The Travel Vertical

Weekly stories curated exclusively for digital tourism marketers

Hot Stuff + Cool Tools: Buffalo vs. Los Angeles, South Dakota, Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains, Boston, Mobile, and Daytona Beach

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The Buffalo Bills played the LA Chargers on Thursday and that (of course!) prompted a fun wager between their fun-loving destination CEOs.

From the Facebook page of Visit Buffalo Niagara: 

“It’s game day! In the spirit of friendly competition, Visit Buffalo Niagara‘s President and CEO, Patrick Kaler, raised the stakes of tonight’s game with the President and CEO of Discover Los Angeles, Adam Burke. If the Bills win (and they will), Adam has to buy lunch from Joe’s Deli Buffalo NY for our entire staff. If the Rams win 🤔, Patrick will buy lunch from Canter’s Deli for the LA staff. As always, GO BILLS!”

Thanks to Madden Media, here’s the inside scoop. Patrick used to work at LA Tourism. He spotted a fun opportunity with the LA Rams being reigning Super Bowl Champs and the Buffalo Bills expected to head to the Super Bowl this year, playing the first game of the season against each other. Patrick presented the challenge to Adam and let him pick the stakes…lunch for the staff delivered from a quintessential deli in each of their cities.

“Hoping this is the first of many wins for the Bills. We’re looking forward to following the team all the way to Phoenix!” said President & CEO Patrick Kaler. 

(How was your Reuben sandwich, Patrick?)

All the way from Brooklyn, NY, the 7-year-old and his family were invited by South Dakota Department of Tourism and Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau to visit and tour the Corn Palace. Now, he’s South Dakota’s Official Corn-bassador.

Calling it “the most beautiful thing,” Tariq (whose last name isn’t used on social media) highlighted the moment “everything changed” in his life: when he put butter on some corn.

“I really like corn,” Tariq told Julian Shapiro-Barnum, a comedian who interviews children in New York City. “It has the juice. It’s the part that mostly makes me like the corn,” he said.

Shapiro-Barnum uploaded the clip titled “The CEO of Corn,” in which Tariq declares that “corn is awesome!”

“It’s corn!” Tariq exclaims in the video, while munching on the cob. When asked to describe corn to someone who’s never tasted it, Tariq said it’s like “a big lump with knobs.” The interview has since racked up more than 3 million views on YouTube and over 875,000 on TikTok. 

The Gregory Brothers — known for putting social media’s most viral moments to music on their account, “Schmoyoho” — released a remix on Aug. 18 that was soon trending on TikTok. The sound has been used in over 645,000 videos on TikTok alone.” — Washington Post

Gov. Kristi L. Noem announced on Twitter that September 3 was designated “Official Corn-bassador Tariq Day.” As Tariq says, “Cheers to corn!”

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and Armchair Productions teamed up to launch a six-episode podcast series titled “Tennessee Music Pathways.” Presenter and award-winning journalist Aaron Millar traveled across the state to capture unique musical stories, performances and interviews with musicians, historians and fans, highlighting each distinct region’s musical heritage. Next up in the series:

Episode 3 (airs Sept. 19, 2022) – The Blues and the Big Nine (Chattanooga, Nashville, Jackson and Brownsville)

Tennessee Music Pathways stretches across all 95 counties and connects visitors to musical points of interest though an online travel-planning experience. Hundreds of landmarks and attractions are featured from across seven music genres that call Tennessee home. More than 500 possible locations for markers have been identified including birthplaces, resting places, hometowns, high schools, churches and locations of first-known recordings or performances of the pioneers and legends influenced and shaped by Tennessee.

Unveiling of a new music marker in Everly Brothers Park (credit: Visit Knoxville)

Visitors can curate their own paths based on music interests through an interactive guide. Follow the conversation on social at #tnmusicpathways.

SmokyMountains.com has released their 2022 Fall Foliage Map, the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves throughout the USA. 

Everyone can help by crowdsourcing Mother Nature’s reveal. The map features a slider to view the predicted changing of the leaves across U.S. regions according to a color key. With a swipe, see what stage of color change the trees are expected to be in on any particular date. “While no tool can be 100% accurate, this tool is meant to help travelers better time their trips to have the best opportunity of catching peak color each year.” SmokyMountains.com is comprised of five destinations plus the Smoky Mountain National Park: Gatlinburg, TN; Pigeon Forge, TN; Sevierville, TN; Dollywood; and Asheville, NC.

Martha Sheridan, GBCVB

Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau and Tourism Diversity Matters are partnering to launch an inaugural apprenticeship program.

Greg DeShields, TDM

The collaboration running through 2022 is designed to support workforce development and economic enhancements within the tourism and hospitality industry.

