LANDSEA TOURS & ADVENTURES ENGLISH VERSION SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017 2017 VANIER COLLEGE BDC Erin Whittle Marketing Management Department British Columbia Institute of Technology ©2017 Erin Whittle Page 1 of 12 Landsea Tours & Adventures Vancouver is a “new” city, at only 130 years old, and an even newer tourist destination. Although the first meeting of the Vancouver Information & Tourist Association (later to be renamed Tourism Vancouver) was in 1902, it wasn’t until 1986—Vancouver’s Centennial—that the city earned the world’s attention and consideration through the World Exposition, Expo 86.1 The six-month event attracted over 22 million visitors, a huge influx to the city of just over 430,000 (the metropolitan region had about 1.2 million residents), and lifted the city’s tourism for years to come. Many of the exhibits were temporary, but remaining exhibits and infrastructure from the fair, such as the Skytrain, Canada Place Convention Centre and cruise ship terminal, BC Place Stadium, and the geodesic Expo Centre (now Science World at Telus World of Science), are now quintessential elements of the Vancouver landscape. The legacy of Expo 86—the exhibits, infrastructure, and awareness—paved the way for the next great wave of tourists to Vancouver, the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. At the peak of the Games, tourism in Vancouver increased by just 20% over the previous year, but the event served to establish the Vancouver brand and bring incredible pride to the city, the most enduring impact. In the thirty years since Expo 86 and the seven years since the 2010 Winter Games, Vancouver has grown into a world-class city, winning awards as one of the world’s best places to visit, including Destination of the Year from the Luxury Travel Guide Awards in 2016. The city has grown to 610,000 residents and the metropolitan region has doubled to 2.4 million. Vancouver Tourism’s research indicates that Metro Vancouver received more than 9.3 million overnight visitors in 2015, including 5.6 million from within Canada, 2.1 million from the U.S., 940,000 from the Asia-Pacific region and 424,000 from Europe, providing a boost of $4 billion to the local economy.2 Vancouver has developed a global appeal and reputation as a diverse, eco-friendly, and foodie destination. Landsea Tours History In the anticipation of Expo 86, a young entrepreneur named Scott Mason saw an opportunity in the local sightseeing industry. Competitors at the time only offered tours on large highway motor- coaches, and served the less adventurous traveller. Mason envisioned a more personalized and fun service on a mini-coach, and so in 1985, Landsea Tours and Adventures began operations. The company grew quickly, jump-started by the tourism boon of Expo 86, as Vancouver developed as a touri ...

1. LANDSEA TOURS & ADVENTURES
ENGLISH VERSION
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017
2017 VANIER COLLEGE BDC
Erin Whittle
Marketing Management Department
British Columbia Institute of Technology
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 1 of 12
Landsea Tours & Adventures

2. Vancouver is a “new” city, at only 130 years old, and an even
newer tourist destination. Although
the first meeting of the Vancouver Information & Tourist
Association (later to be renamed Tourism
Vancouver) was in 1902, it wasn’t until 1986—Vancouver’s
Centennial—that the city earned the
world’s attention and consideration through the World
Exposition, Expo 86.1 The six-month event
attracted over 22 million visitors, a huge influx to the city of
just over 430,000 (the metropolitan
region had about 1.2 million residents), and lifted the city’s
tourism for years to come.
Many of the exhibits were temporary, but remaining exhibits
and infrastructure from the fair, such
as the Skytrain, Canada Place Convention Centre and cruise
ship terminal, BC Place Stadium, and
the geodesic Expo Centre (now Science World at Telus World
of Science), are now quintessential
elements of the Vancouver landscape.
The legacy of Expo 86—the exhibits, infrastructure, and
awareness—paved the way for the next
great wave of tourists to Vancouver, the 2010 Winter Olympic
and Paralympic Games. At the peak
of the Games, tourism in Vancouver increased by just 20% over
the previous year, but the event
served to establish the Vancouver brand and bring incredible
pride to the city, the most enduring
impact.
In the thirty years since Expo 86 and the seven years since the
2010 Winter Games, Vancouver has
grown into a world-class city, winning awards as one of the
world’s best places to visit, including
Destination of the Year from the Luxury Travel Guide Awards

