Advertising goes west. Flights don't go north east.

[Hotpot]

Gawd Almighty, what's going on with Canary Islands' advertising nowadays?

A presumably hugely expensive ad campaign is underway in the UK which makes no sense at all other than to its copywriter. And has almost as many grammatical errors as Lanzarote has craters.

I haven't seen any Lanzarote-specific advertising yet, but if the island is looking for an economic boost from the present incomprehensible nonsense, it's going to be disappointed. . .

. . . As it must also be with the re-timing of Newcastle-Arrecife Thursday charter flights, which used to get you into Lanza at around lunchtime and land you back in the UK around 7pm. But which now land in Arrecife in the evening and don't get you back to the UK until one o'clock in the morning.

I know Lanzarote can do sod all about this, but I can also guess that many families simply aren't going to want to holiday on the island when they think their last day will see them booted out of their accommodation in order to hang around for hours until they can check in for a flight which won't get 'em home until the next day.

Lanza lovers like us are going to have to make alternative flight arrangements because we know the destination is worth the journey.

First timers though, baffled by an advertising campaign that makes no sense and obstructed by flight schedules that are anything but user friendly, are more than likely going to give Lanza a miss.

Sad.

:sigh

[Jackie H.]

It's probably because all the airlines tend to operate winter and summer timetables. They do seem to have cut quite a lot of flights from their norm though, due to drop in visitors I assume. which in turn is probably due to the increase in flight prices by the tour operators this year.

They seem to have a grudge against the independent traveller and don't want us to just buy seats from them but a whole package.

It's a vicious circle.

[Hotpot]

And sadly, a vicious circle that Lanzarote would seem powerless to prevent.

Package holidays are useless for the independently minded and those dreadful ALL INCLUSIVE affairs are useless (correction, lethal) for a local economy: the hotel is a destination in itself that mops up nearly all the spending of the visitor.

As to the airline schedule I quoted: not just winter; flight timings that couldn't have been better designed to discourage holidaymakers from visiting Lanzarote -- and so lead to the dropping of Lanzarote altogether due to lack of demand -- apply throughout the summer of 2008.

[Jackie H.]

This subject has been hashed over many times on several other forums. It is a combination of flight prices,timetables, AI hotels, the rip off camera shops, price increases in the restaurants etc etc that is putting the regular visitors off.

I normally go at least 4 times a year but haven't been once this year and can't say I've missed it. The last visit we noticed big changes in PB and didn't much like it compared to all our previous visits.

There are soooo many other places to go that are better value for money that I feel Lanzarote has had it's turn and people have moved on.

But I will probably still head back there next year if the price is right.:b7

[Hotpot]

I normally go at least 4 times a year but haven't been once this year and can't say I've missed it. The last visit we noticed big changes in PB and didn't much like it compared to all our previous visits.

Cheer up! We "found" Lanzarote through "finding" little PB. When it was little PB, and the world ended just beyond the Puerto Chico apartments and that big hotel and beautiful bay.

So much for 1992. Though everyone said then, how much PB had changed: 'you should've seen it as it used to be!'

(Well, if the state of the road to Playa Blanca when we drove there was anything to go by, Gawd knows what it must've been like in more, um, primitive times. . . )

So we loved PB as we found it. Then grew to hate it when the unbridled venality so characteristic of mainland Spain set in -- developer greed and, for all I know, Local Authority greed: what the hell has been going on at Yaiza???

PB stopped being playa Blanca and became Puerile Building. Lots and lots and lots and lots of Puerile Building.

We long since migrated north. It's where we found Lanza again. And where -- honest! -- it still is. Don't let the ruination of Playa Blanca put you off, Jackie. As a blot on the ocean it's just a drop in the ocean where Lanza is concerned.

:plane

[mikecj]

I'd be really interested to hear more about the incomprehensible advertising campaign please, as we obviously don't see it here.

[Hotpot]

I'll go hunt it out, Mike.

It was a full colour page in last week's Sunday Times Magazine.

I'm a bit out of touch with media buying nowadays so am not sure what the ST's rates are at the moment.

But it looked to me like £20,000sworth of ad spend utterly wasted. Or considerably more.

:cry

[mikecj]

OK - I'll look forward to seeing it. Interesting that we seem to be advertising in UK again. The Cabildo decided a couple of years ago to focus advertising spend on the peninsular, and that campaign has been hugely successful in getting many more mainlanders over to the island for their holidays - numbers which have taken up the slack in reduced German and British visitors.
I was walking from my house to a friend's house in Haria on Saturday and we were stopped by four seperate hire cars and asked for directions - all were mainland Spaniards.
Note to Haria Ayuntamiento - you really need to put some new roadsigns up!