TDM’s Apprenticeship Program is a 600-hour paid rotational opportunity for diverse professionals interested in tourism and hospitality careers. Apprentices gain experience in various areas, including event management, marketing, communications, public relations, sales, finance, and sports management, after which there’s the offer of a full-time position with the program host or a participating partner.

“The program originally launched in Philadelphia more than two decades ago,” said Greg DeShields, Executive Director of Tourism Diversity Matters. “Currently, TDM has Apprenticeship Programs in Columbus, OH; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; and Minneapolis, MN. We continue to expand and will soon have programs in Philadelphia, PA; Houston, TX; and New York City.”

“Destinations now play an essential role in workforce development,” said Martha J. Sheridan, President & CEO of Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.  “We are so proud to be working with Tourism Diversity Matters and pioneering this work in Boston, with our core values of equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion underpinning the entire model.”

Visit Mobile relaunched its five-week Tourism Ambassador Program this week following a two-year Covid-19 hiatus. Twenty-five participants had a full day of learning, starting with a tourism update at the History Museum of Mobile. “The ambassador program has had an incredible impact on our visitors’ experience here in Mobile, and we’re excited to provide it again for our tourism industry partners and the public,” David Clark, said president and CEO of Visit Mobile. “This program is a significant piece to Visit Mobile’s mission — to strengthen Mobile’s image as a national destination, increase economic stability and enhance the region’s quality of life. Educating our local community on the importance of tourism and having them join the effort is imperative.”

Lori Campbell Baker

A window into the tourism marketing process will be opened for area residents this fall when Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau hosts a trio of monthly community listening sessions beginning this month. Additional listening sessions are on the mornings of October 25 and November 22 at the bureau’s office (yes, coffee and pastries are being served).

Residents are encouraged to learn how they can become involved in the process. Each session also will include input from local opinion leaders, employees of the DMO, and tourism partners.

“These sessions are a way to bring interested locals into one room, give them an idea of what we do and how we do it, and really engage them in telling us their favorite parts of this destination that we all love,” said Executive Director Lori Campbell Baker. “I think we learn a lot every time we speak to a group, and we look forward to learning even more.”

From Jeopardy to the NFL: DMOs In the News

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D M O s

Liam Mayclem, KCBS; Amy Schneider; Kumasi Aaron, ABC7; and Peter Gamez, Visit Oakland

Oakland, California salutes Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider. She won the hearts of television fans with her 40-game winning streak last year and now she’s won the heart of her city. September 7 was officially declared “Amy Schneider Day.” Peter Gamez, President & CEO of Visit Oakland, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf applauded Amy to commemorate the occasion, with the mayor tweeting that the publicly transgender local resident has “made our city proud” as the “winningest woman and second-longest winning streak ever” on Jeopardy!

State of Washington Tourism will be holding its first state tourism conference in over a decade. Scheduled for Oct. 11-12, 2022 at the Seattle Airport Hilton, travel expert (and state resident since middle school), Rick Steves is the keynote speaker.

A chef prepares a salad at Rooster and the Till, a restaurant listed in the new guide. (Photo: Courtesy of Visit Tampa Bay)

Florida is on the menu. The first-ever 2022 Florida Michelin Guide is now published online. It features 118 restaurants, including 29 tagged as Bib Gourmand, or “worth a detour,” and 15 that earn a Michelin star. One restaurant, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Miami’s Design District, earned two stars. With support from Visit Florida, three desinations —Miami, Tampa, and Orlando—join the shortlist of U.S. cities covered by the prestigious guide. “Our cuisine is a huge part of who we are,” said Dana Young, CEO of Visit Florida. “The launch of the Michelin Guide in Florida is fantastic news for our state.”

John Poole, executive director of Experience Kissimmee Sports Commission; DT Minich, Experience Kissimmee president & CEO; and Henry Hodgson, NFL UK managing director. (Photo via Experience Kissimmee)

Experience Kissimmee has been named as the Official Travel Destination of the NFL London Series in the first partnership of its kind.

Kissimmee will have exclusive branding for the games on October 2 (Minnesota vs. New Orleans); October 9 (New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers); and October 30 (Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars.) The first two games will be at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium while the third game is at Wembley Stadium.

As a six-year partnership with the Premier League’s West Ham United ended this spring, Experience Kissimmee and the Kissimmee Sports Commission started exploring the chance to have a new international presence.

On October 13, Visit Lauderdale will be unveiling their new brand campaign and 2023 marketing plan.

New Agency of Record Alerts:

Henderson County Tourism Development Authority, in North Carolina, (Visit Hendersonville) has appointed Paradise Advertising & Marketing.

Periscope, a full-service advertising agency, announced a three-year engagement as the official creative agency of record for Meet Minneapolis, securing its first venture into the tourism space.

