KALAHEO — Local businesses Tsunami Marketing and Safari Helicopters received top accolades at the 2003 Hawai‘i 5.0 Awards, with the selection of safarihelicopters.com as one of the state’s “Top 5 Best Designs.” Safari was the only website recognized in the
KALAHEO — Local businesses Tsunami Marketing and Safari Helicopters received top accolades at the 2003 Hawai‘i 5.0 Awards, with the selection of safarihelicopters.com as one of the state’s “Top 5 Best Designs.”
Safari was the only website recognized in the category.
Honoring the best of the best in marketing communications design statewide, the Hawai‘i 5.0 awards are presented annually by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Honolulu Chapter and Hawai‘i’s Printers.
This year’s judges included principals from internationally recognized design firms Landor Associates, Vrontikis Design Office and VSA Partners who reviewed more than 200 entries across different industries and genres to select the Top 5 designs for Hawai‘i.
The awards are based on the idea “Good Design is Good Business” and that well-designed promotions and communications are more effective in acquiring and retaining customers.
Nowhere has this become more important than online presentation.
Once considered the “frontier” of visitor industry marketing, web sites have become an important means of attracting customers for Hawai‘i businesses.
Kaua‘i business owners Preston and Grace Myers decided to upgrade their online presence after discovering that online bookings had become an important source of revenue.
“We’ve seen a great increase in our visitors booking online, and they are getting more savvy every year,” said Myers.
“The Internet is more than a trend, it is something that is going to stay and get better and better. I go online all the time to shop and do business, so why not build a great web site for our own customers?”
“Where the early sites were online brochures, today’s web users demand a more interactive experience,” said Robert Rekward of Tsunami Marketing, whose team was hired to develop the winning solution for Safari Helicopters.
“To leverage this, we added ‘web stickiness’ to the Safari site by means of an interactive Flash game that allows visitors to fly a virtual helicopter around the island of Kaua‘i while collecting photographs of various scenic locations.
Just like one of Safari’s real helicopters, there are three on-board cameras for the pilot to choose from. The result is that visitors are spending a long time at the Safari site and are therefore thinking of Safari first when it comes time to choose an air tour company on Kaua‘i or the Big Island,” Rekward added.
The Hawai‘i 5.0 competition judges called the site “refreshing,” citing the ease of usability and creative application of technology as part of what makes the Safari site work so well.
“This is not easy to do, and they made it look fun and easy,” said Petrula Vrontikis.
“It’s the kind of project that can only be done with a terrific designer, a terrific client, and terrific subject matter.”
The widespread use of the Internet has greatly enhanced the ability of local businesses to reach visitors more directly, before they arrive.
The 2003 Kaua‘i Visitors Survey, conducted by SMS Research and Marketing Services, found that roughly half of all visitors surveyed used web travel sites for trip planning and that 36 percent used the Internet specifically to find recreational activities.
Other popular uses of the Internet included finding accommodations (42 percent), making airline reservations (37 percent) and renting a vehicle (31 percent).
Sue Kanoho, Executive Director of the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau notes that “We find the Internet translating into an extremely important marketing tool for the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau and believe it is serving our visitors well as they seek to discover more and more information on the island. The flexibility of the Internet has enabled the KVB to adapt to our ever-changing market conditions sometimes as early as a week’s notice.”
Val Rekward of Tsunami Marketing worked with Safari Helicopters to set the online strategy.
“For us the true measure of success is that the site is successful in accomplishing the business objectives,” said Val Rekward.
“More than capitalizing on a trend or looking good, this is how businesses get the most long-term value.
“Grace and Preston have done an amazing job of articulating their goals, and setting us up for success to achieve them.”
The Hawaii 5.0 awards also recognized Tsunami Marketing with Awards of Excellence in Web Design for Kauai Mobile Bike Repair and in Print Design for its New Office Announcement and Stationery Package.
This is the second year in a row that Tsunami Marketing has won an award for top web site design in the category.
Tsunami Marketing is a nationally recognized, award winning marketing and advertising firm founded on Kaua‘i specializing in the creation of integrated print, interactive and brand development programs to empower businesses.
The firm has been doing business on Kaua‘i since 1991, and online since 1994.