3. in 2016. The city has grown to 610,000
residents and the metropolitan region has doubled to 2.4
million. Vancouver Tourism’s research
indicates that Metro Vancouver received more than 9.3 million
overnight visitors in 2015, including
5.6 million from within Canada, 2.1 million from the U.S.,
940,000 from the Asia-Pacific region and
424,000 from Europe, providing a boost of $4 billion to the
local economy.2 Vancouver has
developed a global appeal and reputation as a diverse, eco-
friendly, and foodie destination.
Landsea Tours History
In the anticipation of Expo 86, a young entrepreneur named
Scott Mason saw an opportunity in the
local sightseeing industry. Competitors at the time only offered
tours on large highway motor-
coaches, and served the less adventurous traveller. Mason
envisioned a more personalized and fun
service on a mini-coach, and so in 1985, Landsea Tours and
Adventures began operations.
The company grew quickly, jump-started by the tourism boon of
Expo 86, as Vancouver developed
as a tourism destination.
In 2004, a keen co-op student from Capilano University in
North Vancouver named Kevin Pearce
joined the Landsea team. Pearce caught the tourism bug early:
excelling in Tourism 11 while in high
school, he found his passion and went straight to work,
enrolling in Capilano U’s Tourism
Management program, specializing in Business & Tourism, in
2003. While he was a student, he
worked part-time for Grouse Mountain Resorts, a mountain
adventure destination just 20 minutes

4. from downtown Vancouver. During that period, the family-
owned resort successfully developed
into a year-round tourist destination that now includes alpine
skiing in the winter, and a
mountaintop theatre and wildlife refuge in the summer.
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 2 of 12
Pearce helped rebrand the company into Landsea Tours and
Adventures, introducing a new service,
Landsea Charters, in 2009. Three years later, Pearce became a
partner of Landsea Tours and
Adventures, and today, he is President and Co-Owner. The
company has flourished, growing from
one mini-bus and one guide, to two divisions with a fleet of 34
busses and vehicles and a team of
85 employees in peak season. The company effectively serves a
booming industry that is vital to
Vancouver’s economy.
Landsea Tours Services
Landsea Tours and Adventures has two divisions: Landsea
Tours and Adventures, the original tours
and sightseeing division; and Landsea Charters, which offers
private charter tours and
transportation for individuals and groups.
Vision
Landsea Tours & Adventures’ elite team provides year-round
premium boutique sightseeing
experiences. We strive to be the innovators and company of

5. choice in Vancouver’s tourism
industry.
Mission
Landsea Tours & Adventures – exceed expectations by
providing world-class service
excellence. Sightseeing the way, it should be!
Landsea Tours and Adventures offers multi-day, full- and half-
day tours to ten destinations,
including: Vancouver, Victoria on Vancouver Island (via BC
Ferries), Whistler, and Grouse Mountain
(via 24-30 person mini-coach or a van for smaller groups). All
tours pick up and drop off from
downtown Vancouver, and therefore include a city component
(see appendix 1 for list of tours,
attractions, and prices). The charter service offers these
excursions or custom tours via 6-passenger
luxury SUV, a Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van that seats up to 11,
and a mini-coach that can
accommodate up to 24 passengers. Landsea Tours and
Adventures has bright blue and white
uniforms, and drivers have bright blue embroidered Arc’teryx
jackets and polo shirts. Their charter
service has discreet black luxury vehicles with tinted windows
and professionally attired drivers (see
appendix 2).
They are currently the only tour company offering Sea to Sky
tours, which visit the Sea to Sky
Gondola near Squamish, about 60 km from downtown
Vancouver (most tours skip Squamish and
continue along to Whistler, 121 km from downtown Vancouver).
This attraction opened in May
2014, and includes a 100-metre-long suspension bridge, viewing