[oleoleole]

No, I haven't noticed the advertising either ??

Unless it makes so little sense that it just went over my head !

(Actually I think I saw something on the back of a bus or a taxi, but that was it)

Ole

[Hotpot]

Yach, darn it. ST Mag has been recycled at the Tesco branch of what passes for municipal services round here: my wife apparently chucked it out to protect my blood pressure.

Anyway, if it rings a bell with ole, the ad is about "The Canaries" and was penned by a copywriter with a degree in Moldavian Media Studies.

The wording is all about you know who your friends brothers sisters are but do you know who they really are?

To which the obvious answer is, yes.

They carry out chainsaw massacres on a regular basis.

Having thus established that you know / do not know who everyone is, or not, the copy attempts to meld this with stuff that might be about The Canaries or, er, Moldavia.

So basically, the ad is saying to all those who don't know The Canaries that they do know The Canaries or think they know The Canaries but really, truly, don't know The Canaries on account of the fact that they're entirely unaware their mother-in-law is a cannibal.

It is, in my experience of media, a pretty unique selling proposition, tarnished only by sentences devoid of verbs, an absence of any understanding of tenses, and a conviction that the plural of volcano is best represented as volcano. Or perhaps it was "volcano plus another volcano".

The image that ties all this together is, I think, of the south wall of the Grand Canyon at sunset.

So perhaps Arizona State Tourism is subsidising the campaign and everyone who boards a charter to Arrecife in 2008 will wind up in Phoenix.

In view of Mike's comment I'm wondering if this was indeed conceived for the peninsular or mainland Europe market and then translated into English, for which The Canaries has been charged a small fortune even though Babelfish did the job.

Thankfully, there was no mention of Lanzarote (as far as I can remember) in the ad.

I do wish I'd kept it though, so will look out for its reappearance.

It definitely takes the prize for this season's worst tourism ad.

:(

[DrRobert]

As someone who regularly uses the exact flight you mention, Hotspot, I rather like the "Get back into Newcastle at 1 am" one. Mind you, this is probably because I've got my own place in Lanza, and am not (usually!) thrown out of it at 11 pm on departure day. That flight gives me an extra day on my visit!

You'll probably be happy to know that there's currently two flights running from Newcastle to Lanz with times that'll probably suit you more. There's the Thomas Cook/Avro flight replacing the one you mention, which leaves Newcastle at 12.05 and gets into Arrecife at 16.45 (going back 17.45, into Newc at 22.15) and the Jet2 flight which is 12.30-17.06 outward and 18.00-22.30 return.

[oleoleole]

I think for many years we’ve been spoilt by the UK/Lanza flight times. Many other destinations have far worse flights available and then big supplements on the decent flight times.
The 1 a.m. return isn’t too bad so long as it really IS 1 a.m. and not 2 or 3 a.m. (and assuming you don't live too far from your UK airport) and the upside of it is that you get to squeeze as much out of the weekend in Lanza which helps make a long weekend trip more attractive.
Ole

[Hotpot]

Originally Posted by oleoleole

The 1 a.m. return isn’t too bad so long as it really IS 1 a.m. and not 2 or 3 a.m. (and assuming you don't live too far from your UK airport) and the upside of it is that you get to squeeze as much out of the weekend in Lanza which helps make a long weekend trip more attractive.
Ole

You're right, ole, about not living near to an airport: when one faces an 80-minute drive home, a 1.00 am landing is out of the question -- factor in processing, collecting car from longterm parking, and it's hopeless. And, as you say, a flight delay can only make things even worse.

I actually don't think any European destination's worth the hassle of an early hours next-day landing. Using airports / aircraft is pretty bloody awful enough as it is. Long-haul, I'm prepared to put up with it (though it obviously depends in which direction you're travelling: going west to home or east to home) but Lanza's only a 4-hour trip or less -- not short-haul, I know, but not the stuff of true long-haul, either.

I do feel sorry for all the families who have to endure "a last day" of their holiday complete with baggage, kids, and nowhere to go after being turfed out of their hotel accomm.

Plus: there's the psychological factor -- when I've packed, I want to be on my way; anything between then and getting home is "dead time". (Yup: even if it's spent in Lanzarote!)

[Hotpot]

Originally Posted by DrRobert

You'll probably be happy to know that there's currently two flights running from Newcastle to Lanz with times that'll probably suit you more. There's the Thomas Cook/Avro flight replacing the one you mention, which leaves Newcastle at 12.05 and gets into Arrecife at 16.45 (going back 17.45, into Newc at 22.15) and the Jet2 flight which is 12.30-17.06 outward and 18.00-22.30 return.

