1. Active Ageing in Queensland: Strategic Marketing Plan Alicia Clark s0106895 BHMSc Central Queensland University
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Editor's Notes
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Alicia Clark, and I am here on behalf of Lisa Woodrow from the Queensland Department of Tourism, Sport and Racing to discuss the strategic marketing plan for the Active Ageing in Queensland program. As many of you will know, this program has been initiated to encourage mature-aged Queenslanders to develop and maintain an active lifestyle in order to improve the welfare of ageing Australians (Chalip, Bray & Logan, YEAR). Research is showing that Australians are living longer lives, but are becoming decreasingly active, which could potentially result in disability and poor health in their older age. This would place additional strain on the countries health and welfare system (Chalip, Bray & Logan, YEAR). The Active Ageing in Queensland program seeks to promote and induce older Queenslanders to take up an active lifestyle, and to improve the fitness and recreation facilities and services that already exist, so that the people of Queensland are as healthy as they can possibly be.
This marketing strategy has been designed to ensure that the Active Ageing in Queensland program is implemented with great success. In order to do this, we must first identify the marketing opportunities by analysing the programs mission statement and objectives; putting the Working Group through a SWOT analysis; examining the market research and marketing information systems; analysing the external environment; and determining the marketing mission and objectives. The program mission statement is ‘To advocate that all mature-aged Queenslanders maintain an active lifestyle for healthy body and healthy mind’. Unfortunately, until very recently, the health promotion of older adults being physically active has been limited, which has resulted in exercise facilities and services being primarily targeted at people in their 20s and 30s (Chalip, Bray & Logan, YEAR). The Active Ageing in Queensland program is seeking to change that, as clearly stated by the program mission. The objectives of the program are ‘To increase the proportion of physically active mature-aged Queenslanders’ and ‘To improve the existing recreation services and opportunities for active mature-aged Queenslanders’. These objectives support the mission statement, and provide clear goals for the program: increase the number of older adults exercising and to improve the services and facilities in which to do this.
The team, or the Working Group, involved in implementing the Active Ageing in Queensland program consists of Fitness Queensland; the Queensland Outdoor Recreation Federation; the Local Government Authority of Queensland; the Sports Federation of Queensland; and community recreation organisations, such as the PCYC and the YMCA. In order to determine how to best use the services and facilities provided by these organisations, an organisational assessment was undertaken, also known as a SWOT analysis, which determined the organisations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. As the organisations are quite varied, where some organisations lacked an organisational quality, one or more possessed it. In general, the following 2 slides represent the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Working Group.
The strengths of the Working Group include that there is a large variety of facilities and services that are available to the public; that the Working Group has the opportunity to receive government funding for the projects; and that the facilities and the services have well qualified personnel to implement them. The weaknesses of the Working Group include that there is a lack of focus on older adults from the facility and services that are in the Working Group; that there is a lack of understanding amongst the Working Group as to the exercise preferences of older adults; and that there is a limited amount of organisational resources available to the Working Group.
The opportunities available to the Working Group include that by working closely with other organisations, there is the potential of sharing ideas and resources, and forming alliances for new programs and promotional campaigns; that there is an accountability for what programs are being done and for what is effective; and that mostly, the personnel involved with the program are highly committed to the goals. The threats to the effectiveness of the Working Group in carrying out the Active Ageing in Queensland program includes that the staff and funds of the organisations within the Working Group are committed to other projects as well as Active Ageing in Queensland; and that current promotions and advertising used by the Working Group do not depict older adults. If you would like to see further information on the SWOT analysis undertaken on each organisation, please see the report by Chalip, Bray and Logan (YEAR). The information for the SWOT analysis has shown us what areas of the Working Group are strong, which areas are not, and which areas have the potential to be strong or weak. The SWOT analysis will be addressed again later in the presentation.
Before we can determine an effective marketing strategy, we must first have a sound understanding of the marketplace (Shilbury, Quick & Westerbeek, 2003). The research undertaken by the Queensland Department of Tourism, Sport and Racing has allowed us to make these conclusions. The Who? that this program is targeting is mature-aged adults in the 50 plus age category. The Why? is because our research has shown that Australians are retiring earlier and living longer, and if they are not physically health, this places great strain on the countries resources. It is of great importance that older Australians adopt a healthy lifestyle. The When? is by early next year, in 1999, which is the United Nation’s ‘International Year of the Older Person’. The program is intended as a five year plan. The Where? is all over Queensland, including regional Queensland where services and facilities for physical activity are generally limited. The How? Is through the Working Group which will implement the programs, the advertising and the promotions designed to induce the increase of physical activity in mature-aged adults. The market segments that have been used to narrow the marketing field in regards to the Active Ageing in Queensland program are the demographic market segment and the behavioural market segment. The demographic segment has been sub-categorised by age (50 plus years) and residence (living in Queensland). The behavioural segment has been sub-categorised as usage, focussing on those who exercise very little or not at all. The market research further let us determine what external factors influence older adults undertaking and maintaining physical activity programs.
