Today the Forsyth County Tourism Development Authority (FCTDA) board in North Carolina approved Visit Winston-Salem’s $4.85 million budget and its strategic marketing and sales plan for fiscal year 2019-20. In addition to the budget and plan approval, Visit Winston-Salem officially introduced their new logo, marketing tagline and campaign messaging platform, Look Forward, Travel Back.
“It’s been almost a decade since the launch of our last strategic marketing campaign and based on review of our analytics and research results, it has been a successful process of driving convention and leisure visitors,” said Richard Geiger, president of Visit Winston-Salem. “We believe that our new campaign will take Winston-Salem to the next level as a visitor destination,” added Geiger.
“Multiple flights of research reaffirmed that both leisure and meeting/convention visitors, embrace Winston-Salem for our blend of old and new, and downtown’s hip and historic vibe,” said Geiger.
The new integrated brand campaign, officially launches this Fall with a new, robust website followed by a tiered series of advertising, promotional campaign and public relations tactics including billboards, radio and streaming television in top feeder markets of Charlotte, Raleigh, Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C, Metro Atlanta and the Greater Washington, D.C. area. These markets produce the highest percentage of leisure travelers but are also hubs for meeting and convention planners and major media outlets.
The $4.85 million budget, a 14 percent increase from last year, also includes approved funding for up to $280,000 from the Visit Winston-Salem Convention & Sports Support (CSS) initiative. CSS dollars are allocated to qualified organizations to offset costs such as convention center/facility rentals, convention shuttles and parking as well as bid fees to pursue sporting events and tournaments. The groups receiving CSS funds will generate more than 52,000 hotel room nights with an estimated economic impact of $46 million, returning $165 to the Winston-Salem’s economy for every dollar invested.
