Travel Oregon Marketing Case Study October 13, 2010

What I’ll cover What is Travel Oregon? Our process for planning An overview of our marketing strategy –How we communicate our brand –Evolution of our marketing Some tactics and learnings Travel Oregon website

Travel Oregon The Oregon Tourism Commission dba Travel Oregon is the official state agency charged with encouraging economic growth to enhance the quality of life in Oregon through a strengthened economic impact of tourism throughout the state.

Why Tourism Matters To Oregon 2009 $8.4 billion in visitor expenditures annually $2 billion in payroll and earnings annually $300 million in state and local taxes annually Tourism = One of Oregon’s top export-oriented industries

Our Key Objectives #1 Maximize the return on public and private investments in tourism. #2 Drive year-round travel from visitors in our domestic target audience and lengthen their average stay by encouraging them to be destination-oriented in this state. #3 Drive online marketing leisure visitors to Oregon from our primary international target markets: Germany, UK, Japan, Canada, and European and Asian feeder markets. #4 Provide leadership and support through collaboration with local, regional, national, tribal and private- industry tourism entities.

Target Audience Travel Oregon target: –A25-64 who spend $1000+ on travel/year –Geotarget Primary: No.CA, WA, OR, ID Secondary: So CA, NY Source: MRI Doublebase 2009

Creative Strategy Our core brand values are: Genuine. Visionary. Stewardship. Oregon is a refuge for applied idealism, It’s a place for dreamers. It’s a place with a unique voice, a sense of humor, and a drive to do things differently. It’s a place of authenticity, of intimacy, of stories We try to inspire travel to our state by telling the stories of Oregon dreamers

Planning Process Overview

We Evolved Our Campaign (’09) The Market: –Travelers taking shorter, closer-to home vacations. Weekend warriors. Road trips –Compression of planning cycle –Explosion of online travel planning / user generated tips – desire to discover local gems and tips from other travelers –Print declining Research: –Longwoods: ad accountability told us that our advertising’s positive impact on our image was greater with those who were farther away. How can we drive deeper consideration for those closer to home? –Recommendation was that being more specific, while maintaining brand positioning/voice, will have positive impact on image & trip generation –I already know and love Oregon – show me specific ways to love her better –Surprise and inspire travelers with actual things they can see and do in a place they think they may already know Industry: –Saw other destinations (and a granola company!) copying our campaign –Our campaign had been running for 5 years – with a lot more weight than pre 2004

From: Book of Oregon Primarily print based (90%) Timing across the year Covering a range of niches

To: a Two Pillar Strategy More online media (50%+)* Timing focused in two seasons: Fall and Spring Covering two key niches *Note: media mix also includes some print Fall Spring

Online Marketing Tactics: Banner Ads Enewsletters Facebook Marketing TravelOregon.com

Banner Ads:

New Expandable Banner Ad:

New Expandable Banner Ad (cont.):

Blasts: Outside Golf

Facebook Marketing: We developed an Oregon Bounty branded Facebook tab

Facebook Ads: Strong call-to-action General Message

Website—TravelOregon.com:

Thank you