So what is The PowerShot Great Aussie Road Trip and what do we hope to achieve?

In June 2008 the Power family embark on a trip around Australia. Greg Power is a professional photographer and father, Rachel Power is a business woman and mother and their two children Jasmine (5) and Jemma (3) are energetic and adorable. The following brief outlines what we hope to achieve on The Powershot Great Aussie Road Trip.

Objectives

1. To document an Australian family holiday through still photography.
2. To photograph Australia’s unique landscape.
3. To inspire people to see more of Australia and to get out of the holiday ‘comfort zone’.
4. To seek an answer to “is customer service really better in small towns?”
5. To build a story and create the desire for the public to follow our journey.
6. To showcase some of Australia’s best products, services and locations for families and travellers.

Methods

We have devised a range of topics that will assist us in fulfilling our objectives including;

Photography

• An Australian Family Holiday in 2008: Photograph the intricacies of family life on the road, vehicles, entertainment, accommodation, events and the unique Australian landscape.
• Australia 2008: Cover the landscape, flood and drought, wildlife and communities encountered through still photography.
• Products: Photograph the products utilised throughout the trip in a wide range of locations and situations.

Website

This website is aimed at two main demographics, families and travellers. Through regular updates and a personal feel to our site we are building the story of our journey and a rapport with our followers. This relationship will carry through to our forum where visitors can ask questions and make suggestions that will be read directly by the family and other visitors to our site. The project website has three main sections:

Journal

Updated weekly (where access permits). Journal entries will cover issues that arise along the way, including where we have been, what and who we encounter and tips and tricks we find that make our lives easier – both as parents and travellers.

Through our journal we hope to show our passion for this project and our country. We also hope to convey that exploring Australia is not just for the ‘Grey Nomads’, but can be a great experience for families – You just have to have the right equipment!

Images

Images will be regularly updated (where access is available), and will feature both professional images taken by Greg Power and images taken by the rest of the family using the Canon PowerShot range.

Forum

The forum will be divided into sections to be monitored by individual sponsors. This allows site visitors to ask questions directly to the professionals and manufacturers about the products and services we are using on the road. Both questions and answers by sponsors are able to be read by all site visitors who may also be potential clients.

Customer Service Reviews

Through the use of a specifically designed questionnaire that will be completed for most businesses that we interact with on our journey, we will answer the question “is customer service really better in small towns?”

At the conclusion of the trip a report will be compiled based on the results of the customer service surveys. This report will compare results on a state level, town level and individual locations should the time spent at that location be significant.

Conclusions will be drawn as to whether or not customer service is better in small towns or have they got a captive audience so service is not essential to their survival?

This report is particularly important from a tourism perspective, with $58 billion being spent in 2007 on domestic travel*, how well do individual state and regional sectors satisfy customers to increase their share of the tourism dollar?
(* source: National Visitors Survey, TRA)

Sponsorship

Sponsorship of the overall project is available to businesses big and small, this has been devised to allow our reach to be extended far beyond those of our initial networks.

Our sponsors are sponsoring the project, not an individual, business or a family. We do not intend to profit directly from sponsorship and intend to offer as much as possible to our contributors in return. There are two forms of sponsorship:

In-kind Sponsorship: This is sponsorship in the form of providing products or services to be utilised during the project. Some of our product sponsors are small businesses looking to market their fantastic products that they have not yet been in a position to bring to the Australia wide market. Other sponsors are looking to market their products in a new light, to capture the imagination and be a step ahead of their competition.

and/or;

Financial Sponsorship: Financial sponsorship will allow the potential extension of the project length. Financial contributions will cater for food, petrol and other consumables. It will also allow for marketing to gain a wider audience and increase the ongoing website patronage. Again, the size of businesses who are sponsoring financially vary greatly from large corporations to small industry groups and associations who identify with our objectives.

Marketing

Events: The official media launch of the project was held on 8th May 2008. Our official conclusion and summary event will be held on November 9th at the Family Business Australia Family Expo http://www.fbafamilyexpo.com.au, being held a tthe National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra. These are specifically designed to give media access to the Power family for interviews and visual content for television programs, and to allow the public the opportunity to personally meet us.

Media: Currently you can follow our journey through On The Road magazine and Mix 106.3 Mark & Lisa Brekky progam (ACT) This list is rapidly growing. Check out sponsors page for the latest list of promotional partners.

By becoming a Sponsor of the PowerShot Great Aussie Road Trip, you will have access to the stories from the people who are travelling Australia with your products and services. The PowerShot Great Aussie Road Trip is all about one family’s journey around Australia as they document by still photography the drought, landscapes, people and events that make up the unique tapestry of the Australian experience.