Destination Marketing

Visit Greater Palm Springs’ brand campaign “What Will You Find?” launched in mid-September for the second year in a row following the summer “Check In. Chill Out.” campaign and continued to run in October. Target markets included our year-round drive and fly markets, with the addition of seasonal fly markets during this timeframe (Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Portland, Denver, Dallas, New York, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Boise, Chicago, Eugene, Houston, Minneapolis, as well as the Canadian markets of Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg).

For the months of September and October, digital advertising amounted to 16.4M impressions, television advertising generated 3.8B impressions and 364K spots, and out-of-home advertising generated 140M impressions.

The summer television co-op campaign concluded in September, resulting in 5.6B impressions for all co-op partners combined.

The international campaign promoting Greater Palm Springs in the United Kingdom and Ireland continued to run during this period, with additional results detailed below. This advertising generated 8.4M impressions in September and October.

The meetings campaign generated 2.4M impressions in September and October. In October ahead of IMEX, Greater Palm Springs launched the new “Oasis is Real” meetings campaign. This new campaign launch was shared across all meetings media including e-blasts, content stories, digital, newsletters and social media in a variety of formats including new meetings video and photography.

Looking Ahead
A Request for Proposal for a new brand campaign (including video and photography) was sent out to 14 agencies in September, with seven selected for interviews with the Greater Palm Springs team; the final four agencies conducted a final interview with board member representation. In November, Starfish Brand Building was selected to begin building out the new campaign for launching in Fall 2024.

Production on the second season of the “Art & Sol” series, which features several new local artists, was conducted in November and will launch in Q1 2024.

Additional international campaigns in partnership with Brand USA and Visit California will also launch over the next several months to further our reach outside of the US, with campaigns planned with Expedia, TripAdvisor, Sojern, Despegar, and Family Traveller, promoting the destination in the UK, Mexico, Canada, Germany, France, and Australia.

Additionally, with the start of many seasonal flights in the fall timeframe, we are also adding additional one-stop markets to television and campaign targeting including Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha, Washington DC, and Indianapolis.

Digital

For September and October, Expedia generated 1.9M impressions from our VGPS brand campaign. As a result, 8.7K hotel room nights and 7.9K vacation rental room nights were booked, for a total of $7.M in revenue.

In September and October the TripAdvisor campaign generated 3.6M impressions, which resulted in 1.3K room nights, $435K in hotel revenue and a total economic impact of $1.2M.

In September and October, Sojern generated 2.8M impressions, and as a result 427 room nights were booked equating to a total economic impact of $824K.

Centro generated 3.9M impressions. We ran multiple campaigns including our Brand, Oasis of Art, Benefits of Tourism, Workforce Development, Summer Eats, and a short-term Labor Day push.

Travelzoo generated 30K clicks to partner deals and pages.

Nativo generated 1M impressions, highlighting campaigns for Oasis of Art, Work Remote, Summer Eats, Benefits of Tourism, and wellness, in addition to general brand promotion.

BELOW ARE EXAMPLES OF OUR CAMPAIGN CREATIVE DURING THIS REPORTING PERIOD
Vacation Rentals

In September and October, our dedicated vacation rental campaign continued to run utilizing digital display and native advertising on Centro and Native, as well as digital billboards running in the drive markets. This campaign has served 1.3M impressions.

The Expedia vacation rental campaign for September and October resulted in 844K impressions, $4.4M in revenue, and 8K room nights.
Television

During the months of September and October, there were 3.8B television impressions and 364K spots. Television tactics included cable, connected television, and KTLA (Los Angeles) with additional spend on Disney+ and ESPN.

Television markets included our year-round drive and fly markets and also expanded to include seasonal fly markets (Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Portland, Denver, Dallas, New York, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Boise, Chicago, Eugene, Houston, Minneapolis, and Canadian markets including Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg).

Our summer television co-op campaign concluded in September with KTLA resulting in 5.6B total impressions for our partners. Thank you to all of our partners for 2023: JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa; Omni Rancho Las Palmas; The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage; Palm Springs Preferred Small Hotels; Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa; Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa; Agua Caliente Casinos; Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa, Indian Wells; City of La Quinta; The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens; and Visit Palm Springs.
Billboard

For September and October, total billboard impressions amounted to 140M. Events promoted during this timeframe include Greater Palm Springs Pride, Run with Los Muertos, La Quinta Art Celebration, Feel Good Festival, Props & Hops at the Palm Springs Air Museum, the Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival, and co-ops with the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa and the City of Desert Hot Springs.

EXAMPLES OF BILLBOARDS FROM THIS REPORTING PERIOD ARE BELOW.
Meetings

In October, Greater Palm Springs launched the new “Oasis is Real” meetings campaign ahead of IMEX. This included updated video (including a longform spot and shorter 30-second 15-second versions), updated photography, new digital advertising, a refreshed newsletter template, and updated print advertising.

In September and October, the campaign earned 2.4M impressions across meeting planner targeted sites and publications like ASAE, PCMA, Centro, Northstar, and Connect.
International Marketing

Greater Palm Springs international media plan targeting UK travelers continued to run digital and social media advertising in September and October and will continue through the fall and winter. During September and October, advertising generated 8.4M impressions and over 32K clicks to the website.

An expanded media plan will launch over the remainder of the fiscal year with international programs in partnership with Brand USA and Visit California across Expedia, TripAdivsor, Sojern, and Despegar. These programs will launch this winter and will run in the UK, Germany, France, Mexico, Canada, and Australia.