DMAI held their annual convention in Minneapolis this month and one couldn’t help feel that the association was in turnaround mode.  The theme “It’s a Brand New Day” conveyed  a break from the previous regime, which had been criticized for a stale vision and lack of excitement.

Enter DMAI’s new President & CEO, Don Welsh. The former CEO of Choose Chicago accepted the offer from DMAI after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, according to Crains Chicago Business, waffled on his contract renewal and the Illinois State Legislature froze $7.2 million in tourism funds.

Within two months at DMAI, Welsh fired 75 percent of the staff and brought in a new team to create a updated vision. DMOs are constantly under siege from funding sources about accountability and relevance in an era when hoteliers have a variety of other channels for generating bookings and the sharing economy is forcing a choice between consumer preferences and members who see it as an existential threat.

Our takeaways from the DMAI Convention and a variety of sessions we attended:

Kelly Frailey Covato, Facebook:

• Use best customer list to find next best customer list
• 92% of travelers have a Facebook profile
• 73% of people will research, 51% will book travel on mobile
• 74% of all internet traffic will be video in 2017
• 8 billion videos on Facebook/Instagram
• Videos have 3 seconds to grab user’s attention
• Viewers are 2 times more likely to share 360º video than other video
• Carousel: Ad platform where viewers swipe to see four or five different images
• Myrtle Beach used Carousel for co-op with partner properties and received 6 million views; 55% conversion to partner sites; and 63% lower cost per conversion vs. individualized marketing by partners themselves
• Starting to monetize Facebook Messenger by promoting discounts; leverage bots to answer customer’s questions

Nick Matera, Las Vegas CVA:

• Produced 46 pieces of video content in past year for various visitor segments
• Launched Viva, a 360º video platform, and obtained 41% video completion rate and 9.1 million viewers
• Produced 24 pieces of VR content to be used at various trade shows
• Using 360º to sell meeting space for their hotel partners
• Travel bloggers are not influential; vet influencers; use locals as ambassadors
• Choose which vertical when working with each agency
• Ideal length of a video depends on its content

Tracy Lanza, Brand USA:

• First three weeks of January is inspiration time—worked with Facebook for retargeting by persona
• Canvas is a microsite that shows up in newsfeed; allows brands to tell a different story –an ideal co-op platform
• Brand USA stitches together experiences from contiguous destinations in Canvas to tell a multi-destination regional story.
• Brand USA producing “Choose Your Own Adventure” 360º VR videos
• Brand USA fielded 20,000 queries manually and would like to develop Facebook Messenger for automated responses

Ali Daniels, Seattle CVB:

• 63% visitors use video to put itinerary together
• Emphasize video to tell a story through the senses
• Short video and well-produced long form videos both work; their 22-min. video has a 70% completion rate
• Create “first time” experience videos for new visitors
• Influencer marketing videos pair out-of-town influencers with locals: (i.e. an LA-based burlesque dancer with a Seattle cabaret singer)
• Influencers are either celebrities with their own following or content creators; use locals as ambassadors
• Matador networks:  Supervids (i.e. with screen titles) are 10 times more likely to be viewed on Facebook

Video sessions:

• Print moves to video
• In 3.5 years, we will be watching 11 times as much video as today
• 75% of all web content will be video by 2020