6. platforms, and guided hiking and
“via ferrata” (engineered vertical pathway) tours. Pearce
anticipates competitors will soon offer
trips to this popular new destination.
The company is unique in that it owns and maintains its own
fleet and is one of only three companies
licenced to do their own vehicle inspections. Their vehicle fleet
is newer than most competitors,
and they pride themselves on being cleaner and more fuel-
efficient. They tested biodiesel and
hydrogen bus formats, before switching to propane. Their fleet
also includes an electric car. In 2015,
Landsea was awarded Silver Certification from Green Tourism
Canada and is Climate Smart certified.
Above all, Landsea prides themselves on carefully selecting
their guides through an extensive hiring
process. They have a staff of about 85 in peak season, and about
40 year-round employees. Many
employees are semi-retired, or students, or they split their work
between winters at ski resorts and
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 3 of 12
summers as guides. All the workforce is young at heart. Landsea
hires based on personality and
teaches employees the skills they need. Above all, they look for
people who genuinely care about
their visitors’ vacation experience. They have great employee
retention rates for the industry, with
about 72% returning each year, which is important because
Landsea pays a considerable amount

7. to train a new employee.
New employees spend five weeks in training, including two-
and-a-half weeks of driver training to
complete commercial driver licensing requirements. After
licensing is secured, new hires start with
routing hotels, learning the five key tour destinations, logistics,
and the operations side (managing
the payments, scheduling, booking systems, and radio). The
first responsibilities granted are shuttle
pick-ups, then, with experience, city tours and then additional
tours as the weeks go by. Guides
learn the history of every location and may work with actors on
tone and delivery, but most of what
they say—while operating a $150,000 vehicle—is unscripted.
Pearce estimates the cost of training
a new employee to be roughly $5,000.
The effort shows. For their excellent service, Landsea Tours
and Adventures earned the Georgia
Straight Reader's Choice Awards in 2013-2015, Trip Advisor
Certificate of Excellence from 2013-
2016, and many Vancouver Tourism Awards.
Though the experience may be different from other tour
companies, and the costs of delivering
that experience higher, pricing is standardized. Price cuts create
the perception of desperation, and
tour companies who have attempted to undercut their
competitors have found themselves priced
out of business. Four-hour city trips with Landsea cost about
$75 for adults, with many add-on
options available. Full-day trips cost between $140 (to
Whistler) and $200 (to Victoria, which
includes ferry fares and admissions).

8. The Competition
Landsea is a niche player in the tours and sightseeing market,
carrying about 70,000 visitors a year—
only a small percentage of Vancouver’s visitors. But in this
fragmented market, they dominate in
the small-group excursions segment.
Westcoast Sightseeing offers hop-on, hop-off tours of
Vancouver as well as guided tours to the
same destinations as Landsea (except Sea to Sky) and charters.
Their website offers complete tour
information and online booking. They have a similar presence
on social media and a 4/5 rating on
TripAdvisor from 1,149 reviews. Westcoast Sightseeing is a
licensee of Gray Line, a Denver-based
tour company that offers sightseeing tours all over the world.
The Vancouver Trolley Company is an indirect competitor, as
the Vancouver Trolley Company and
Landsea sell each other’s products. Vancouver Trolley offers
hop-on, hop-off tours on San Francisco-
style trolleys. During the day, they connect with free shuttles to
Capilano Suspension Bridge and
Grouse Mountain; in the evenings during peak season (from
Victoria Day through Labour Day), they
offer budget-friendly tours.
Star Limousine is an indirect competitor for Landsea Charters,
as both organizations offer high-end
VIP experiences to people seeking private luxury. However,
limousine services focus on the
transportation side, whereas Landsea focuses on the related
experiences that can range from taking
a helicopter to a winery to enjoying yoga on a mountaintop.

9. ©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 4 of 12
The industry has very low barriers to entry, and there are
frequent new entrants, and fly-by-night
companies. Perhaps the biggest shift will happen when (and if)
Uber is permitted entry into the
Vancouver market. This could happen before the province’s
May election. With Uber, anyone with
a car could offer customized sightseeing tours. Or use one of
the many apps connecting consumers
with guides (like start-ups GuideHire and AnyRoad) and hail an
Uber driver. Kevin and his team must
constantly watch for potential new entrants to the market as the
regulatory environment is
continuously shifting.
The Customers
Destination Canada has done extensive research into visitor
profiles in the nation. Using traveler
psychographics to understand what drives people to seek out
certain types of experiences, they
have created the Explorer Quotient® (EQ). This tool is
available to tourism-based organizations to
help them in “the way travel experiences are developed,
marketed and sold in Canada.”3
The key EQ for Landsea Tours and Adventures are “Authentic
Experiencers,” who are: typically,
understated travelers looking for authentic, tangible engagement
with the destinations, with a
particular interest in understanding the history of the places
they visit. This group is not interested
in escapism, instead they travel to learn and experience. They

