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The Next Trends in Destination Marketing:Putting the Consumer First

Mo Parikh, CEO @ BandwangoJorge Franz, Senior Vice President of Tourism @ Visit Houston

Staci Mellman, Senior Vice President of Marketing @ VISIT FLORIDA

Staci MellmanSenior Vice President of Marketing

VISIT FLORIDA

Mo ParikhCEO

Bandwango

Jorge FranzSenior Vice President of Tourism

Visit Houston

Recent Visit Houston & Visit Florida

Initiatives

“The only path to profitable growth may lie in a company’s ability to get its loyal customers

to become, in effect, its marketing department.”

-Harvard Business Review, 2003, Frederick F. Reichheld

We are in the digital information era.It’s everywhere, easy to find, and there’s a LOT of it

A DMO’s Competitive Advantage

Local relationships Deep destination knowledge

Resident ambassadors Budgets to support innovation

The Current Destination Marketing Funnel

How have DMOs traditionally viewed the marketing funnel?

How does it drive strategic initiatives implemented by your organizations?

Where in the funnel do you currently see the main strengths as a DMO?

What core activities exist at different stages of the funnel?

Measuring Success

How do you currently measure success for your organizations?

How is the information relayed to your stakeholders?

How do these metrics help understand return-on-investment?

The industry is changing because the way people

travel (taste) is changing.It’s always changing.

What’s Next?

How do you see the traditional marketing funnel evolve as expectations of a DMO are changing?

Thanks!

Mo Parikh [email protected]

Jorge Franz [email protected]

Staci Mellman [email protected]

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A SOLUTION

JORGE FRANZS E N I O R V I C E P R ES I D E N T O F TO U R I S M

VISITHOUSTON MARKETPLACE

25 MILLION VISITORS BY 2020

The Issues• Receptive Operators, OTA’s wholesalers not selling Houston attraction product internationally

• No knowledge by U.S. travel trade of what there is to do in Houston

• Lack of knowledge by our attractions about how to sell their product outside of Houston

• Weak focus by Houston hotels on leisure business

• No unified platform to sell a variety of Houston experiences

• 22.3 Million Visitors in 2018

• Corporate market demand down

• Typically weak demand in the summer and weekends means good pricing opportunity for consumers

• Potential for low risk, high reward travel for various audiences

• Great way to engage our partners in Houston

The Opportunity

Houston Experience Marketplace

Mobile Optimized – No Apps to Download

Houston Experience MarketplaceThemed Combination Passes

Houston Experience MarketplaceIndividual Admissions and Date/Time Specific Experience

“Hola Houston Market” launched for Mexico Market

More than 100 Partners Have Joined the Effort!

Advertising Focused on Conversion

64%12%

18%

6%

Inside 50 miles of Houston

Texas, outside Houston

U.S. outside Texas

International

GEOGRAPHIC SALES BREAKDOWN

EXPERIENCES SOLD DOLLARS SOLD

4,136 $140,856

2018 Houston Marketplace Results

Marketplace Products Sold YOY Jan 31-July 31

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

January February March April May June July

2018 2019

2018: 1,132

2019: 2,446

THANK YOU!

Next Trends in Destination Marketing

NEXT TRENDS IN DESTINATION MARKETING


The Point of Sale Problem

Travel JourneyTravel Journey

HISTORICAL VIEW:

THE “WISHFUL THINKING” STRATEGY

invested in conversion

<5%


Awareness

Consideration

Conversion

85%

10%

5%


Increase in conversion investment

>5XSTRATEGIC SHIFT:

COLLAPSING THE FUNNEL

Awareness

Consideration

Conversion

40%

35%

25%


Expedia PartnershipDeveloped a strategic marketing partnership with Expedia to reach potential travelers across the funnel and reduce barriers to conversion.

Audience-Specific Marketing Initiatives:• Florida brand creative included an Expedia CTA • Florida-themed creative in the Expedia & Hotels.com brands• Creative brand partnership with Expedia


Winter in CanadaCTA DROVE TO EXPEDIA LANDING PAGE

- Campaign focused on driving travel from Canada during the winter season- Created “parity-program” that solicited compelling offers from Florida tourism businesses that deal-motivated Canadian travelers found hard to resist- Unique Florida deals were featured on LoveFlorida.ca, an Expedia Landing page, where all campaign creative drove to


Family Travelers EXPEDIA BRANDED TV SPOT PROMOTING

TRAVEL TO FLORIDA IN THE SPRING & SUMMER

- Created a co-brand campaign showcasing the many unexpected things to do throughout Florida. - TV Spot overlapped a VISIT FLORIDA marketing campaign targeting the same audience with Florida brand creative


Hotels.comMARKET-FOCUSED BRAND PARTNERSHIP THAT

LEVERAGED EXCITING NEW BRAND CREATIVE

- Created a co-brand campaign with Hotels.com utilizing their recently launched brand campaign “more likeable than you are right now”- The campaign creative featured Captain Obvious and VISIT FLORIDA’s owned assets - Partnership provided messaging wins for both brands


Impulse GetawaysCO-CREATED AND CO-BRANDED CAMPAIGN

PROMOTING WEEKEND TRIPS

- Always-on effort primarily focused on travel conversion- Campaign creative was a hybrid of both brands and drove to a custom booking hub on Expedia- VISIT FLORIDA executed additional media extensions to the campaign through social media and PR

11% increase YoY

$203.50= avg return on ad spend

4.8% increase YoY

44%of passenger bookings were a

result of VISIT FLORIDA’s investment

4% increase YoY

41%of room nights booked resulted from the marketing partnership

RESULTSRECORD VISITATION IN 2018 (+8% DOMESTIC)

2019 TRENDING UPWARDS & ON RECORD PACE

$215M in gross bookings, 3.8M passengers,

and 2.7M room nights

$195:1Return on ad spend

From a market recent ly in decl ine

Nearly

20%increase in YoY bookings

RESULTSIMPULSE GETAWAYS CANADA WINTER

Thank You

the next trends in destination marketing · next trends in destination marketing expedia...

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