Whoa hey! Many thanks for that!

We certainly didn't know about Jet2's service -- and as for Thomas Cook, we didn't check into its schedule (as it were) other than for next summer, when we were sorting out some possible dates for a group of six of us to travel together.

It's then when Thomas Cook's return flights from Lanazarote are 21.45 out from Arrecife, 01.45 landing, Newcastle. We slipped up by failing to then look at the winter timetable -- I thought my wife had (!); she assumed I had (aaargh.)

I guess up until March 2008 Thomas Cook will stick to the times you mention though, so that'll be fine for our more immediate travel plans!

:hyper

[oleoleole]

Hotspot,
I think you have hit the nail on the head about the psychological factor of the last day.
Personally (other than for security reasons) I try not to get bothered if I have to spend a few hours without a room. We just pack our going home clothes at the top of the case, or even carrier bag, spend the day by the pool then have a shower by the pool and get changed at the last minute in the toilets. Even as a single parent with 3 kids we managed to do without a room for the afternoon, it’s really no problem. BUT I have noticed people getting agitated by it and I think it’s psychological as you say.
On the other hand I DO get rather morose on my last day at the thought of the holiday ending. I hate packing stuff away and finding a receipt or an item which reminds me of something earlier in the holiday, so I try to make sure I throw stuff like that way each day. I’ve also got a thing about that last right hand turn into the airport, it’s like the point of no return !
Ole

[Hotpot]

Originally Posted by oleoleole

I hate packing stuff away and finding a receipt or an item which reminds me of something earlier in the holiday, so I try to make sure I throw stuff like that way each day. I’ve also got a thing about that last right hand turn into the airport, it’s like the point of no return !
Ole

Ah, if only I had your willpower! ;)

For reasons I cannot fathom (but may hint at a deeply insecure personality) I stuff my wallet with just about every conceivable receipt -- never in the UK, yet always in Lanza. Why??

Last week my wife was hunting for some Tesco receipts to reconcile with our MasterCard bill. Nope, I'd lost 'em. But when hunting for them, I located a EuroSpar receipt dated July 2003 and a colour leaflet for the same month with different product promotions. Also some tickets for the submarine at Puerto Calera, October 2003. Also receipts for dinner at Icarus, Teguise, in 2001. I binned the lot.

After I told my wife of my good housekeeping, she said don't tell me you threw out the EuroSpar leaflet? It would've been good to see the prices then compared with now.

Sometimes, you can't win. Still. I did find another sales leaflet in a drawer. The supermarket in the Canada Center, Marbella, where we used to shop in 1999-2000.

But the damn thing was all in Pesetas and we couldn't be bothered to figure the exchange rate so that was binned, too.

:sosad

[Stewlanz]

Originally Posted by Hotpot

Yach, darn it. ST Mag has been recycled at the Tesco branch of what passes for municipal services round here: my wife apparently chucked it out to protect my blood pressure.

Anyway, if it rings a bell with ole, the ad is about "The Canaries" and was penned by a copywriter with a degree in Moldavian Media Studies.

The wording is all about you know who your friends brothers sisters are but do you know who they really are?

To which the obvious answer is, yes.

They carry out chainsaw massacres on a regular basis.

Having thus established that you know / do not know who everyone is, or not, the copy attempts to meld this with stuff that might be about The Canaries or, er, Moldavia.

So basically, the ad is saying to all those who don't know The Canaries that they do know The Canaries or think they know The Canaries but really, truly, don't know The Canaries on account of the fact that they're entirely unaware their mother-in-law is a cannibal.

It is, in my experience of media, a pretty unique selling proposition, tarnished only by sentences devoid of verbs, an absence of any understanding of tenses, and a conviction that the plural of volcano is best represented as volcano. Or perhaps it was "volcano plus another volcano".

The image that ties all this together is, I think, of the south wall of the Grand Canyon at sunset.

So perhaps Arizona State Tourism is subsidising the campaign and everyone who boards a charter to Arrecife in 2008 will wind up in Phoenix.

In view of Mike's comment I'm wondering if this was indeed conceived for the peninsular or mainland Europe market and then translated into English, for which The Canaries has been charged a small fortune even though Babelfish did the job.

Thankfully, there was no mention of Lanzarote (as far as I can remember) in the ad.

I do wish I'd kept it though, so will look out for its reappearance.

It definitely takes the prize for this season's worst tourism ad.

