San Francisco: The San Francisco Travel Association, which is the official destination marketing organization for the City and County of San Francisco, has launched its largest-ever global marketing and advertising campaign, Always San Francisco, to promote tourism to the city.
The multi-million-dollar campaign targets leisure travelers and meeting planners in major domestic markets and key international markets. It is the destination marketing organizations first campaign to include television advertising.
Celebrating the citys bold, inviting, and playful ethos, the Always San Francisco campaign features iconic locations visitors already connect to San Franciscothe Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Lombard Streetand ones that showcase the citys vibrant neighborhoods and the diversity of visitor experiences.
The campaign also includes cameos by San Franciscans, such as Lady Camden of RuPauls Drag Race fame, artist Sirron Norris, dancers from the acclaimed AXIS Dance Company, musicians Mae Powell and Michael OKonis, Chinatown lion dancers, and chefs from Michelin-starred Angler, to represent the talent and inclusivity the city champions.
This is the largest campaign San Francisco Travel has ever launched due to the incredible support from the City and County of San Francisco, Visit California, and other stakeholders, said San Francisco Travel President and CEO Joe DAlessandro. Tourism is vital to the citys economic recovery, and Always San Francisco is designed to drive increased visitation by showing the authentic San Francisco experience people love and dream about.
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San Francisco Travel Chief Marketing Officer Lynn Bruni-Perkins said, The campaign evokes the emotional joy visitors find here. San Francisco will always be San Francisco. It is ever-changing, but the feeling of San Francisco remains constant. Its epic beauty, iconic landmarks, diverse people, and larger-than-life moments stay with you forever.
To match the powerful and inspiring imagery, San Francisco Travel collaborated with local and San Francisco-connected musicians to reimagine Judy Garlands beloved rendition of the classic San Francisco song for its campaign video.
We chose a soundtrack that matched the campaigns energy and uplifting message and tapped into San Franciscos legendary local music scene to reimagine the song, said Bruni-Perkins. The result is a beautiful artistic collaboration true to San Franciscos spirit.
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Campaign assets will appear in high-impact media, such as linear TV (traditional TV), connected TV (CTV), and digital out-of-home (DOOH) in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Houston.
The campaign will also have a robust digital media layer through programmatic advertising, video ads, paid social media, OTA partnerships, and earned media. A consumer sweepstakes contest in the U.S. featuring five San Francisco experiences, including an ultimate package with exclusive access to attractions and activities, will launch in the coming months.
The domestic campaign runs from May 30 to Oct. 22. Internationally, Always San Francisco digital marketing campaigns will run in Australia, India, Asia Pacific, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
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The $6 million+ campaign is funded by a sub-grant from Visit California, a grant from San Franciscos Office of Economic and Workforce Development, San Francisco Travel, and industry stakeholders.
San Franciscos tourism industry has steadily recovered since the citys reopening in 2021. This year, San Francisco Travel has forecasted 23.9 million visitor arrivals and visitor spending of $8.9 billion, an increase of $1 billion compared to 2022.
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. The city is one of the top tourism and meeting destinations in the U.S. and received 21.9 million visitors in 2022. Total tourism spending in 2022 exceeded $7.7 billion. The tourism industry is the largest generator of outside revenue in San Franciscos economy and supports over 53,000 jo
