To critically evaluate the marketing strategy and promotional techniques implemented by Camp America.

Abstract

In times where competition within the youth travel market is extremely dense, consumer power is increasing; therefore companies now need to create new innovative ideas within their marketing strategy in order to penetrate the consumer decision making process. The intention of this study was to choose a company at the forefront of its market place and investigate the most effective form of communication to interact with its consumers. The company chosen for the purpose of this dissertation was Camp America, a company that provides the student market with the opportunity to travel and work abroad in America for the duration of the summer. Supplementary to the product, Camp America promises to deliver its participants an 'online application system which allows over 1000 camps access to your application 24/7' (Camp America, 2012) and a 'fantastic level of service' (Camp America,2012) that guides its participants every step of the way. Included in this research is a framework of the methods used in order to gain in-depth knowledge on the subject at hand. This includes an insight to both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods in the form of telephone interviews and Camp America participant questionnaires. A further insight to the issues surrounding this dissertation included a critical analysis of previous academic literature that consults various topical matters in relation to this dissertations aims and objectives and enabled the researcher to identify any gaps in present academic knowledge. The findings of this study highlight the rapid shift from traditional advertising to promotion via the internet, especially in the form of social networking sites. This may be due to the effect of the importance of word of mouth, which is seen by consumers to have increased credibility due to its lack of bias. For this reason, this study conveys that word of mouth has the largest effect on consumers via the intermediary of social networking sites, where participants can share photos, blogs, reviews and updates surrounding the company, brand or product at hand. Therefore conclusions drawn from this study are that in order to fully penetrate the consumer decision making process, it is essential that companies wholly incorporate ideas in which to generate consumer discussion within their marketing strategies. In terms of future research it may be imperative that this study is carried out again with a larger sample size that can be generalised more accurately to the larger student population. It may also be beneficial to analyse the direct impacts of short term and long term promotional campaigns, with specific insight to whether the promotional medium is being utilised to create awareness or whether it desires a direct response from the consumer.