Communications & Film

The Communications team logged 96 media touchpoints, initiated 26 targeted pitches, and hosted 19 media on the ground in Greater Palm Springs in March and April.

Story support was provided to outlets including Prevue, MSN.com, Travel + Leisure, Thrillist, Parade, VITA Daily, Travel Curator, Icon Life, and Los Angeles Magazine.

Significant coverage was garnered in publications including Lonely Planet, Femme Actuelle, Le Figaro, Die Presse, American Journal, Ladies Golf, The Western Australian, Financial Times, Sunday Mirror, Metro UK, Citizen Femme, Forbes, MSN and Penta. Our agencies assisted in securing more than 77 placements in March and April.

Press release distributions focused on return of the Visit GPS Trailcious Pass, Visit GPS becoming a Certified Autism Center (CAC), What’s New Spring 2022, Short-Term Vacation Rental (STVR) Economic Impact Report, and a staff announcement for Carolina Viazcan as Vice President of Sales and Rich Ainsworth as Small Meetings Manager.

In April, the team attended Visit California Canada media mission with eight other California destinations. Taking place in Toronto, the team connected with 21 Canada based journalists. Airlift — ease of access to Greater Palm Springs — was a top discussion point. Visit GPS’ UK team attended Meet the Media event in London, networking with a range of media that specializes in the USA. In partnership with Visit California and Suitcase magazine, Visit GPS hosted a podcast titled, ”Why Greater Palm Springs is a Hotbed for Art, Culture and Design.” The episode featured the founders of GPS-based Superbloom.

On the ground, the team partnered with Goldenvoice to host media with focus on the arts and culinary. In addition, the team assisted with the filming of 50min Inside, a French TV program. The episode featured French talent and influencers experiencing the destination and the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. 

Michelle Rodriguez has returned to spearhead Film Oasis on behalf of Visit GPS and is currently in the planning phase for the year ahead. During the pandemic, filming was going strong in the valley thanks to the Film Oasis promotion we did in years prior, promoting Greater Palm Springs as Hollywood’s backlot. We look forward to sharing all the amazing resources our partners have with film production companies far and wide.

Other projects for the Communications team included participation in Society of American Travel Writers’ DEAI (Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Inclusion) Committee, Visit California PR Committee, Society of American Travel Writers Webinar Committee, and Visit California Rural Region Committee.

In the next month, the team will be focusing on Restaurant Week, Summer Eats, Art & Sol, and special offers for residents and visitors. Looking further ahead, beyond individual press visits, the team will be headed to Orlando for IPW and to New York for the Organic Spa Magazine event.

The team continues to tell the story of Greater Palm Springs as a meetings destination. A key point for March and April included renovations to meeting’s properties, and Today’s Meeting will focus updated properties for its June Palm Springs feature. Areas of particular interest to meetings media included sustainability, diversity, and unique meeting spaces. As part of a partnership with Visit California and Northstar, the destination is featured in a Greater Palm Springs’ Vision Video. The video, which will be distributed In June through multiple channels, features Chief Sales & Marketing Office Colleen Pace sharing Greater Palm Springs meeting’s attributes. 

Below are dashboards showing our year-to-date total PR Quality Score and article stats. The PR Quality Score measures content coverage on a point system based on story type, media tier, visuals, and coverage placement. Scores for earned media range from a low of 2 points to a high of 10 points

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