In June 2022, San Francisco Travel Association UK (SFTA UK) was tasked with executing a campaign to highlight San Francisco’s welcoming spirit and vast diversity in terms of product and geography, entertainment, culinary, attractions, with a particular spotlight on LGBTQ+ and inclusivity. Another marketing goal was to showcase SFO airport as California’s leading gateway airport and ultimately to drive bookings to San Francisco.
The campaign was brought to life by several activations including a talent partnership with two drag queen stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: Kitty Scott-Claus and Vanity Milan. A consumer competition across media and social to find the UK’s next undiscovered drag performer to join the trip with stars, feature in nationally distributed content and perform at Manchester Pride as part of Virgin Atlantic’s event sponsorship.
In collaboration with Virgin Atlantic, four journalists were secured for trip attendance and coverage as well as to distribute further press releases for additional coverage. We worked with video production company Pensara, to create a bank of stills and video content for campaign promotion and ongoing promotional use and with three key tour operators to build ‘A Royal Welcome’ packages and drive conversion, facilitated by a dedicated media plan, which was enhanced by the Brand USA uplift programme.
Through our integrated media approach, the Total Campaign Reach was 3,454,701 and counting. The PR Coverage of circulation/impressions to date is 46,251,826 and 355,490 social media impressions on Instagram, with further social media reach from multiple partners including Virgin Atlantic. The Distribution delivery results to date, including the total impressions delivered, are: 16,387,749.
The results made a lasting impact on the two cities, travellers understanding of the destination as well as an impact on tourism to Santa Monica.
Emma Morgan, Senior Acount Manager, MMGY Hills Balfour collecting the bronze award for the Royal Welcome Campaign at the Smarties EMEA 2022
