Reno Tahoe

You remember those words as a kid right? The excitement of Saturday morning cartoons and the inevitable ad for a new TV show or movie that got you all worked up? The RSCVA Marketing Department realizes that many in the community are interested in what the next steps are in the new tourism marketing campaign developed by the organization and our community stakeholders.

Yes, we are working on a revised tagline for a new marketing campaign.  The RSCVA Board adopted the new strategic marketing direction on Sept. 24, 2009 and asked staff to rework the proposed campaign tagline. Unfortunately, it is hard to communicate that the tagline is just one component of the overall vision, and as a consequence much debate has arisen regarding the tagline.

The goal of this effort is to turn around 11 years of declining visitation to Washoe County.  Please let that one sink in.  Every year for 11 years fewer people have been coming to the destination than during the previous year.  It’s a losing streak we must stop and turn the other direction.  This decline in visitation means a huge economic loss of revenue for hotels, restaurants, bars, retail shops, and local governments.   This economic tourism engine is needed now more than ever to continue the momentum of significant improvements in the region.

Since the Board meeting in September we have continued to present the findings of the research behind the campaign to a number of community groups and stakeholders.  We are seeking their feedback and listening to their thoughts.  The general feedback has been very positive when the entire campaign is put in context and the full strategy explained.  The subtleties of an issue this complex are difficult to convey through the media.  Those outlets rarely can provide such an in-depth review  of the strategy and background that accompanies a new marketing plan.

Since the extensive media coverage about the tagline several people have popped in unannounced to my office to tell me their ideas for a slogan.  People have offered dozens of ideas and suggestions.  It is clear that many people love this region and they are passionate about telling us why.  The challenge is this campaign is not about getting more people to live in Reno, Sparks and Lake Tahoe.  That’s an important cause, but different than the RSCVA mission to attract tourists.  Trust us there is stiff competition for Reno Tahoe from destinations both in our own back yard and around the world to attract these visitors.

The RSCVA did not start out this process to develop a new marketing direction because of a desire to “change”.  Instead we carried out extensive research in both our drive and fly-markets.  In all we have listened to more than 11,000 people.  This required phone research, internet based panels, consumer intercepts, and dozens of focus groups. What that research told us is to grow visitation from a new group of potential customers the marketing for the destination needs to be more distinctive and should push new messages than in the past. Hence the recommendations that have been developed by both the RSCVA staff and our marketing firm Mortar.

We are hard at work developing a campaign that will both motivate new visitors and channel all the passion of the community to support all of us in the hospitality industry better sell Reno Tahoe USA.  So please stay tuned …