Recommended Strategy:
For Ethiopia, Unfiltered Inc has planned preliminary destinations and story lines that would resonate with our target audience.
47.2 million Americans indulged in hiking or backpacking as an interest between spring 2016 and spring 2017. Majority of this audience is millennials. Content similar to the “The perfect day at Debre Zeyt’s Crater Lake”, “Hike of a lifetime at Wenchi Crater Lake”, “Feel the rhythm of Addis Ababa” (showcasing the vibrance of the nightlife).
Using content creation capabilities, footage of the destinations would be captured and distributed to the North American audience
For Ethiopian Airlines, in addition to selecting preliminary destinations and story lines, the type of content created will divided into two categories.
Character based story-driven
Millennials are the most brand loyal generation in recorded history, according to a research report by Elite Daily. The reasoning is buying choices have become a way to express values. People’s values don’t change, so when an individual finds a brand whose story aligns with their values, they are loyal. To utilize this tendency, storylines surrounding the all female crew is a perfect starting point.
Destination based story-driven
Millennials are obsessed with social media. Research shows 90% of U.S millennials are on 2-3 social media platforms. According to Internet Marketing Inc, 76% of millennials post their vacation pictures to social media. 52% of Facebook users were inspired to make travel plans by pictures of friends. Content will be created around the destinations, Ethiopian Airlines can take their audience.
