Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

What's that Quote About History?

As philosopher George Santayana famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

And, thus it is with a number of legislators from Texas who are bound and determined to repeat the economic hari kari their peers in North Carolina committed last year.

When the number one issue for the vast majority of Americans is jobs and the economy, how can the people who depend on the votes of these people work to pass inane laws that have been proven to cause millions of dollars of lost revenue and considerable loss of media visibility through the forfeiture of NBA and NCAA sports competitions (I'm sure Jerry Jones is simply ecstatic)?

When the leaders of a State whose culture has been long been about the accumulation of wealth turn away to wage philosophical wars?

We're starting to run short of the pre-requisite signs of the apocalypse.

 

Jealous Much?

It's a slow news day when a TV reporter decides to play class warfare with a Destination Marketing Organization.

As it was when NewsChannel 8's Mark Douglas decided to take on Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater's credit card usage.

First off, the title: "You Paid For It." Even when reminded that visitors pay the tab for tourism promotion, Douglas stayed with the title, "You Paid For It."  Which, regardless of the facts, today's media knows their viewers are too self-absorbed or unsophisticated to fact-check.

Ohhh, but it gets much better. All the facts are there...but, it's the adjectives added that make the story.

Using words like "luxury," "swanky," "liquor-laced," "globetrotting" and "limitless," Douglas goosed a "meh" story into total class outrage.

Which is what today's media does. Never mind that the DMO there is kicking ass. Let's just make Joe and Jill Public jealous of the "glamorous" lives we lead.

The news media used to be such a respected institution.

Today, they solely exist to "besmirch," "inpugn," "malign," "defame" and "sully."

There. Those are my words, Mark. How do they feel?

 

Here's to 20 Years

Philadelphia is one of a small handful of cities that maintain two Destination Marketing Organizations...one focused on Groups (Meetings, Conventions, Tournaments, etc.) and one on the Leisure Travel Market.

The latter agency, called Visit Philadelphia, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary with a video that shares the credit for the destination's success with the residents of Philadelphia. Weaving it's best campaigns from the past two decades with scenes of Philadelphians loving life, the result is a powerful statement that both celebrates and drives home relevance.

Check it out.

And, Happy Birthday to VisitPhiladelphia!

Just think...you'll be legal next year.

There's a Convention for Everyone

Preppers take a lot of crap from the mainstream. While called out-of-touch and fringe by many, there is something to be said about what happens when there's no electricity, no grocery stores and no law enforcement.

We all love apocalyptic movies...but, the majority of us believe it akin to science fiction.

Count me among those that sincerely believe it could happen...but are yet to have been motivated to do something about it.

So, in the category of "there's a convention for everything," look what arrived in my e-mail box the other day: The National Preppers and Survivalist Expo 17 (click image to enlarge).

Bring one to Wisconsin and my curiosity might just get the better of me.

Targeting Someone Else's Attendees

A large convention is coming to town. Not your town...but one close by. 

You, naturally, try to come up with a way to lure attendees to your community. But, they're kinda busy...going to sessions, sponsor events and seeing the sights of the big city. Like they're gonna take time out to secure transportation to drive an hour to visit your town.

Yet, we often see Destination Marketing Organizations expend resources to poach these delegates, to little success.

But, Lee Tasseff and his crew at the Mansfield/Richland County OH CVB are operating from a different mindset as the Republican National Convention descends on nearby Cleveland. They will be deploying targeted digital advertising to mobile devices during the convention to hip visitors to the Shawshank Redemption movie sites in Richland County, including the Reformatory that served as "home" for the movie.

But, they (smartly) aren't anticipating a lot of visitors during the RNC. After all, it's a working convention and many people attending the event will be too busy to travel to Mansfield at that time. So, the goal of the campaign is to broaden the city's exposure in hopes of getting people to come back later.

They're betting (as is the Cleveland DMO) that people will be so impressed with Cleveland, that they'll return for leisure pursuits. And, the CVB promotion is banking on reminding convention-goers to consider Mansfield the next time they are in Cleveland to make a trip out of the city to see the Shawshank Trail.

Brilliant.

 

Don't Wait, Supplies Are Limited.

Readers of this blog that are also members of Destination Marketing Association International might have caught CEO Don Welsh's Friday e-mail that informed the membership that his senior leadership team had gathered for a two-day strategic planning workshop...facilitated by yours truly.

While it was a sensational honor to be asked to serve as the team's trusted advisor during the process, it will be the level of engagement, passion and commitment I witnessed from staff that will stay with me for years. Truly, I can't remember a time when I was surrounded by more high-level thought and ideation in this sector. Don has assembled an amazing team.

Which should suggest to anyone in our industry that has been holding back on registering for this year's Annual Convention in Minneapolis that they'll be kicking themselves when they hear from their peers about what they missed.

It's the New DMAI, babies.

But, don't wait...there are precious few hotel rooms remaining.

Just sayin.'

 

Generational vs. Values

Labeling people sucks...unless they are consumers. Then it's OK.

Because research has given us insights into the way that ethnicity, wealth (or lack thereof) and age influences purchasing decisions, we design our marketing messages to match those stereotypes.

The easiest is age. Millennials are different from Boomers (except when they are not). Gen Xers are slackers who now have kids. 

You see where this is going?

Virgin Hotels isn't buying a bit of it as they design their new properties. As Skift's Greg Oates wrote last week in a great piece on the brand: "Virgin Hotels is attempting to find the right design and programming balance that caters to people within different age groups who share the same lifestyle values."

What a concept, because lots of us possess traits from different generations and different realities. And, Greg's interview with Virgin Hotel CEO Raul Leal has tons more gems. 

Worth your read...

If That's How They Want to Spend Their Money...

Years ago, the agency behind Wisconsin Tourism placed a billboard across the street from the Minnesota Tourism Office. The board playfully played off Minnesota's claim to being the Land of 10,000 lakes with the following message:

Come to the Land of 15,000 Lakes...and ours have fish.

It still cracks me up.

That kind of playfulness isn't going to happen this year in Cleveland, where the airport has just rejected a $50,000 advertising contract with the Dallas CVB. You see, Dallas was the runner-up in the competition to host the Republican National Convention...and they'd like to remind delegates arriving to the convention that they were (in their minds) a better choice.

The airport didn't see the humor there...and turned down the ad buy.

Destination Cleveland CEO David Gilbert had a different take: "If that's how they choose to spend their money, that's fine,"

Indeed.

When Travel and Politics Collide

Boycotts suck when they happen to us...but they are an effective way of sending a clear message.

The owners of a UK Travel Site abhor the direction that the American Republican party is moving with its new standard bearer, Donald Trump. But, releasing a statement to that effect would cause nary a ripple on this side of the pond.

Removing all Trump hotels and resorts from their website will...and EarnAway hopes it starts a movement among other online travel agencies to follow suit.

In making the announcement, EarnAway's Robert Berrisford said,"we feel it's ethically and morally wrong for us to effectively help fund and contribute to a political campaign that we have such strong opposition to."

It will be interesting to see whether others will place ethics over profit.

It's the Elections

In 2009, DMOs universally complained that group bookings were off. The same held for 2013.

In a 2013 Z-News post, we suggested that, while we should wait to see what 2017 would bring, it was an uncertainty brought about by the American Presidential elections that was causing some groups to postpone booking their meetings and conventions for the next year. 

Travelport CEO Gordon Wilson is suggesting the same thing.

Is it time to rethink the ROI of this whole election thing?