Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/244474
•pg_3-12__BMT_pg3-58 1/8/14 6:19 PM Page 8 IN THE NEWS VISIT PHOENIX SPEARHEADS SALES, ADVERTISING BLITZ IN D.C. Commuters hailing a cab or waiting for public transit in Washington D.C. in September month were likely to get a glimpse of iconic Phoenix imagery before their trip commenced. Visit Phoenix (CVB) blitzed the D.C. area with a transit-based advertising buy that included mini-billboards atop taxis and digital posters in transit stations. The ads showcased Visit Phoenix's "This is Phoenix" ad campaign, which is built around dramatic photography of Greater Phoenix outdoor activity in the Sonoran Desert. The ad blitz coincided with a sales mission in the Washington D.C. area by Visit Phoenix, the Phoenix Convention Center, and nine of the city's largest hotels and resorts. The convention sales mission delegation met with professional associations and national trade unions, hundreds of which are headquartered in and around the nation's capital. Visit Phoenix staff recently completed its fiscal year with a 30% increase in Phoenix Convention Center future year bookings and a strong rebound in resort/hotel leads and bookings. Continuing this momentum, the Phoenix convention sales delegation met with more than 250 DC convention planners and association executives through sales appointments, reception-trade shows, and a meeting planner forum during its three-day sales mission. with in-market offices and annual events," said Melissa Gogel, vice president of marketing, communications and tourism for Visit Phoenix. "To support those sales efforts, we're placing our new 'This is Phoenix' ads in some hightraffic transit locations. The goal is to increase the exposure of the Visit Phoenix brand in one of our most important markets, and to do it at a time when our sales team is saturating the market with face-to-face calls." The delegation of sales professionals from Phoenix hosted four events during three days, with one event each in Washington, Alexandria, VA and Chevy Chase, MD. Phoenix was ranked No. 10 in the list of the "Top 50 U.S. Cities for Conventions in 2013," according to Cvent, a technology company that connects event planners with more than 200,000 venues in destinations across the United States. Phoenix earned its top-10 destination based on its weather, its air-travel accessibility, its spectrum of meeting-friendly hotels and resorts, and its newly expanded convention center. "The Phoenix Convention Center was expanded with big association groups in mind," Gogel said. "It has the space and sophistication to host the biggest of them, or to host smaller ones concurrently. Our focus is to keep the convention center, the hotels and resorts, and the destination as a whole at the top of mind for meeting planners in D.C. and beyond." "Washington is a hotbed for meetings and conventions, and our sales team maintains a strategic presence there Pictured above, from left to right, are Steve Moore, president and CEO of Visit Phoenix; Andrea Streat, 8 B M & T ••• November/December 2013 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com