Leisure Marketing
Overall Efforts
The Bureau worked with Brogan and Partners to roll out and implement a new destination brand (City Life, Carolina Style) to promote the Capital City area for all types of visitor business (leisure, meetings/conventions, sports, etc.). Performed these steps in brand implementation:
• Put the product first (VisitRaleigh.com)
• Established competitors by sector (leisure, meetings, sports)
• Conducted attitude/awareness studies (input and benchmark)
• Conducted conversion study
• Conducted PRIZM research to determine highest-value added customer
• Developed new brand and focus group tested it
• Developed television, newspaper and magazine ads to reflect new brand
• Conducted follow-up attitude/awareness surveys (input and benchmark) for 2003/beginning 2004 campaign
• Developed web site to reflect brand to be launched in Summer 2004
Overall visitor inquiries totaled 559,458, a 22.1% increase over the 2002/03 record year.
RaleighNow!
Grants were an important financial contributor to the development of the RaleighNow! cultural web site and event hotline. Since its launch in June 2003, RaleighNow! has been awarded grants totaling $35,000 from: National Endowment for the Arts; Wachovia Foundation; A.J. Fletcher Foundation; American Express Foundation; and the North Carolina Arts Council.
RaleighNow! was also made possible through the generosity of private sector and media partners that support the contributions of Wake County's cultural and heritage organizations toward the area's economic vitality and quality of life. In FY 03-04, RaleighNow! received approximately $30,750 in financial commitments from participants, the private sector and grants/foundations to promote RaleighNow! and launch a new Education and Community Outreach promotional page about the educational programming available throughout the year from all Wake County arts and cultural organizations. This brings the total RaleighNow! financial contributions to over $100,000 since its launch. In FY 03-04, RaleighNow! received $203,850 in media trade support bringing the total media trade support to $450,000 since its launch. Click here for a full list of partners.
From June 2003-May 2004, the web site generated approximately 76,000 unique visitors, 150,000 user sessions, 560,000 page views and 8.4 million hits, while some 3,300 individuals became registered users by opting in to receive email updates about RaleighNow! programming and special offers.
TGIF
In 2003, the Greater Raleigh TGIF Weekend Promotion continued its growth as a long-term leisure partnership marketing opportunity for the hospitality community. Since its initial benchmark year in 2001, the TGIF weekend promotion has generated over 13,000 room nights and demonstrated considerable stability especially in an environment in which the paid advertising schedule was still less than half of its original budget. Fiscal year 03-04 TGIF room nights are projected to reach its goal of 5,000 room nights. Calendar year 2003 TGIF room nights exceeded the previous calendar year by 48 percent. TGIF web site page views totaled 100,000, a decrease of 21.4 percent due to a decrease in advertising resources and a significant shift in advertising objectives.
Online
The web site continued to be the leading source of visitor information by generating 90.8 percent of the overall visitor inquiries with total visitors increasing 30.5% to 508,015.
The Bureau worked to complete a new redesign and marketing overhaul of the VisitRaleigh.com and RaleighSports.org/CarySports.org web sites – set to launch in Summer 2004.
Selected a new Internet partner (USDM.net) to help implement an aggressive online marketing strategic plan.
The tactics feature online media strategies, the installation of a robust Quest search engine on CVB web sites, search engine optimization and marketing, online public relations to all target audiences, direct eMail campaigns, ongoing eCRM to all market segments, affinity programs, co-marketing programs, affiliate programs and much more. Once developed and fully implemented, there will specific online programs supporting all sales, sports, group tour and leisure efforts.
Advertising
In 2003-04, the Bureau experienced a significant decrease in the number of advertising-generated inquiries with 35,792 – down from the previous year's tally of 46,116 and a direct by-product of fewer direct ad dollars and a shift in emphasis toward generating more internet usage.
The majority of the advertising resources were directed toward the leisure market which also had a positive carryover impact on the meetings, conventions, sports and group tour markets.
The leisure efforts were focused on generating overnight visitation and targeting a highest value-added visitor (those who spend dollars on shopping, museum exhibits and golf).
