The campaign, which got under way in February, comes on the heels of a campaign with the theme “My Houston,” which has run for the last five years. The “My Houston” campaign features famous sons and daughters of the city, among them George Foreman, Beyoncé Knowles, Carl Lewis, Lyle Lovett, Jim Parsons, the rock bank ZZ Top and Chandra Wilson.
The new campaign, which carries the theme “Houston is …,” presents groups of chefs, restaurateurs, artists, singers, dancers, museum curators, musicians, actors and designers. Each group appears in print and online ads with these headlines: “Houston is tasty,” “Houston is hip” and “Houston is inspired.”
The new effort, like its predecessor, is being created internally at the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. And also like its predecessor, the new campaign is meant to sell the merits of visiting Houston to individual travelers as well as to planners of conventions and conferences.
The budget for the “Houston is …” campaign, which is to continue through May, is estimated at $440,000. The campaign is also being promoted in social media like Facebook and Twitter.
The new tack was prompted by the results of a research study, says Holly Clapham, vice president for marketing at the bureau, which is undertaken each year to help determine the effectiveness of the bureau’s initiatives.
The study, conducted by the research organization TNS, found that people visit Houston for two primary reasons: its culinary offerings and its arts and culture scene.
Leisure visitors are primarily women, Ms. Clapham says, and the bureau has created a profile of a prototypical visitor, Lisa, who is 46 years old and has an average annual household income of $86,000 to $120,000.
“She’s very active,” Ms. Clapham says of Lisa, and “likes ‘girlfriend getaways.’ ”
And she will “pay more for quality,” Ms. Clapham says, but also “likes to see value” in what she buys.
With all that in mind, the bureau decided that the next iteration of its image campaign — or, as Ms. Clapham puts it, “ ‘My Houston’ 2.0” — ought to celebrate the Houstonians who are the driving forces behind the restaurants, museums, galleries and other attractions that Lisa comes to visit rather than the stars who call, or once called, Houston home.
“It’s not about who everyone knows,” Ms. Clapham says. “It’s about who’s working to move Houston forward.”
And using the actual Houstonians who run or perform at the attractions provides the campaign with “that realness factor” that is so important to potential visitors, she adds.
“We had a lot of contenders” for the ads, Ms. Clapham says, and worked with organizations like the Houston Arts Alliance and the Houston Museum District Association to select people who would “represent the ethnic diversity of the city” as well as promote its more interesting attractions.
There are five ads in the campaign: two with the headline “Houston is tasty,” two with the headline “Houston is inspired” and one with the headline “Houston is hip.”
The “tasty” ads feature 15 chefs — eight in one ad, seven in the other — and urge would-be visitors to “sample cutting-edge menus inspired by our city’s ethnic flavors” and “experience the fresh ideas and local pride that unite our culinary community.”
The “tasty” ads, which replace the “y” at the end of “tasty” with a fork, were photographed at a bar named Mongoose Versus Cobra and at Eleanor Tinsley Park in downtown Houston.
The people whose endeavors are deemed “tasty” include Irma Galvan of Irma’s, Greg Gatlin of Gatlin’s BBQ, Rebecca Masson of the Fluff Bake Bar, Paul Petronella of Paulie’s, Monica Pope of Sparrow Bar and Cookshop and Seth Siegel-Gardner of the Pass and Provisions.
Both “tasty” ads refer readers to a section of the bureau’s Web site, visithouston.com/tasty, where there is information about the chefs and where they cook.
The “inspired” ads also present 15 people — eight in one ad, seven in the other — and ask potential visitors to “experience a city where the arts take center stage” and “explore vibrant museums and galleries in a city where creativity has no limits.” The ads were photographed onstage at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts and outside a museum named the Menil Collection. Both “inspired” ads refer readers to another section of the bureau’s Web site, visithouston.com/inspired, where they can learn more about the people pictured in the ads, among them Tamarie Cooper, associate director of the Catastrophic Theater; Barbara Davis of the Barbara Davis Gallery; Frank Huang, concertmaster at the Houston Symphony; Nao Kusuzaki, a soloist with the Houston Ballet; Rick Lowe, founder of the Project Row Houses; and Joel Orr, a puppeteer at the Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theater. Finally, the “hip” ad features nine Houstonians and declares, “Discover why anything is possible in a city where culture and style collide.”
The ad, photographed at the Last Concert Café, provides an eclectic mix of “trendsetters,” including Bun B, a rapper; Connor Barwin, a linebacker with the Houston Texans football team; Chloe Dao, a fashion designer and boutique owner; Tally Hall, a goalkeeper for the Houston Dynamo soccer team; Asli Omar, a singer; and Mickey Rosmarin, founder of a boutique, Tootsies.
This ad, too, refers readers to a section of the bureau’s Web site, visithoustontexas.com/hip, to find out more about those featured in the ad.
The ads are running nationally in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and regionally in five magazines: Bloomberg Businessweek, Cooking Light, Forbes, Fortune and Texas Monthly.
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Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/business/media/houston-we-have-an-opportunity-to-attract-more-tourists.html?partner=rss&emc=rss