Philadelphia. Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay ™ - Public Relations
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation
“Philadelphia. Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay™”
Public Relations: 19. Marketing Program, Consumer
Meryl Levitz, President and CEO
Paula Butler, Vice President, Communications
Jeff Guaracino, Director, Regional Communications & Gay Market
Donna Schorr, Director, Visiting Journalist Program
Cara Schneider, Director, Media Relations
Cathy McVey, Editor
Ayele Ajavon and Caroline Bean, Coordinators
SITUATION ANALYSIS
In November 2003, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. (GPTMC) joined a very short list of cities around the world to officially “come out” as a gay-friendly destination. In an effort to capture its share of the $54.1 billion gay travel market, Philadelphia introduced a new three-year, $1,000,000 tourism campaign, Philadelphia. Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay™, in November 2003.
RESEARCH
Before embarking on its own campaign, GPTMC commissioned the first-ever primary research study on gay travel specific to a U.S. destination in the summer of 2003. GPTMC’s goals were to establish: a demographic profile for Philadelphia’s potential gay visitor, geographic “feeder” markets, motivations for travel/length of trip and statistical benchmarks. GPTMC used the data to frame the issue as “a good business decision” rather than a social or political statement. A second survey is currently being conducted to further measure the impact of the campaign.
OBJECTIVES
The following objectives grew out of GPTMC’s mission, the research study and stakeholder input:
- Generate hotel room nights by gay and lesbian travelers
- Establish an image for Philadelphia as a gay-friendly destination
- Position Philadelphia’s gay tourism campaign as a leader making innovative moves, including a ground-breaking 30-second television commercial
- Educate and involve the gay and straight members of the hospitality industry through the creation of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, a coalition of volunteers from hotels, event producers, marketing agencies, cultural institutions and attractions
- Research, measure and track the effectiveness of the campaign
STRATEGY
GPTMC sought to integrate the gay campaign into the overall Philadelphia branding to create a synergy between the mainstream, multicultural and gay campaigns, which were running simultaneously. Philadelphia’s icons, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall have universal appeal and GPTMC had worked for years to extend icon status to its restaurants and arts/cultural experiences. The challenge was to demonstrate Philadelphia’s gay appeal and its genuine intentions to welcoming gay and lesbian travelers to visit and spend money.
GPTMC was instrumental in the founding of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, whose members (gay and straight) work in the hospitality industry and beyond. The Caucus helped GPTMC to create the Philadelphia Freedom Hotel Package, a new gay and lesbian trip planner, and added content to special section of the Web site, gophila.com/gay.
GPTMC immediately formed an internal team of staff members from all departments, especially public relations, interactive and advertising, to create and launch the campaign. GPTMC’s PR department applied its winning consumer marketing-based approach to create ground-breaking press materials (words and photographs), host visiting media, support marketing efforts of local gay events and networked with media through the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. GPTMC’s media team also prepared to react to negative responses to the campaign from groups or individuals who might oppose the effort. Also, GPTMC hired the Altus Group based in Philadelphia to develop the advertising creative and Community Marketing, Inc to conduct the research.
RESULTS
Results can be summarized in two words: extraordinary and unprecedented. Publicity coverage alone is valued at $9.8 million in advertising equivalency with more than 182,815,593 impressions. Philadelphia’s campaign has been covered in news stories seen around the globe through the power of cable television news networks, news wire services and the Internet. Multiple stories have appeared in The New York Times,USA Today, Boston Globe and the LA Times. Many newspapers published their first-ever gay travel stories in their regular travel sections. Philadelphia’s campaign is also a pop culture phenomenon. The campaign has been on the “Hollywood Squares,” the Late Show with Jon Stewart (HSMAI Gold Award winner) and featured in multiple VHI entertainment programs, including “Totally Gay 2,” “Best Week Ever” and VH1’s upcoming program, “Big Gay 40.”
In the year before the launch in 2003, gophila.com/gay logged just 900 unique visits per month. In 2004, the site had 58,000 unique visitors. Subscribers to an electronic newsletter, Gay Tripper, went from 447 people in 2003 to 1,343 today. In total more than 31,000 gay brochures were downloaded from the site and another 38,000 have been distributed to gay conventions and at gay expos. The gay television commercial has been downloaded more than 11,000 times by consumers. Philadelphia hotels offering the Philadelphia Freedom Hotel Package went from 11 in 2003 to 33 today. Philadelphia is preparing to host the Dignity Convention (gay Catholics) in 2005 with more than 3,000 people attended.
The best moment may have come when a straight consumer asked through gophila.com if she could book the Philadelphia Freedom Hotel Package even though she is straight. She wanted the free breakfast!
^ back to top
