San Antonio—The Destination for the Holidays
Marketing launches a robust holidays campaign from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 with the theme, “Millions of Lights, One Magical Place.” With the combination of HOT and TPID funds, Visit San Antonio was able to triple holiday marketing efforts. Geo-targeting will primarily be in Texas and the touch states, but will also reach key out-of-state markets. In Mexico, the plan includes website, social media, audio, paid search and digital marketing. A variety of domestic market actions will promote San Antonio as a premier destination for a holiday getaway. VisitSanAntonio.com will be themed for the holidays with a home page banner and featured spotlight that link to a holiday landing page and the holiday events page. Full-page ads will appear in Texas Monthly, Austin Monthly, D Magazine and Houstonia. A holiday rack card will be distributed at all Texas Travel Information Centers, Dallas Love Field and DFW International Airport.
Digital advertising that includes display ads, paid search, videos, paid social media, e-mail, out-of-home and native advertising will be targeted across numerous partners and platforms and will generate an estimated 13 million impressions. A few partners to highlight include ATD, the digital arm of our agency, which enables marketing to effectively target audiences by multiple variables and also to track mobile devices in San Antonio after exposure to Visit San Antonio ads. Digital partner Storygize is a native ad platform, which means that San Antonio content will appear to a relevant audience and look more like content than advertising. Gas Buddy is a tactic specifically for the drive markets. Visit San Antonio ads will appear on this app that helps consumers find low gas prices. The plan includes an influencer campaign that will result in social media posts, blog posts and video content across the Travel Mindset platform.
iHeart Radio will conduct a San Antonio sweepstakes across its station properties within Texas. Also, audio ads will be heard on iHeart’s streaming radio in Texas markets and nationwide within selected podcasts. On Pandora, listeners will have the opportunity to enjoy one hour of commercial-free radio once they watch a San Antonio video, then see a San Antonio digital ad on their phone throughout the hour.
Fox Sports Southwest will promote a San Antonio VIP Experience during Dallas Maverick games through TV spots, live reads and social media. They are providing a Feb. 26, 2020, San Antonio VIP Experience to watch the Spurs play the Dallas Mavericks, including four center-court suite tickets, dinner for four, front-row parking at the AT&T Center and two nights for four people at Hotel Emma. The plan provides more TV exposure through the program, “Goodtaste with Tanji.”
Partners Featured in Holidays Co-op Campaign
In addition to the overall destination plan, a holidays co-op gives partners the opportunity to promote their specific businesses in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, the Rio Grande Valley and Corpus Christi. Partners Natural Bridge Caverns, Go Rio, San Antonio Zoo, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Majestic & Empire Theatres and Marriott Hotels are taking advantage of this extra push. They will be featured on the holidays landing page and benefit from targeted email, social media and advertorial.
Promote Your Holiday Events
Make sure consumers know all they can experience in San Antonio over the holidays. Add your events to VisitSanAntonio.com here. Also, the Submit an Event link now appears at the bottom of every page of the new VisitSanAntonio.com to make it easier for you. You do not have to be a Visit San Antonio member to add events.
VisitSanAntonio.TV
Visit San Antonio conducted a search for San Antonio stars through Oct. 17 through local broadcast coverage and a local paid media plan. Residents who have a story idea that captures the heart and soul of San Antonio submitted their ideas on VisitSanAntonio.TV. All ideas are being reviewed and if selected, an idea will be developed into a four-episode show that will air on Visit San Antonio’s new channel, VisitSanAntonio.TV. Through this exciting, new marketing initiative, consumers will be able to immerse themselves in the destination in ways that are engaging and easily shareable through social channels.
Day of the Dead Celebrations
September and October marketing efforts in the United States and Mexico focused on promoting San Antonio’s authenticity and heritage through the activities and traditions around Day of the Dead celebrations. Messaging covered the breadth of activities happening from Oct. 26 through Nov. 3 to reinforce that San Antonio is the city to visit in order to experience this unique celebration.
Meetings Website
The Marketing team is reviewing preliminary pages and confirming navigation of the new meetings website, which will be developed by the end of the year. The new website will be more visual, similar to the Leisure website, and will streamline navigation and improve functionality to best meet meeting professionals’ needs. The site will also be integrated with a new Content Management System, SimpleView, that will more efficiently incorporate partner information.
Meetings Fall Co-Op
A fall co-op delivered targeted e-mails to more than 869,000 meeting professionals and will also give partners social media exposure. Partners who participated were McNay Art Museum, Tejas Rodeo Company, iFly, La Quinta Inn & Suites San Antonio Riverwalk, Courtyard by Marriott SeaWorld/Westover Hills, Double Tree by Hilton San Antonio Airport, Pedrotti’s Ranch, The Quarry Golf Club, Hotel Valencia Riverwalk, Hilton San Antonio Airport and Drury Hotels San Antonio Riverwalk.
Exclusive 2020 Co-Op Opportunities
Take advantage of opportunities to promote your business along with the destination. Several exclusive opportunities are now available. Your ad can appear on the front and back of the popular Tearaway Map, which is distributed citywide. One million copies are printed annually and a PDF is available to consumers on the leisure and meetings websites. Because of its value, this opportunity requires a larger investment, but Visit San Antonio can work with you to spread payment over the year. Other exclusive opportunities now available are advertising on the Dining & Nightlife Guides that are distributed to meeting attendees and leisure visitors and advertising in the Show Us Your Badge program for meeting attendees. See all 2020 co-op offerings and pricing here and contact KatieKrampitz@visitsanantonio.com or SandySmith@visitsanantonio.com if you are interested or have questions.