Friday, May 30, 2008

Greater Philadelphia's Strategic Plan for The Future

Today I received in the mail a nicely printed booklet titled “Tourism 2008 Report to the Region” from the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC). Enclosed in this annual report were press clippings about Philadelphia from all over the nation, media impressions, GPTMC’s strategic plan to build the region’s image in future years, their marketing plan, situational analysis, advertising plan and much much more. Little to say, a PR and Marketing major’s dream booklet. As I traveled on the Broad Street line I sunk into Philadelphia’s communications plan for the future.

To any of you who were not lucky enough to find a copy today, below are some excerpts:

“GPTMC makes Philadelphia and The Countryside ® a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality.”

“Making the region a star destination through the following: advertising in print, television, radio, outdoors and online; brand development; consumer collateral materials; consumer and media relations; cultural tourism marketing; event-based marketing; hotel packaging and more.”

2007 Media Impressions:
Public Relations: 2,982 stories reaching 867,525,270 people.

The Strategic Plan:
“Our brand promise...is: “Philadelphia. Independence.” To the visitor, independence in Philadelphia is experienced in a number of ways, and these ways indicate our brand components: fun, authenticity, history, accessibility and discovery.

The Marketing Plan:
“GPTMC’s marketing plan for 2008 is based on 14 marketing strategies that integrate advertising, public relations, gophila.com, research and partnerships.

A few of the strategies:
1. Brand and position Philadelphia as a premier destination with so much to do, focusing on its fun, vibrant side; its history, food, arts and entertainment; its thriving neighborhoods; and its outdoor opportunities.
2. Convert potential visitors into actual visitors through gophila.com, a 24/7, global online visitor center that entices visitors to come to Philadelphia now and provides them with itinerary-building tools to plan and purchase their trips.
3. Reach out to emerging markets that will become the visitor base of Philadelphia’s future, including multicultural visitors, those less familiar with Greater Philadelphia as a destination and young and high-tech travelers through campaigns such as uwishunu ®.
4. Build the buzz about the Philadelphia region by continuing to develop and expand relationships with media so they are equipped to tell the new Philadelphia story and tout the region’s many wonderful attractions.
5. Enhance our audiences’ interaction with the Philadelphia brand through two-way communication with visitors, such as social media marketing, consumer-generated media, online/offline come-back messages and merchandise sales that allow visitors to take a piece of Philadelphia home with them.
6. Ensure that every GPTMC initiative has a research foundation and tracking mechanism to gauge success, provide accountability measures and inform future marketing direction.

To download this report online go to : gophila.com/research

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