John was contacted in early 2007 by the owner of a fishing lodge situated on Melville Island, just a 30-minute flight from Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The fishing lodge was called Munupi Wilderness Lodge and the owner wanted to tap into John’s creative instincts, in order to attract more guests to the lodge. The target audience for the fishing lodge was predominantly “AB demographic” males, those who were not frightened to pay near $1,000 a day for the privilege of experiencing some of the most exciting fishing in the world.

Original Logo/Banner

“Munupi” was an aboriginal term and therefore the lodge’s name was largely influenced by the indigenous population of Melville Island.

Lodge owner, Michael Benton, invited John to visit the lodge for a “reconnaissance mission”. During which time John was able to get a better understanding of the resort and its target audience.

Original Website

John comments, “On the weekend I visited the lodge, I was fortunate enough to meet and interview a businessmen’s group of a dozen or so guys, who frequented the location twice a year. In speaking with these gentlemen, it was clear that they all came from a reasonably wealthy career path, with plastic surgeons, film producers, doctors, developers and lawyers all amongst. And when interviewing them, it was clear that they were all there for not just the fishing, but the adventure of a boys’ weekend.”

John went back to his office to crystallise his thoughts and within a week, he provided the owner of the lodge with a detailed marketing plan recommendation, which included “re-branding” the resort to Clearwater Island Lodge.

Because the resort’s occupancy rate needed lifting, the owner was more than receptive to John’s ideas and therefore agreed to re-name the resort Clearwater Island Lodge. John’s rationale for this was that the Aboriginal term “Munupi” really meant nothing to the majority of the lodge’s target audience and a more adventurous name would undoubtedly conjure the right images in the target audiences’ minds.

New and Improved Website from John's Involvement

NEW WEBSITE:

John then went about designing a new website for the lodge, all under the banner of Clearwater Island Lodge. Whilst he had been at the lodge a few weeks earlier, he had videotaped testimonials from guests, with such glowing testimonials being a major feature of the new website. This new website can be seen at www.clearwaterislandlodge.com.au and you will note that it has a touch of both Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, a combination which clearly has captured the imagination of the target audience.

Since the new site has been up and running, the lodge has reported increased enquiries as a result of the website’s new adventurous charisma.

DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGNS:

John also designed a stunning DL brochure which was mailed to a database of likely prospects in the business world. The brochure “mirrored” the look and feel of the website and was in stark contrast to the more mundane communications literature that the lodge formerly had.

The website has been marketed via the Google and Yahoo sponsored sites initiatives and the lodge is enjoying patronage as a result of John’s “wow factor” injection.

Owner, Michael Benton says, “We are so happy that we stumbled across John on a Google search. He is the best thing that has happened to our lodge in many years and we are looking forward to ongoing increased patronage as a result of his strategic and creative direction.”