10. tend to be older (55+) and represent
9% of global travelers and 12% of Canadian travelers. A
significantly higher proportion of these
visitors (17%) are from short-haul markets within BC, Alberta,
and Washington State (most using
their own vehicle) and 20% of these visitors are from long-haul
North American markets like Ontario
and California. Their top sources for trip planning are: airline
websites, hotels, attractions or other
services at destination; websites of online retailers, travel
agencies or tour operators; and travel
guides and books. They seek good value and like tours that
show the highlights but focus on nature.
The secondary EQ group is defined as “Cultural Explorers,”
(12% of the global market and 9% of the
Canadian market); they are “defined by their love of constant
travel and continuous search for
opportunities to embrace, discover and immerse themselves in
the culture, people and settings of
the places they visit.” This segment of the travel market tends
to be a bit younger than Authentic
Experiencers, mostly aged 35-45. Cultural Explorers don’t want
to feel like tourists; they enjoy
shared authentic experiences, avoid “checklist” travel and don’t
require pampering or luxury. Their
primary trip planning sources are: websites of airlines, hotels,
attractions or other services at
destination; travel guides and books; and websites of regional or
city tourism offices. For more on
these EQ segments and for details on the appeal of travel
experiences in BC with the top ten
geographic markets for the province (see Appendix 3).
Promotions Mix
Like most companies in travel and tourism, managing customer

11. communications is tricky. Landsea
is too small to market directly to consumers from all over the
world who plan to visit Vancouver, so
they rely on trade promotions. The bulk of the company’s
efforts are directed at trade shows like
Rendez-vous Canada and Canada’s West Marketplace as well as
sales trips with destination
marketing organizations like Tourism Vancouver (Germany,
Switzerland, and the UK). The company
also works with global wholesalers. The focus of most trade
communications is on product
knowledge.
Hotels and attractions are another key channel. For example,
most hotel concierges have been
recommending Landsea Tours and Adventure or Landsea
Charters for a long time. They are trusted
trip advisors for hotel guests, and they stake their reputations
on their recommendations.
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 5 of 12
Therefore, Landsea works carefully to deliver on their promise
of exceeding expectations.
Concierges are the number one driver of business, and happy
customers lead to happy concierges
and new referrals. While LandSea depends on the marketing of
many of their destinations, like the
Capilano Suspension Bridge and Buchart Gardens, none of them
have a booking engine so there is
no equivalent to a hotel concierge. In addition, the hotel
landscape is changing with the rise of
Airbnb (many tourists are not staying at traditional hotels).

12. Unfortunately, Airbnb doesn’t have
concierges, nor is Landsea able to pick up from Airbnb
locations since they are not centralized like
hotels.
Viator, with their slogan “Travel with an insider,” is their
biggest wholesaler, and because of their
leadership position in the market, has negotiated the highest
commission. Viator has more than 60
consumer–facing digital properties (websites and apps) that
reach 11 million travelers a month,
plus more than 3,000 partners, including American Express and
Lonely Planet.4 And Viator is owned
by TripAdvisor, so the Landsea tours booked through the
world’s largest travel website are sold by
Viator.
For consumers, the company website is the primary promotional
channel (See Appendix 4). It is
supported by a brochure that directs consumers to their site. The
company has a great domain
name for search engine optimization—vancouvertours.com—and
ranks in the top three for
“Vancouver tours,” and on the first page for “Vancouver
sightseeing tours.” The website offers
detailed information on all tours and online booking.
On social media, Landsea has a relatively small but engaged
network on Facebook, with about 1,200
Likes and 37 reviews (36 of which are five stars, one is four
stars). They post positive, relevant
content most days without erring on the side of being too
“sales-y.” On Instagram, they have 624
followers and generate around 40 likes per post. On Twitter,
they have 1,372 followers, and mostly
repost Facebook and Instagram content (using Hootsuite); there