:(

There has been the same ad running on SKY TV.
Inbetween news items.
It shows lots of pics of volcanoes, waves breaking, cacti etc. with the wording of something like "Do you REALLY know Canaries."
Not very inspiring at all.
Dread to think what it cost!

Mike, we have had new road signs EVERYWHERE in Tinajo.
Now there are signs to places I have never even heard of off the main road!
But there is no sign to tell you when you have got to the place you have never heard of...so you never know where it is supposed to be anyway!!

[Hotpot]

You're right, stewlanz. It is costing a fortune -- and some ad agency, somewhere, is laughing all the way to the bank.

We don't have Sky so haven't seen the commercial but surprise, surprise, The Canaries print ad appears as a £35,000 or thereabouts full colour page in this month's Good Housekeeping magazine in the UK.

Exactly the same rubbish as before, only someone's realised that the spelling would disgrace a primary school class and so volcano (plural) now has an 'e' in it. I'm not sure if they've re-done the ad or merely changed the black in the page films but either way, it's still an incoherent shambles. Who oversees this stuff: Canaries Tourism department?

A shame they don't visit this forum. Images from members like iluvlanz and jacksback say more about Lanzarote / The Canaries than all that dreadful "prose" about you-think-you-know-but-do-you-know.

Er, y'know.

[candeltias]

:peep
I think lanz needs tidying up - its become scruffy particlarly PDC

[oleoleole]

Would definitely agree that PDC needs tidying up.
I don’t mean the bigger things, I quite like the slightly disorganised way some of it is laid out. For me it’s the smaller things like overflowing back street bins (seems like they’re pretty hot on the main strip bins though), and unkempt building fronts (or sides etc) or broken pavements or even broken walls. Also the black electricity cables going across outsides of white buildings in the Old Town. I’d have expected property owners within the main tourist areas would be liable to keep their property to a certain standard, in most cases it’s just a case of minor brickwork (well more like breeze block) and / or whitewashing – i.e. mostly just tidying work, I can’t see that it’d even cost much.
Ole

[candeltias]

Yes you are absolutely right - Although I ditest Playa Blanca and what they have done down there, it is tidy although a bit false looking. I used to like it when going to Papagayo was an adventure ,now well its just an extension of the concrete jungle - and all the houses look the same! Ayt least there is some individuality about Tias,PDC and to smome extent CT.
Lets hope if they refurb the front - they do something about tidyingthe rest up - including the wibbly wobbly pavements!!!

[DrRobert]

The Jet2 Newcastle flight starts again at the end of November.

[Hotpot]

Thanks Doctorbob. That should be fine (fingers crossed) -- seems a shame Jet2 won't take any bookings yet or release flight details, the website says we have to hang on until Sunday October 26th 2008 (precise, aren't they?)

It looks as though some other operators are arranging more sensible winter schedules than Spring / summer, which is great news for us because we haven't been to Lanza at all this year on account of the combination of high priced flights / ludicrous landing times. Maybe a lot of others have shunned the route as well, though it's more likely that the winter period is freeing up airport slots.

We had thought that a Spring / summer without Lanza was going to be, well, awful, but we've just returned from France after a long, ambling, sun-drenched driving holiday that not only made us appreciate how little France has changed in the 26 years since we last drove through it -- empty roads, beautiful towns and villages -- but how BIG the country is.

The freedom from airport check-ins, security processing, flight delays and baggage queues has made us seriously re-think if even Lanza is worth the hassle: regardless of the brand name on the airplane, they're just cattle trucks with wings, and we're getting to the point where though looking at cattle can make for a pleasant perspective, being treated as cattle is a real no-no. It would be sad to quit Lanza forever but. . .

[islandbabe]

The Cabildo in Fuerte have informed us there was a tourist exhition this year which all the islands attended and both Tenerife and Lanzarote used pictures of our beaches to advertise your islands!!!!!!:xs2

Caroline
Fuerteventura

[cvs]

Hi Hotpot, I think you views on the current advertising in UK for the Canaries was the funniest thing I have ready today. Thank you for making me laugh.

On the serious side - we all need Lanzarote to survive and it is only to clear that the wooly heads in the Cabildo are too impressed by the sharp advertising companies off Island. I run a business between Lanzaroet and Russia and the shambles of the recent direct flights from moscow fall into the same 'I don't believe it' category.

I know I'm banging my own drum but everything tells me that the Russain market has to be entertained. Don't think just because lots of Russian have lots of money that they are stupid. How do you think they got their money in the first place. They want quality and luxury. Lanzarote is no longer a cheap sun destination. Its' cheaper to go to Egypt! We must get better at most everything, then we will get high spending Russians, et al.
Carl