Media Exposure of Aussie Gateways Project 2005.

January:
* Radio Schedule with Radio 97 Tweed Heads featuring the Aussie Gateways 60 sec jingle, AG 30 sec Northern NSW commercial and 30 sec AG Southern Gold Coast commercial.

* Supplied map with AG logo to “Waterfall Way” magazine published in Armidale. This lift-out is distributed between Palm Beach, Tenterfield, Armidale, Tamworth, Nambucca Heads, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Casino, Lismore, Ballina and Tweed Heads.

* Development of A1 size maps showing the location of all Hungry Jacks stores in Northern NSW. These framed maps to be placed in all Northern NSW Hungry Jacks stores accompanied by Aussie Gateways “Holiday Guide” maps.

February
* Development of Southern Gold Coast & Tweed Valley maps for distribution at Australian Bream Series Tournament to be held in Tweed Heads in May, 2005.

* Production of Southern Gold Coast & Tweed Valley “Self-Drive” maps to be placed into the new Tweed Daily News publication entitled “Discover.” This full-colour, gloss magazine will be distributed throughout the Tweed and Coolangatta areas. It supplies visitors with information about the local area and showcases accommodation centres, restaurants, tours & attractions.

March
* Television schedule with NBN Television (Northern Rivers window) for Aussie Gateways 30 sec Northern NSW commercial. This schedule (in response to our members’ requests) specifically targets the three hour self-drive market.

* Creation of A3 folded, full-colour Aussie Gateways Northern NSW map & brochure incorporating Hungry Jack’s vouchers. This brochure is to be distributed throughout Hungry Jack’s Restaurants in Northern NSW as well as at tourism establishments belonging to NNSW members and Visitor Information Centres.

* Maps & advertisements placed in the Tweed Daily News “Discover” booklet. This full-colour gloss booklet provides information about the Tweed Region and has been designed as a “take home” publication. All Aussie Gateways advertisements in this booklet encourage potential visitors to access the Aussie Gateways web portal to book accommodation and tours with members of the Aussie Gateways network.

* Radio schedule with Radio 97 Tweed Heads. This schedule targeted the business community by encouraging local businesses to join the Aussie Gateways On-line business directory.

As all businesses benefit from tourism yield, the on-line business directory enables local businesses to boost our cooperative marketing budget and contribute towards regional advertising.

April
Investigated possibility of running sports camps in Australia for Japanese students utilizing pools complex at Club Banora and accommodation at Quality Resort, Twin Towns. Made contact with Japanese marketing manager and translation service.

May
Sponsorship of the Australian Bream Tournament held at Tweed Heads on May 28th & 29th. Aussie Gateways provided maps of the area and accommodation lists drawn from our members for anglers and their families who travelled to Tweed for the competition. Also, links from the ABT web site to Aussie Gateways were given in order to place members of the Aussie Gateways network in a “first preference” position for those seeking accommodation during the weeks leading up to the event.

June
Expanded our Aussie Gateways Northern NSW campaigns further south by welcoming Nambucca Valley Tourism into the Aussie Gateways network. As a result of this, photographs of the beautiful Nambucca River featured on our full-colour A4 brochures distributed throughout Hungry Jack’s Stores and VICs.

July
Developed an affiliation with the Far North Coast Golden Oldies Rugby Union Competition by providing accommodation lists of AG members and web profiles of Northern NSW clubs to members of the NNSW Golden Oldies Rugby Teams. This group of “older” players and their families travel on a regular basis throughout NNSW for games at various regional centres. Aussie Gateways provides on-line links to our members’ accommodation centres directly from the regional Golden Rugby web site. This affiliation could prove quite valuable in the future as this group plans to host international rugby fixtures in our local area in the near future. Also, these players travel to both inter-state and international Rugby Carnivals taking the Aussie Gateways print media and web address with them.

August
Became involved in promotion of the “Australian Walk of Fame”, Tweed Heads. Aussie Gateways provided media assistance to the organising committee and in return received web links for the Aussie Gateways site.
Conducted further investigations into providing training camps for Japanese students.

September
Developed an affiliation with Radio 97 Sports Chat show. Provided a web presence for Radio 97 on the Aussie Gateways web portal. Listeners are directed to the Aussie Gateways web portal for information about topics discussed on the show. This serves as another avenue of exposure for the AG site.
Continued affiliation with the Tweed Daily News and Discover Booklet by providing maps, web presence and banner ads for the booklet. The Aussie Gateways web portal and its individual members are given exposure in this booklet.

October
Launched the Aussie Gateways Kids Activity pages on the AG web portal. These pages are specifically designed to attract the attention of families to the Aussie Gateways web portal.
Co-ordinated the Press Conference and assisted at the launch of the “Australian Walk of Fame”. On-line links from the AWOF web site directly to Aussie Gateways provide easily accessed information for those travelling to the area. This event will continue to attract celebrities and their families to the local area on a regular basis. The Walk of Fame will develop into a well-known tourist attraction that will help to showcase the Tweed region in a variety of markets.

November
Japanese Training Camps
As a result of feedback from our Japanese contacts, Petria Thomas has been approached and has accepted an offer to run swimming camps for Japanese school students on the Tweed Coast. This will be a wonderful achievement for Aussie Gateways and the Tweed community. More details to come later.

Aussie Celebrity Golf Day
Aussie Gateways has developed an affiliation with the Aussie Celebrity Golf Day organising committee. This Golf Day will take place in Tweed Heads next March and has attracted celebrities from all areas of Australia. Our association with this group has provided links from the Aussie Celebrity Golf web site to the Aussie Gateways portal. Once again, this affiliation will benefit members of Aussie Gateways as they will gain national exposure of their web sites through the extensive media promotions and web communication undertaken by the Golf Day committee.
Coasters distributed into Surf Clubs on the SGC
Aussie Gateways print media has extended to drink coasters placed in a number of Surf Clubs in the Southern Gold Coast. This print media provides exposure of the Aussie Gateways portal to holiday-makers and locals alike; and encourages them to plan their next holiday via the Aussie Gateways portal.

Tweed “Discover” Booklet
Aussie Gateways has continued its affiliation with the Tweed Daily News and “Discover” Booklet by providing maps, web presence and banner ads for the Summer Edition booklet. The Aussie Gateways web portal and its individual members continue to gain exposure through this booklet.

December
Full page advertising in “Holidays With Kids” magazine. This national booklet is distributed both Australia-wide and internationally through Travel Agents, Newsagencies, In-flight on Qantas services and in all Qantas lounges. Readers of the booklet are encouraged to access the Aussie Gateways portal when planning a holiday. Also, the Aussie Gateways logo (with links) has been placed on the “Holidays With Kids” web site.