In-state resources were dedicated toward winning the women 25-54 demographic in the Charlotte market (Charlotte Observer, Gourmet, InStyle, Vanity Fair and Travel & Leisure) and the Triad market (cable television and radio). Meanwhile, Southern Living and various newspaper inserts supported a larger statewide reach.
Out-of-state resources were utilized in inquiry-generating publications like AAA Go Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Leisure South, Reader's Digest, Valassis Vacation Values and various newspaper inserts throughout the East Coast.
The availability of TGIF golf specials and Canadian "PAR" golf, hotel and hockey values was reinforced with placements in the North Carolina Golf Guide, not to mention inclusion in the North Carolina Golf Marketing Alliance's bi-monthly golf eSpecials, ad placements in the Toronto Star and 10 additional Canadian newspapers and marketing efforts at the Toronto Golf Show in November. Meanwhile, three area golf courses and 12 hotels signed up to provide custom golf packages through GolfZoo.
Promotions
Clay Aiken Friends and Family
Clay Aiken joined forces with the Bureau via a friends and family campaign geared toward promoting visitation in his hometown area. The American Idol runner-up and American Music Award winner sent personalized invitations to people identified through www.VisitRaleigh.com/clay. A heavy public relations effort (locally, statewide and nationally) and various cross promotions drove traffic to this portion of the Bureau's web site. People signed up to send a whopping 1,418 letters the first day of the promotion and 1,929 letters the first five days. In all, the Bureau distributed more than 3,350 letters and the web site generated more than 28,000 page hits.
First Flight Centennial Celebration
In conjunction with its public relations agency (Development Counsellors International), the Bureau conducted an online First Flight promotion involving American Airlines, Marriott Crabtree Valley, Thrifty Car Rental, American Express and more than a dozen other partners like Sports Illustrated for Kids, Time for Kids, Parents Magazine, Child Magazine, Wright Flight, Virginia Air & Space Center, First Flight Centennial Foundation, Family Travel Forum, College Park Aviation Museum, Kid Travels, Home Education Magazine and Exceptional Parent Magazine. The GRCVB received 3,716 entries, including 3,463 outside North Carolina representing all the other 49 states and nine Canadian provinces. The promotion's dedicated web site received almost 25,000 page hits.
Raleigh Museums Package
Embarking on an expanded cooperative marketing direction, the GRCVB financially partnered with area museums featuring the anchor Titanic Exhibition, Defying Gravity, Pioneers of Aviation, Lindbergh and a special museum package. Some 100,000 inserts were distributed in The New York Times' DC and North Carolina editions. The Bureau built packages to support these exhibitions with 17 hotels and AAA Travel participating. The "do something different this weekend" promotion was also supported with 35,000 promotional inserts - 12,000 of which was distributed by Ticketmaster, five weeks of radio and three weeks of cable advertising in the Triad and print advertising in Charlotte (Charlotte Observer, Food & Wine, InStyle and Travel & Leisure). The promotion also was distributed to 25,000 consumers via enewsletter specials through the NC Division of Tourism and GRCVB monthly blasts.
The promotion generated 43,303 total web page views and sold 228 room night packages and 543 exhibition tickets through AAA Travel for a total of $23,515. The GRCVB also generated editorial coverage in over 13 publications, newspapers and online newsletters for a total pr and advertising equivalency value of $32,723.
Radio
Coordinated radio promotions featuring 79 hotel stays, 600 performing arts and event tickets, and 41 restaurant gift certificates valued at $27,600 in exchange for over 3,125 live or on-air radio mentions on 18 stations in Charlotte, Greenville, Greensboro and Wilmington for an in-kind media trade value of $212,407.
Raleigh Rocks
Developed Raleigh Rocks! Promotion featuring special offers and concert schedules at ALLTEL Pavilion, RBC Center and the Amphitheatre at Regency Park in Cary. Promotion advertising was featured: 1) in 45,000 spring calendar of events; 2) Ticketmaster insert (12,000 per month to drop in NC and VA in May, June and July). 3) eSpecial campaign (25,000 per month via NC Division of Tourism and GRCVB opt-in databases in April, May and June). The promotion is scheduled to run through October 2004 and has generated 7,000 web site page views to date.