13. is very low engagement through
Twitter. Their YouTube account is largely inactive, with a
couple of short promotional videos. At the
time of writing, 732 visitors have rated Landsea Tours and
Adventures and Adventures on
TripAdvisor. Their average rating is 4.5 out of 5, with 589
Excellent, 82 Very Good, 25 Average, 7
Poor, and 5 Terrible reviews.
Unlike their social media pages, Landsea does not control the
content on TripAdvisor; they can’t
post or delete content. TripAdvisor is an extraordinary
challenge to Landsea and other companies
in the travel and tourism market in two ways: firstly, the
reviews on the website can make or break
a company; and secondly, it makes money by displaying the
prices of online travel agents or, in the
case of Landsea Tours, offering direct bookings through its
subsidiary, Viator. When you search for
“Landsea” on most search engines, the second listing after the
company is Landsea’s TripAdvisor
profile.
Online reviews have more credibility with consumers.
According to Vendasta, 92% of consumers
read online reviews, and star ratings are the number one factor
used by consumers to judge a
business. Knowing this, Landsea uses testimonials on their
website. But just as positive reviews can
sell (reviews produce an average of 18% uplift in sales),
negative reviews can dissuade users from
buying (having one to three bad reviews is enough to deter 67%
of shoppers).5 Managing a
company’s online reputation has become fruitful enough to
create specialists and companies
dedicated to writing positive reviews, sabotaging competitors,

14. and “fixing” bad reviews.6 (Googling
“online reputation management companies Canada” returns 2.8
million results.)
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 6 of 12
TripAdvisor “prohibit(s) properties from offering incentives
(for reviews) because they can hinder
the validity and accuracy of reviews,” but there are plenty of
examples of travellers threatening to
write bad reviews if they aren’t offered a discount or even a
total reimbursement.7 TripAdvisor does
have a “blackmail review” procedure, but it is difficult for a
small company and their software only
works before the review is posted. After a “blackmail review” is
posted, the review stays up until
TripAdvisor can review it. The only recourse is a Management
Response.
Landsea takes every review very seriously. Negative reviews
trigger immediate replies from Pearce
using the Management Response feature (see appendix 5).
Frustratingly, some recent less-than-
perfect reviews were from visitors dissatisfied with the
attraction or destination rather than the
tour or guide, but those reviews still affect the company’s
overall rating (although TripAdvisor’s
rating system is not just an average of all reviews; some
importance is placed on the number of
reviews and the recency of reviews). But with 55 unscripted
tour guides and 70,000 travellers a
year—with exceptionally high expectations, fuelled by the great

15. online reviews—there will be
unhappy customers. It’s a catch-22.
The Challenge
Landsea Tours and Adventures would like to not just survive the
shifting technological landscape of
the disintermediating sharing economy, user-generated
comments, and online booking
monopolies, but to thrive. The next Expo 86 or 2010 Winter
Olympics is not yet on the horizon, so
there is no expectation of another tourism boom, but Kevin
Pearce and his exceptional team of
professional guides want to be proactive in their approach.
How can a small company, like Landsea, make the best use of
their passionate, well-trained
employees to stay on top of technological shifts in the tourism
industry? Is there a way to harness
these changes to come out even further ahead? How can they
leverage the reach of online channels
to make the most of their $200,000 annual marketing budget
(which also must cover brochures,
trade shows, and the website)? Kevin believes that his company
has unique experiences to offer,
but without a shift in their approach to technology, the business
might not continue to grow.
Good luck!

16. ©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 7 of 12
Appendix 1: Landsea Travel & Adventures Tours (as of
December 2016)
Tour Name Length Cities: Attractions Cost per
Adult
Availability
Vancouver City
Highlights Tour
4 hours Vancouver: Stanley Park, Granville Island
Public Market
$75.00 Year round
Vancouver Delights
Tour
7 hours Vancouver and North Vancouver: Stanley
Park, Granville Island, the Vancouver
Lookout, Gastown, Chinatown, Robson
Street, English Bay, Vancouver Harbour,
Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, and the
Capilano Fish Hatchery
$125 Year round
Mountain
Discovery Tour

17. 6.5 hours North Vancouver: Capilano Fish Hatchery,
Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse
Mountain
$165 May 19-Oct
29
Peak & Canyon
Tour
5 hours North Vancouver: Capilano Suspension
Bridge Park and Grouse Mountain
$155 May 5-Sep
25
Sea to Sky Tour 7 hours Horseshoe Bay, Squamish: Sea to Sky
Gondola, Shannon Falls, Britannia Mine
Museum
$120 May 1-Sep
25
Sea to Sky Tour
with Deep Fjord
Zodiac Tour
7 hours Sea to Sky Tour plus 1-hour zodiac ride $195 May 1-
Sep
25
Whistler &
Shannon Falls Tour