The external environment, components that will affect mature-aged Queenslanders from participating in the program, are primarily related to stereotypes, their physical state, and personal interests (Chalip, Bray & Logan, YEAR). The stereotypes include the misconception that when people get older, they should ‘act their age’, which includes decreasing their levels of physical activity for fear of injury, heart attack or social criticism. The stereotype of gender-role expectation, which dictates that it is less acceptable for females to be physically active then men, also affects physical activity levels in women. The ‘physical state’ of an individual affects participation in physical activity, includes that as people age they experience a lack of physical endurance, sagging muscles, and an increase in body fat, all of which make it more difficult to be physically active. Also, due to market research, we are aware that exercise and fitness are not among the top five interests of older adults, which includes watching sport on television; working in the garden; reading a book; gambling at the casino or club, and attending a short course.
By gaining a greater understanding of the Working Group; the market research and segments; and the external environment, a marketing mission statement and objectives have been developed. As you will see, the marketing mission and objectives reflect the organisations general mission statement and objectives. The mission statement is ‘To promote the services and facilities provided by Active Ageing in Queensland to increase the level of physical activity amongst mature-aged Queenslanders’ and the objectives are ‘To increase the number of mature-aged Queenslanders regularly using facilities and services provided by the Working Group by 25% by December 1, 2003’ and ‘To advertise and promote a wide variety of services and facilities of the Working Group within 6 months’. The objectives have been based upon a market development strategy that is used to penetrate a market place. The market development strategy is merely creating a new market for an existing product.
Now it is time to discuss the active marketing strategies. To begin with, we will discuss the SWOT analysis that was undertaken on the Working Group. We will begin with the strengths. The first is that there is a wide variety of services and facilities available. The ideal situation would involve a greater number of mature-aged adults accessing these services and facilities, and in order to do that, we need to promote to wider variety of people through different mediums. Secondly, the Working Group had the potential to receive government funding. The ideal situation would be that the program had enough resources and funds to be a success, and in order to do that, we need to apply for all of the government funding that we can, and through the appropriate channels. The third strength was that there were many well qualified personnel involved in the programs. The ideal situation would be that that all of the facilities had one person for every five who could be considered an expert in regards to exercise for mature-aged adults, and in order to do this, we need to provide regular training opportunities for staff, and possibly with incentives.
The weaknesses included that there was a lack of focus on older adults. The ideal situation would be that there was heavy focus on older adults exercise and health needs, and in order to do that, there needs to be a greater education of staff and service providers with regular training and incentives. A second weakness, was the lack of understanding of exercise preference of older adults. The ideal situation would be that there was a great understanding, and in order for there to be, greater market research needs to be undertaken. Another weakness was that there is a limited amount of organisational resources available. Ideally, there would be enough organisational resources available, and to rectify the situation, we will need to apply for government grants and then appoint staff to be in charge of the organisational resources, so they can be used wisely.
The opportunities included that there was the potential to share ideas and to form alliances within the different organisations in the working group. The ideal situation would be that the Working Group was unified in reaching the goals of Active Ageing in Queensland, and in order for that to be done, there needs to be a core group of staff from the different organisations that meet regularly. Another opportunity was that the Active Ageing in Queensland would be held accountable. The ideal would be that the core members of the Working Group held the accountability of the program, which would involve promotions and advertisements approved by the core and by distributing minutes to all of the members of the organisation. A third opportunity is that most of the staff are highly committed to the goals of the program. The ideal situation would be that they provide excellent service to reach these goals, and in order to that, we must provide them with clear direction and goals to work towards, that must be met within a timeframe.
The threats included that the main priority of the personnel and the funding was shared with other projects. The ideal would be that the main priority was Active Ageing in Queensland, and in order to do that, we need to provide incentives for the working group, and evenly distribute the funds and government grants. The other threat was that current promotions and advertising does not depict older adults. The ideal would be that promotions feature mature-aged adults participating strongly in physical activity, and in order to do that, we must design new advertisements with mature-aged adults participating in the activities that are preferential to them.