Space Coast Office of Tourism announced sales and marketing representation in Europe and the UK in collaboration with Tricia Henson Consulting, based in Orlando. The representation will concentrate on travel trade marketing, sales and public relations activities in the key European markets of the United Kingdom and Ireland; German-speaking Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria), and The Netherlands.

Visit Tampa Bay announced its an agreement with AVIAREPS to represent the destination in the key markets of Colombia and Mexico. This new relationship creates new opportunities for co-op marketing with key trade partners and airlines and consumer-direct advertising through online travel agencies, airlines and media. 

Cabarrus County, North Carolina, 20 minutes north of Charlotte, has unveiled new branding. The Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau held a ribbon-cutting on August 24 at the visitor center in Concord to officially introduce “Explore Cabarrus” (with the emphasis on “us”). The branding also includes the tagline “There’s More to Us.”

The Vikings have landed. It was the maiden voyage for the five-deck ship, the first in many years built specifically for cruising on the Mississippi River. “We can’t wait to welcome Viking Cruise Lines to their new port city of Alton,” said Cory Jobe, President/CEO of the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau. The 450-foot-long ship has five decks, 193 rooms that can accommodate 386 guests and 148 crew members. Viking Cruises operates nearly 100 river and ocean going vessels; this was the first of four visits to Alton, Illinois this year. Additional and extended port calls are planned for 2023 – 2024. Jobe said the other two cruise lines, American Queen Voyages and American Cruise Line, have had an economic impact in the region of almost $7 million.

Leah Chandler, Xiomara Rodriguez Santana Hadassha Santiago Rosado from Discover Puerto Rico and Bettina Garibaldi, Ketchum

At the annual SATW (Society of American Travel Writers) convention in Bogotá, Colombia last week, Discover Puerto Rico announced they will serve as the host for 2023.

Arizona Tourism Partners With Bandwango to Launch Digital Route 66 Passport

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Did you know? The longest stretch of America’s famous Mother Road runs through Northern Arizona. Thanks to the preservation efforts of Angel Delgadillo, the main founder of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, the state can claim the longest stretch of the original Route 66, stretching 350-plus miles from the town of Lupton on the Arizona-New Mexico border to just west of Kingman near California.

Launched just in time for the Labor Day Weekend drive market, the Arizona Office of Tourism provides access to a free digital map and passport, delivered instantly to phones and mobile devices after a quick sign-up. 

“Route 66’s colorful history, quirky attractions, lively dining and beautiful landscapes are the types of treasures that beg to be shared,” said Debbie Johnson, Director of the Arizona Office of Tourism. “Our latest passport is a perfect invitation to explore it for the first time or get reacquainted and find something new.”   

Visitors are enticed to spot quirky landmarks along the historic road (that will mark its centennial in 2026) “…where you’ll find a wigwam-shaped motel, a petrified forest, kitschy shops, a street corner dedicated to an Eagles song, and so much more…” with the Route 66 Check-in Challenge Passport and interactive map.

At each location, there’s a check in to be automatically entered to win prizes from the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona.
4 Check-ins = A Route 66 Sticker Pack
7 Check-ins = A Retro Route 66 Magnet

Also, there’s a call to “upload your photos using #RockTheRouteAZ” because “…we may float a Random Act of Sunshine into your DMs.” (Housekeeping detail: Prize winners are notified via the passport app.)

The state’s new Route 66 Passport is powered by Bandwango, the travel technology platform empowering event and destination promoters to offer digitally delivered access to places and experiences that was initially introduced at the eTourism Summit in 2015. The platform also partnered with the state’s tourism office on a virtual Arizona Wine Trail Passport and AZ Parks Passport.

Could Be a Game Changer…Will Minnesota Win It In 2027?

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Credit: Minnesota USA Expo 2027

There’s a new World’s Fair in the works and Minnesota might just win it for the USA.

Representatives from the Minnesota USA Expo 2027 organization presented last week the United States’ bid to host the 2027 World’s Fair in Bloomington, MN with a presentation that included site plans and renderings.

Minnesota USA Expo 2027 is pitching the theme of “Healthy People, Healthy Planet” for its proposed expo. It would run for 93 days during summer 2027, attracting a projected 13.3 million visitors.

By Kilburn, B. W. (Benjamin West), 1827-1909 – Photographer – This image is available from New York Public Library’s Digital Library under digital ID G90F186_121F: digitalgallery.nypl.org → digitalcollections.nypl.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7302265

Since The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851, these events been a showcase for inventions and technology, as well as landmark architecture. Televisions (New York City, 1939), touchscreens (Knoxville, 1982), zippers (Paris, 1867 and Chicago, 1893) and the telephone (Philadelphia, 1876) all made their debuts at World’s Fairs. Cherry Coke (Knoxville again) and the ice cream cone (St. Louis, 1904) were introduced at fairs. The Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower, and the first Ferris wheel (pictured above) were unveiled at expos.

What is a world’s fair? Read more here.