18. 10.5 hours Squamish, Whistler: Whistler Village,
Shannon, Aboriginal Cultural Centre and
Museum
$140 Year round
Whistler Tour &
Seaplane
Adventure
10.5 hours Whistler & Shannon Falls Tour plus 45-
minute seaplane tour
$340 May 1-Sep
24
Whistler Departure
Day Tour
7-9 hours Brackendale, Squamish, Vancouver: eagle
watching, Shannon Falls, Lions Gate Bridge,
English Bay, Chinatown, Gastown, Robson
Street
$140 Dec 17-Apr
22
Victoria & Butchart
Gardens Tour
13.5 hours Victoria (via ferry): Victoria Harbour,
Butchart Gardens

19. $205 Mar 12-Nov
5
Victoria Tour with
Whale Watching
and Butchart
Gardens
13 hours Victoria & Butchart Gardens Tour + 4 hour
whale watching tour
$400 May 20-Sep
18
Victoria Tour with
Seaplane &
Butchart Gardens
12 hours Victoria & Butchart Gardens Tour + 35-
minute seaplane tour
$399 Jun 15-Sep
15
Coastal Discovery
Tour
Multi-day Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria: Whistler &
Shannon Falls Tour, seaplane to Victoria (1
hour), flexible return to Vancouver, via
Butchart Gardens
$615 May 1-Sept
24

20. ©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 8 of 12
Appendix 2: Landsea Travel & Adventures and Landsea
Charters logos, tag line, vehicles and staff
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 9 of 12
Appendix 3: Destination British Columbia’s Target Consumer
Profiles8
(CTC stands for Canadian Tourism Commission)
Destination British Columbia’s Target Travel Experiences9
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 10 of 12
Appendix 4: Home page screenshot

21. ©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 11 of 12
Appendix 5: Sample negative post screenshot from
TripAdvisor.com
©2017 Erin Whittle
Page 12 of 12
1 "Vancouver's History | Fun Facts & Information."
Vancouver's History | Fun Facts & Information.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
2 "Assignment: Vancouver. Tourism Vancouver’s 2016 Media
Kit." Tourism Vancouver. N.p., n.d. Web.
14 Nov. 2016.
3 "Explorer Quotient." Www.DestinationCanada.com. N.p., n.d.
Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
4 "Viator.com | Corporate Information." Viator.com | Corporate
Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov.
2016.
5 @vendasta. "[Infographic] 50 Stats You Need to Know About

22. Online Reviews - Vendasta." Vendasta.
N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
6 Stimmler-Hall, Heather. "Choking on a Macaron: What You
Don’t Know About Trip Advisor.” Medium.
N.p., 26 Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
7 Stimmler-Hall, Heather. "Choking on a Macaron: What You
Don’t Know About Trip Advisor.” Medium.
N.p., 26 Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
8 Target Consumer Profiles. (n.d.). Retrieved December 09,
2016, from
http://strategy.destinationbc.ca/where-we-will-focus/our-
consumer-segments/target-consumer-
profiles/
9 http://strategy.destinationbc.ca/where-we-will-focus/our-
consumer-segments/target-consumer-
profiles/
©2017. Erin Whittle, Instructor, Marketing Management
Department, BCIT for the Vanier/BDC
Marketing Case Challenge. The case is for educational purposes
and is not to be reproduced for other
purposes other than the case competition without the permission
of the author. I wish to thank Kevin
Pearce for his information and insight, and the material he
provided for the development of this case.
Any errors in fact are my own. All rights reserved.

23. Case Study Rubric – Part 2 Name:
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
MKTG6016
Fall 2017
Item
Poor
Average
Excellent
Comments
Weight
Total
Market Information (Summarized from Part 1)
· Company background
· Competitive Analysis
· Opportunity Identification
· Target Audience
· Current Brand Positioning of LandSea Tours
10
Overall Marketing Communications Objectives (based on
opportunity identification)
· What is the goal(s) for all communications
· Based on marketing theory (i.e. brand awareness, encouraging
trial, etc.)

