CVBs Ratchet Up Marketing

Starting with name changes, a handful of destinations are updating their images with a bit of sass and fun.

By Don Sadler

Remember the car slogan from a few years ago, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile”? In 2010, it could be adapted for the meeting and convention business to “This is not your father’s convention and visitors bureau.”

There has been a marked shift by CVBs during the past few years to reposition themselves as hip, engaging and interactive. For many, it starts with dropping the traditional CVB moniker and replacing it with something that’s more visitor-friendly. The trend started after the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus renamed itself the Destination Marketing Association International in 2005. Local destination management organizations soon followed suit; with name changes came new marketing campaigns.

PORTLAND: MORE THAN A NAME CHANGE

Two years ago, the Portland Oregon Visitors Association changed its name to Travel Portland. But according to Greg Newland, Travel Portland’s executive vice president of marketing and public relations, it takes more than a name change to attract meetings and events, especially in today’s competitive climate.

“We didn’t change our name just to be part of a trend — we did it for valid business reasons and because it made sense,” says Newland. “This is a relationship business, and the name of the bureau takes a back seat to the relationships our team builds with meeting and event planners. “At the end of the day, we’re selling a destination, not a bureau. Once planners get through the logistics of dates, rates and availability, they evaluate a destination based on its appeal to attendees.” For years, Portland has played itself up as a “green” city, but during conversations and focus groups, Newland says planners were crying uncle.

“They said, ‘we know you’re green, but what can you tell me about Portland that will get my attendees excited about coming there?’” explains Newland. “So we eliminated our green tagline and are now instead concentrating on headlines in our marketing, which can be adjusted depending on the audience segment.”

Travel Portland also created a marketing video that became a viral hit in the industry. Keith Johnston, group vice president for plannerwire.com and OnSite Events, recently posted it on his blog with the following comment: “This video is exactly what every CVB around the world should be doing — being different. Most destinations are remarkably similar in their category, so it pays to be different and grab attention. What Portland did in this video is not difficult to do; they used imagination to highlight their unique brand proposition.

“Does your video of your destination scream to be shared or is it like all of the others? If your video starts off with your CVB logo and then goes on to detail facts, figures and some pretty pictures, you may want to consider a different approach because in all honesty, that looks exactly like the video of the city a little farther up the coast.”

MORE AGGRESSIVE MARKETING

In addition to name changes and repositioning, many cities and municipalities are taking a much more aggressive stance when it comes to marketing themselves as destinations of choice for meeting and event planners. Early in 2009, Orlando implemented a hyper-targeted marketing effort it dubbed “Operation Connect.” In this effort, representatives from the Orlando/Orange County CVB, the Orange County Convention Center, area hotels and public figures (including the mayor) made in-person sales calls to more than 1,000 meeting and event planners around the country, encouraging them to bring their events to the city.

“This was a massive marketing effort,” says Kathie Canning, the deputy general manager of the OCCC, and the program continues this year. “In the face of a down economy, we haven’t cut our marketing budget — we’ve increased it. This significant investment by visionary leaders here in Orlando has paid off tremendously.”

In January, Orlando hosts the National Automobile Dealers Association conference. “We had many meetings with them in Washington, D.C., to make sure we knew how to help them make the conference a success,” says Canning. Another big win is the International Plastics Showcase, the third-largest trade show in the country, which will be in Orlando in 2012.

PULLING OUT THE MARKETING STOPS

In this environment where everyone is forced to do more with less, many destinations are pulling out all the marketing stops. In 2004, San Jose created Team San Jose, a nonprofit, public-private partnership between the San Jose CVB and local hotels and other tourism businesses, the arts community and organized labor. The Team San Jose model has provided the foundation for all of the city’s tourism and meeting marketing efforts for the past six years. The main benefit to meeting and event planners is that Team San Jose provides a one-team approach to planning events, says CEO Dan Fenton. “We handle everything from logistics and customized menus to strategic planning for clients, rather than handing them off to multiple organizations like most destinations do. This saves planners time and creates more affordable event options.”

