The good old-fashioned road atlas has certainly taken a back seat to the new-fangled invention known as GPS, and the brands behind the maps have suffered, being one of the many casualties of digital disruption. But they’re putting up a fight, with Melbourne-based Melway and the national UBD-Gregory’s Street Directory both launching new campaigns in the last fortnight.

Melway commissioned iOM and Press Play Creative to bring some life back into its brand, launching a new outdoor campaign over the coming weeks. The campaign features four different creative executions that each highlights the benefits of using a Melway, targeting different audience segments.

“Our goal was to communicate the unique points of difference that make Melway maps relevant in this increasingly digital age. We also wanted to remind our target of the great level of detail and quality of design that makes Melway maps such a reliable,
vital resource for Melburnians,” says Beth Richards, director Press Play Creative Marketing.

The campaign features the new tag line ‘What a legend’ and will appear across all Melway communications and draws on the, “outstanding contribution Melway has made to the community, recording the growth and development of the city for the past 47 years.”

“Outdoor was the perfect medium for Melway, it allowed us to communicate with our target in an environment where the product was relevant to the situation. The uncluttered nature of outdoor allows the message to be fully absorbed, and the larger than life sites made sure the product was a major focus during a key sales period,” says Leah Whitford, Managing Director iOM.

Outdoor has been the hero medium for the Melway campaign with 12 supersites situated across greater Melbourne. Publicity, point of sale, and a promotion will support the outdoor
advertising, with the aim to further engage Melburnians.

UBD-Gregory’s Street Directory has also begun campaigning, this week re-establishing itself as “the Navigational Tool of choice for the organised mind – people who value knowing where they are going as well as where they are.”

“It’s a big claim but with the UBD Gregory’s street directory you have certainty,” says Alison Gardiner, marketing manager at Hardie Grant Explore, the directory’s publisher.

Hardie Grant Explore commissioned Brand Story, a strategic research and brand strategy consultancy, to conduct research to establish the nature of the opportunity for the brand as well as to underpin development of marketing activities.

Steve Sheppard, managing director of Brand Story says, “Quantitative research among a
sample of 800 adults revealed that directories lead the market as the tool most associated
with ‘setting out,’ ie. giving the driver the ability to see the whole journey ahead immediately
prior to a trip which is a key stage in trip planning.”

Brand Story suggested that this critical role needed to be capitalised on and developed the new tagline, ‘Know. Then go.’ Brand Story also suggested that to provoke a reappraisal of the directory, users of  navigational tools would need to be reminded of the fallibility of mobile apps and in-car GPS devices.

“The bus-back campaign targets drivers who habitually use GPS or mobile phones to
navigate with and who have experienced the frustration and stress due to connectivity and
technical issues,” Sheppard says.

The new campaign comprising three executions has just commenced in Adelaide and will be rolled out to Perth and Brisbane in October and November this year and other states in 2014.