24. 10
Positioning Strategy Statement
· Statement of Brand benefits, brand personality and desired
image
· Consistent with Marketing Communications Objectives
15
Creative Objectives
· Key benefit statement aligns with Landsea Tours POD and
Core values
· Support claims statement
· Consistent with Positioning Strategy Statement
15
Creative Strategy:
· Central Theme (big idea)
· Tone and style
· Appeal techniques (based on marketing theory)
· Consistent with Creative Objectives
15
Concept Board:
Brand theme or slogan ideas

25. Color/design themes
Icons or symbols
Tonality
Target needs/interests
(MUST REFLECT ALL OTHER ASPECTS OF THIS REPORT)
35
Format and Structure
1) Use of subheads, margins, fonts, spacing, grammar, spelling,
etc
2) Sources Cited
3) Cover sheet- name of case, your name, date and Professor’s
name.
Marks Deducted
TOTAL POINTS EARNED
Page 2 of 2
MKTG6016 Client ProjectPart 2: Creative Brief Checklist
NOTE: You will not be allowed to complete this part if you
have not completed Part 1.

26. Your Part 2 Creative Brief will reflect the overall brand
positioning, the communications objectives and the overall
creative strategy. This will guide the implementation of
individual campaigns that will follow in all marketing
communications media and/or channels. You do NOT discuss
tactics or specific campaigns in this document.
See your textbook, Chapter 4 as well as Figure 4.5 (Pg. 102) for
guidelines on completion of this part. This part is the most
creative of the 3 parts.
Market Information (Summarized from your Part 1 Submission)
a. Company background
b. Competitive Analysis
c. Opportunity Identification
d. Target audience identification
e. This section also includes a discussion of the current “brand
positioning” at Landsea Tours today, a critique of this, (core
values, POD, etc.). Then in the next sections, you will choose
to keep, adjust, change, reposition… or whatever your ideas are.
Note that Brand Repositioning is a very costly and risky
proposition. Consider it heavily before recommending a full
brand repositioning strategy.
10 marks
Overall Marketing Communications Objectives (based on
opportunity above)
What is the overall goal for all your communications? You may
need to have a separate communications goals for each of your
target segments. However, consider if this would create brand
confusion? Would there be overlapping tactics should you do
this? (i.e., would you need two Radio campaigns with two
different messages for example)

27. These objectives should be based on marketing theory using
marketing terminology (see chapter 4)
10 marks
Positioning Strategy Statement
Statement of brand benefits, brand personality and desired
image – Must support the overall marketing communications
objective(s). This is a critical aspect of your marketing
planning. This is a very short section. You need only write a
couple of paragraphs. You will make your statement and then
explain why you chose that statement. Your Positioning
Strategy Statement must reflect solid marketing understanding.
Hence, this short section is worth significant marks. Here is it
all about quality!
· See samples in your PPT
· Look for samples online to guide you
· You might have more than one if you chose more than one
communications objective above
15 marks
Creative Objectives
Key benefits statement(s) which leads from your Positioning
Strategy Statement – must be progressive and must be in line
with overall positioning strategy statement
· Use your POD (points of difference) as your guide
· Each key benefits statement must have an accompanying
Support claims statement
15 marks
Creative Strategy
What’s your “Big Idea”?
What appeal techniques will you use?
What is your key message?
15 marks
Creative Concept Board

28. This is a visual collage which represents your overall direction
as stated above. For the creative concept board, you will
provide a visual representation of how the brand should be
represented to the target audiences you have selected.
· Must reflect the positioning strategy statement
· Must reflect the key benefits statements
· Must reflect your “big idea”
Since you are not yet ready to recommend specific media like
radio, billboards, ads, PPC, etc. you can use a creative concept
board to allow “the client” to see the creative direction of the
materials that may later be produced.
This is a collage that visually and verbally summarizes things
like the following:
· Creative strategy & objectives
· Brand theme or slogan ideas
· Color/design themes
· Icons or symbols
· Tonality
· Target needs/interests
NOTE: You are not expected to be graphic designers in this
program so you will not be graded on artwork. I am seeking the
brand idea (the theme). You can use examples to illustrate your
idea and state how you would change the piece to customize it
to the client (be sure to cite your source of the creative piece
you “borrow”).
35 marks
TOTAL 100
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