Following 2015 research with Ipsos indicating that Philadelphia was losing market share among African American leisure travelers from the Northeastern USA, Visit Philly took steps to re-position the destination.

We Got You.

The DMO released a new series of promotional videos, 2-3 minutes each, featuring a celebrity host: Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter—a Philadelphia native—of the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop band The Roots. The Roots reach a vast audience as the house band on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon.

Videos:

• Dope Art & Live Music? We Got You.
• Cheesesteaks and Global Eats? We Got You.
• Black History in Philly? We Got You.
• Fresh Kicks & Vintage Finds? We Got You.
• Gram-Worthy Parks? We Got You.

According to Visit Philly, the target audience for this campaign is college-educated African American travelers who are interested in visiting an urban destination, earn more than $75,000 annually, and live in the New York, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia metro.

Sweep Away Stereotypes

“Visit Philadelphia has never really focused on age,” Visit Philly’s president and CEO Meryl Levitz told Skift in an interview. “We’ve always focused on trip types because you may be 35 years old, one day you may want to see museums, another day you may want to get away from the city,” she said, suggesting that age is a less-effective indicator than actual desires.

Jenea Robinson, senior media relations manager at Visit Philly, said about reaching that broader audience, “We paired [Trotter] with these five influencers who have very different followings across different sectors.”

“Herein lies a valuable lesson: Stereotypes may be easy and tempting, but lazy marketing can backfire. Travel brands can’t afford to assume that older travelers don’t want to be active outdoors, or to assume that millennials aren’t interested in history.” – Skift

Read more from Visit Philly and Skift here. See the promotional videos “We Got You: Philly by Tarik.”