The approach has paid off handsomely for the city. Revenue has doubled in facilities managed by Team San Jose since it was created, and the number of room nights generated is up 60 percent, according to Fenton. “This is in the midst of more competition and a down economy. Our model gives us a lot of flexibility and a competitive advantage.”

FIGHTING NEGATIVE PUBLICITY

For years, Cleveland, Ohio, has fought against what many believe is an unfair reputation as an old Rust-Belt city with few attractions and little reason to visit or have a meeting or event there. As part of the city’s ongoing marketing efforts, the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland was renamed Positively Cleveland in 2007. There were a number of different reasons for the change, including the fact that the former name was cumbersome and not well-understood by non-travel industry consumers, says Tamera Lash Brown, Positively Cleveland’s vice president of marketing. Also, it didn’t convey the sense of “Midwestern hip, swagger and pride” that the city wanted to deliver to potential visitors.

“By this, we mean that you’ll discover a twist on things that you might not expect when you come to Cleveland,” she says. “For example, most people expect to find lots of bowling alleys here, so we have a bowling alley in a chic martini bar downtown.”

Earlier this year, Positively Cleveland took what could have been a disastrous public relations scenario and turned it completely around. Following an online survey, Forbes.com named Cleveland the “Most Miserable City in America.” But instead of sulking or brooding, Positively Cleveland had fun with it, creating a website called whattheforbes.com where fans of the region posted videos, photos and comments about why they love Cleveland for a chance to win $5,000 worth of prizes donated by CVB members.

Brown says they received 266 entries that celebrated life in the city. “It has been nice to see there are so many supporters who know that we’re happy in Cleveland,” says Brown. “There have been a growing number of articles, blog posts and Facebook groups springing up to defend the city.”

Reno, Nev., also has had to fight long-held misperceptions, in its case, that the area is primarily a gaming destination. With gaming now available in almost every state in the country, the city knew it needed to rebrand itself to new audiences, so it conducted nearly a year’s worth of in-depth research used to create a new marketing campaign centered around the new tagline: Far From Expected. This rebranding campaign has been aimed primarily at the leisure market so far, but the city plans to use it to attract more meeting and event planners this year. The campaign also includes a new mobile-enabled website that’s easy for planners to read on their cell phones and PDAs, says Ellen Oppenheim, the CEO of the Reno-Sparks CVA.

“All organizations that plan events have been impacted by the economy,” she notes. “This has added more competition to what was already a very competitive environment among destinations to attract meetings and events. We’re always looking for unique ways to differentiate ourselves.”

ON THE FLIP SIDE

Many CVBs are facing large budget cuts that they say will negatively affect visitor traffic and city revenue. They contend that such cuts are short-sighted, at best. For the second straight year, the Pennsylvania Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (PACVB) and the Pennsylvania Tourism and Lodging Association are opposing proposed budget cuts to the state’s Tourism Promotion Assistance budget line item. Pennsylvania tourism and promotion funding decreased from $32 million in 2009 to $14.2 million in the 2010 budget. This amount has been reduced again to $11.2 million in the proposed budget for next year — resulting in what could be a 65 percent reduction in just two years.

“Obviously, these are difficult times and everybody is sharing in the pain,” says Rob Fulton, president of the PACVB. “But we strongly believe that now is not the time to be cutting our marketing budget further. Tourism, meetings and conventions bring significant revenue to the state, and the budget’s line item for local tourism funding represents a minimal investment for so great a return.”

Fulton says the Pennsylvania tourism industry has been in discussions with the state government to explain the critical impact that tourism and meetings have on the state economy and to retain the current level of funding in next year’s budget. “The administration must recognize our industry’s ability to create jobs and revenue for Pennsylvania in a time of economic uncertainty,” he notes.

That message is an ongoing campaign of travel and meeting industry organizations around the country, echoing in the halls of federal, state and municipal government offices. The stepped-up marketing campaigns from today’s savvier CVBs are bound to help raise the industry’s profile.

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