CLEVELAND
Positively Cleveland, the convention and visitors bureau for Cleveland, recently announced a new destination brand, presented new plans for its destination development initiatives, unveiled a local social media movement and highlighted a series of organizational accomplishments.
CLEVELAND’S NEW DESTINATION BRAND
With the goal of boosting tourism to Northeast Ohio, the premise behind Cleveland’s new destination brand is simple: Cleveland doesn’t follow anyone’s rules – it makes its own. The brand focuses on the city’s world-class art, culture and rock and roll in a way that is irreverent, fun and always unmistakable.
The essence of Cleveland’s new destination brand can be summarized in a brand anthem video viewable on the homepage of www.ThisisCleveland.com.
“We’ve created a new destination brand because it’s time to change the narrative about Cleveland at home and outside the city,” David Gilbert, President & CEO of Positively Cleveland, said. “Right now, Cleveland is enjoying a renaissance along with the benefits of billions of dollars in new development and improvements. Now is the time to drive more travel and tourism to Cleveland”
The new destination brand centers on the uniqueness of the city and its eclectic mix of people. It is designed to make Cleveland more attractive to visitors. Based on the results of several research studies conducted by Positively Cleveland, the target visitors are Millennials and Generation Xers.
Ultimately, the goal of the destination branding initiative is to begin to improve perceptions about Cleveland by changing the narrative about the city.
Additionally, there is no one single slogan covering the whole destination. “Cleveland’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ kind of place. And we don’t think you can define Cleveland with one catch-phrase,” said Colette Jones Vice President of Marketing. “Rather, we will use different campaigns to connect with our different audiences. But they will all be about the same brand: Cleveland.”
To learn all about Cleveland’s new destination brand, click here.
DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT
Also at today’s meeting, Positively Cleveland presented wayfinding and connectivity plans, as well as examples of these initiatives. The plans focus on the ways Cleveland can (1) improve how visitors navigate the city and (2) ensure the pathways that take visitors from one place to the next are beautified.
Positively Cleveland presented The Seamless Cleveland Wayfinding Master Plan, which proposes how the city can be joined together into a seamless system that supports visitors along their journey.
Additionally, the organization is working with local firm LAND Studio on the installment of the first connectivity beautification project featuring planters for greenery, a parkmobile, street & sidewalk graphics and murals, with a projected completion date of summer 2014 at the corner of East 4th Street and Prospect Ave.
To learn about the wayfinding and connectivity initiatives announced today, click here.
LOCAL SOCIAL MEDIA MOVEMENT
Positively Cleveland announced the creation of a local social media movement designed to get Clevelanders to show what their city means to them. The goal of the movement is to showcase the quirky, unpredictable and eclectic side of Cleveland in an effort to attract more visitors.
“Our brand-related research concluded that the third most utilized source for visitors planning a trip to Cleveland is residents,” said David Gilbert, President & CEO of Positively Cleveland. “Unfortunately, we also found out that only 34 percent of Clevelanders would recommend visiting Cleveland to an outsider.”
Clevelanders are encouraged to snap photos that show people and places that are unmistakably Cleveland. Then, they tag the images #ThisisCLE on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. From that point, Positively Cleveland organizes the images and showcases them on the official CVB website.
To learn more about the #ThisisCLE movement, click here.
2013 ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESSES
Also at today’s annual meeting, Positively Cleveland highlighted some of the organization’s 2013 successes. These numbers included a 20 percent increase in the number of convention bookings and a more than 70 percent increase in convention lead volume.
In 2013, Positively Cleveland also offered free convention services to 405 meetings, family reunions and weddings. It booked 17 Cleveland Champions meetings representing just over 10,000 room nights.
From the marketing and public relations side, the department saw a 30 percent increase in website visits to PositivelyCleveland.com, a 15 percent increase in visitor guide demand online, a 10 percent increase in the number of articles earned (1,100 articles) and a 300 percent increase in the number of people reached through promotions (30,000 people). Additionally, the organization earned recognition as one of the nation’s top five CVBs to follow on Twitter.
Following a total revamp of its partnership program, Positively Cleveland received feedback from its partners that 93 percent of them are either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their partnership.
The organization also trained more than 904 participants in CLE Travelbackers, representing more than 55 organizations who are embracing the program’s objective of providing Cleveland’s valued hospitality community with the knowledge and tools to enhance visitor experiences.
Additionally, Positively Cleveland enhanced the experiences of over 20,000 Cleveland visitors before, during and after their visit through its CLE Concierge team located in the Cleveland Visitors Center.
The organization also awarded the Positively Cleveland’s Hospitality Star Award, which is provided to frontline staff who are recognized by their peers as going above and beyond to provide customer service and true hospitality to Cleveland visitors. The awards went to Tracy Johnson from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Kim Valentine from Blue Point Grille.
ABOUT POSITIVELY CLEVELAND: Positively Cleveland is Cleveland’s convention and visitors bureau. This private non-profit organization’s mission is to drive economic impact and stimulate community vitality for Greater Cleveland through leisure and business travel. Cleveland welcomes nearly 16 million visitors annually.
