Remember that promotional advertising campaign for Houston that’s running right now in various national publications? The New York Times lets us know who the intended audience for those ads is.
Not this Lisa
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.”
See here and here for the background. This would be why I went into IT instead of marketing. I’m pretty sure I never would have thought of that. Link via Swamplot.