Bonnie Carlson, President & CEO, Bloomington Convention & Visitors Bureau, is a member of the board. The organizing committee presented its Expo 2027 bid in Paris to the International des Expositions (BIE) and its 140 member countries. The US is competing with four other finalist countries with 2022 followup visits set for:

  • Thailand (Phuket) – 25-29 July
  • Argentina (San Carlos de Bariloche) – 29 Aug.–2 Sept.
  • Serbia (Belgrade) – 12-16 Sept.
  • Spain (Malaga) – 26-30 Sept.
  • United States (Minnesota) – 10-14 Oct.

    Following further presentations and additional bid activity, the BIE assembly will vote in June 2023 to choose the location of Expo 2027.

Indiana Says This Is Not a Tagline, Winnipeg Rebrands, and More DMO Campaign Updates

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IN INDIANA — A new tourism campaign effort from Visit Indiana is called “IN Indiana” and strives to attract visitors to the Hoosier state to live, work, and visit.

“This is not a tagline. This is a very different kind of promotional campaign that we need everybody to be a part of,” said Destination Development Secretary Elaine Bedel. The “IN Indiana” logo will be a branding scene-setter, not a tag line, to be paired with a wide range of messages. Those messages may be general (“Put Down Roots IN Indiana,”), targeted at specific interests (“Enjoy a Slice of Pie IN Indiana”), or hyper-specific to individual attractions (“Explore Turkey Run IN Indiana”).

Building on the state’s best-known assets, like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, anybody can use the slogan; there’s a free customizable toolkit for partners, allowing every stakeholders to benefit from these tools and unified messaging. The ‘IN Indiana’ design kit includes logos, brand guides, social media templates, print collateral templates, trade show collateral, promotional items, digital ad templates to present a unified front to potential visitors, future residents and companies looking to do business in Indiana.

WINNIPEG: MADE FROM WHAT’S REAL — Economic Development Winnipeg and Travel Manitoba have announced the city’s new slogan and place branding initiative as “Winnipeg: Made from what’s real.”This replaces the previous slogan, “Winnipeg: Heart of the continent.”

Marketers invested two years of research, speaking with more than 700 Winnipeggers across business, tourism and community organizations. They developed the creative using research, surveys, workshops, focus groups, and learned what words locals chose to describe their city:

  • Authentic, Real
  • Strong
  • Warm
  • Diverse
  • Innovative
  • Industrious
  • Independent
  • Creative
  • Connected
  • Centred

Working with McKim.Sherpa, they developed the visual creative (brand guidelines found here):

  • The “W” for Winnipeg and the “M” for Manitoba.
  • Some see a sun on the horizon, a fitting symbol of our radiating optimism and warmth.
  • A snowflake, reflecting a steely determination crystallized over generations.
  • A cog, for our industrious roots

The dominant red colour references:

  • Our economic development and tourism connections with Travel Manitoba and the Government of Canada but is a slightly warmer red representing Winnipeggers’ warmth, generosity and passion for our city.

The font in the wordmark was inspired by: 

  • The fonts found on the old ghost signs—hand-painted pieces of advertising art—that can still be found on buildings scattered throughout Winnipeg’s Exchange District and Downtown.

COLORADO BEAUTY — The state tourism office captures Colorado’s beauty in a new campaign video called “Shine a little brighter.” The state will sink an additional $9 million into tourism this year and next. The state will also spend about $1 million updating welcome centers at rural entry points to Colorado along the state borders.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — Mayor Levar Stoney declared, “This isn’t your grandfather’s or your grandmother’s Richmond.” The new campaign is called “Richmond Real,” emphasizing “real people, real places, real stories.”

WATERFALLS IN WEST VIRGINIA  — West Virginia Tourism launched a Waterfall Trail in partnership with Bandwango. There are over two dozen waterfalls to explore and visitors get opportunities to win prizes along the way. Source: Bandwango wvtourism.com/waterfalls 

BEVERLY HILLS — The BOLD Summer program returns, a three-month program that aims to drive business to the destination. The city council approved a $150,000 request by the DMO to create new artwork for street pole banners, digital advertising, a social media campaign and a new logo.

  • Visitors can pose for “a vintage shot of Beverly Hills” with palm trees and the Beverly Hills logo.
  • Visitors can pose like an Academy Awards winner on the red carpet, with custom plates that will state what the individual “won,” such as Outstanding Achievement in Fashion.
  • Visitors’ pets can get in on the fun as part of Beverly Hills’ doggy VIP experience.

BRICK CITY BUCKET LIST — Visit Stockton in California has a new mobile experience trail with partner Bandwango. The Brick City Bucket List joins Taco Trail, Arts Trail, and Farm Trail and offers a chance to win a T-shirt, too.

Staff

Laurie Jo Miller Farr, Editor
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