Tony Avent Garden Tips
The Bureau joined forces with renowned gardener, author, and Raleigh native Tony Avent to unearth "10 Over The Top Garden Tips" on www.visitraleigh.com/gardens. The list features uncommon advice for showing up the Joneses. Consumers can log-on for the tips, then discover "Tony's Tour," a guide to the best garden sites to visit on a weekend getaway to the Raleigh area.
Delta Favorite Cities
The GRCVB teamed with other Convention and Visitors Bureaus across the country for an online Delta Favorite Cities promotion with the likes of Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Daytona Beach, Fort Worth, Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, Palm Springs, Philadelphia, Portland, Salt Lake City and San Diego. The promotion was coordinated through www.OfficialTravelGuide.com and ran from March 15-June 15, 2004.
Canadian
The Carolina Hurricanes and four golf courses signed on to again participate in a promotion exclusive to Canadian residents. The special offer for our Northern neighbors is designed to build visitor business during some traditionally slower periods from November-March. The golf promotion was year-round through October 2004. The Canadian exposure also featured a Raleigh grand prize trip giveaway at the Toronto Golf Show as the Hurricanes provided prizes and a mannequin was dressed in a Canes hockey uniform. It was also covered in the Toronto Star, Halifax Chronicle-Herald, The Edmonton Sun, Vancouver Sun and Hamilton Spectator.
Partnership Marketing
Overall Efforts
In addition to the RaleighNow! partnership marketing revenues and in-kind media trade support, the partnership marketing efforts generated $36,790 in financial commitments and $295,000 in-kind and media trade for GRCVB programs. Total FY 03-04 partnership marketing efforts including RaleighNow! generated $65,540 in financial commitments and $501,557 in in-kind and media trade support for GRCVB leisure programs representing a 62% increase from FY 02-03.
Time Warner Cable/NCACVB Media Partnership
The GRCVB played a primary role in securing an additional $2.9 million in-kind media trade support from Time Warner Cable on behalf of the North Carolina Association of Convention and Visitors Bureau and its participating destinations, NC Travel Industry Association and the NC Golf Marketing Alliance to support its Everything is Closer in NC in-state marketing campaign. The campaign generated over 6 million impressions and 23,000 page views from a Roadrunner cross promotion.
What's Ahead
In 2004-2005, the GRCVB will continue to promote RaleighNow! as a cultural program of the GRCVB and the TGIF weekend offer as an a la carte booking option featured in conjunction with events and seasonal promotions. Seasonal promotions include a fall campaign centered on the Matisse and Picasso exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art and new retail developments at North Hills and Triangle Town Center including the opening of North Carolina's only Saks Fifth Avenue and Orvis.
With the VisitRaleigh web site accounting for more than 90 percent of the GRCVB's visitor inquiries, a comprehensive technology strategic plan is being developed to take advantage of this shifting dynamic. Included in this plan are online media strategies, the installation of a robust search engine, optimization of search engines, and efforts to explore developing an online booking engine supported by research indicating this increased use of the Internet.
Challenges to overcome in FY 2004-2005 will include the difficulty of selling inclusive packages through hotel national reservations centers and global distribution systems (GDS) as logistics require event ticketing to occur locally. Third party booking sources also require access to hotel inventory through the GDS. Hotels not loading packages into the GDS cannot be booked by third party sources such as AAA Travel.
Our declining advertising budget and inability to use GRCVB funds to support media partnerships continue to affect the advertising reach and frequency of leisure promotions and the leveraging of trade/cash advertising space and time. Based on declining budgets, we will shift from traditional print advertising to more online marketing strategies, media added value and cooperative marketing programs.
Grant opportunities for RaleighNow! will continue to decline as more grant criteria specify funds be used for the development of cultural tourism programs as opposed to the marketing of cultural tourism programs.
The FY 2004-2005 efforts will shift to focus more on cooperative marketing programs, cross promotion exclusive partnerships, media added value, online and in-kind media trade partnership opportunities.
   |