The sports marketing mix depicts seven different ways in which we can market the services and facilities provided by the Active Ageing in Queensland, and includes service variables and promotional mix variables. The first is the product. We can use this by emphasising the uniqueness of the program, in that it provides a wide variety of activities in a wide variety of venues. We will mainly market the exercise preferences that we discover with further market research. The price is a very important factor to consider when marketing this program, as quite a few of the people we are targeting will be pensioners and therefore unable to spend a great deal of money on physical activity services. They will need to weigh up the cost and compare it to the anticipated benefits, of which we need to make sure that the benefits are higher. Also, we need to show that the prices will vary within the program depending upon the service and facility that the people are wanting to access.
We will need to promote that the services and facilities will be at a wide variety of venues for easy access by all, as people are more likely to partake in the physical activity if it is easily accessible. In some cases, it may be best to take services to the people, like taking it to a Retirement Village or Home. We will need to ensure that we have services and facilities that mature-aged ‘friendly’. Things like, not too many steps to get into the building, having good car parking facilities, having times to use the service/facility that are specifically for mature-aged adults. The process involves ensuring that people who use the service get what they paid for, or they will not come back. Also, ensuring that there are different levels to the service, like beginner, intermediate and advanced, so that people can progress as they become more fit. The people on staff should all be highly knowledgeable on physical activity with some or most with special knowledge on exercise for mature-aged adults. However, there should be a mixture of personalities and sexes to accommodate everyone’s preference, with a variety of age. The service variables are mainly factors that need to be considered once people have already begun to use the service, to ensure that they keep coming back.
The promotion mix are the different avenues that we are going to use in order to attract people to the program initially. In advertising, we are currently looking to have ads on the television, the radio, in newspapers, and in magazines. We are asking for special deals in these mediums, as the services we are providing are for community health reasons. We are currently in negotiations and will have more information within a week. We have also considered mail-outs of brochures, particularly if we can ensure that it will reach those who are mature-aged. Also, we are setting up a website that will have all of the details on the different services and facilities that are available, and why physical activity is so important. Public relations involves a widely known figure promoting our service. We are currently in negotiations with Dawn Fraser, a former Olympian. With sales promotions the possibilities are endless! This could be a ‘two-for-one’ deal, or a special deal to those with a seniors card. We are leaving this primarily to each of the organisations within the working group and what they think would best suit their organisation. Personal selling involves face-to-face contact with people in order to sell them the benefits of our program and to overcome any concerns that they may have. We are currently looking at having information stalls at shopping centres and also going to retirement villages and homes to hold information sessions. The promotional licensing will involve having the brand power of a successful Australian company that is renowned for health and vitality. We do not have any solid ideas for this area yet. As you can see, there are so many ways in which we can promote the Active Ageing in Queensland program, but for now we are going to focus on our top three priorities, and reconvene in two weeks to discuss where we are up to regarding those three priorities and if we are ready to move on to new priorities. Today we will also be delegating roles and responsibilities to people, so if there is a particular area that you believe you would be an asset to, please be sure to see me after the presentation.
Our first priority, or tactic and benchmark (Smith & Stewart, 1999), is in regards to the second objective, which is to advertise and promote a wide variety of services and facilities of the Working Group within 6 months. To do that, we need to ensure that we have all of the funds and resources that we need in order to make the Active Ageing in Queensland program a roaring success! In order to do that, we will first be appointing a person to coordinate this particular area, and people to assist with this area. Secondly, research into the types of funds and grants that are available will need to be undertaken. And thirdly. All of those funds and grants will need to be applied for in the correct format.
Our second priority is in relation to the first objective which is to increase the number of mature-aged Queenslanders regularly using facilities and services provided by the Working Group by 25% by December 1, 2003, This will involve designing advertisements and promotions that appeal to mature-aged adults. We will need to undertake further market research to determine the exercise preferences of older adults; design promotions that are cost effective for the consumer, not the provider; and to design a television promotion that focuses on the benefits of being physically active, rather than the costs.
The third priority is focussed on the first objective which is to increase the number of mature-aged Queenslanders regularly using facilities and services provided by the Working Group by 25% by December 1, 2003 by expanding the knowledge of the staff on exercise for older adults, thereby creating a greater service. In order to do this, we will need to delegate the role of training coordinator. This does not mean that you will provide the training, rather that you will make sure that it takes place. We also need to organise training days at different centres around the state; and to develop incentives for staff and organisations to take part.
As I am sure that you are now fully aware, there are a lot of things that need to be done to ensure that this program is a success, however, the results will be worth it when Queensland has the healthiest and fittest mature-aged adults in Australia!
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