In Pittsburgh it’s the year 2022. Or at least VisitPITTSBURGH is planning like it is. The city’s convention and visitors bureau recently created the 2022 Committee, a group of young professionals who are tasked with looking at its marketing efforts as if it were 2022, and planning for the years ahead. At the end of this year, the team will present its 2023-2028 strategic plan to the VisitPITTSBURGH Board of Directors.
“Our CEO, Craig Davis, challenged our marketing department to be best-of-class so we wanted to get ahead of the competition by starting our strategic planning in the year 2022,” explained Tom Loftus, chief marketing officer for VisitPITTSBURGH. “It is important for marketing efforts to extend beyond the Marketing Department, but especially when you are a destination marketing organization. We have so many talented young managers, so it will benefit us to get them involved in strategic planning early in their career. You always hear that younger managers are your future, but we also believe they are our present.”
The 2022 Committee members are Molly Allwein, digital marketing manager; Miranda Peto, sports marketing manager; Mike Robertson, sports and meetings services manager; and Ashley Steckel, advertising sales director.
The committee’s plans include meeting with leading technology companies to help develop a plan that will tap into the Millennial market.
“I asked the committee to be crazy creative,” Loftus said. “Meaning that I want them to come up with ideas that when someone hears them, they will say, ‘Are you crazy?’ That will lead to the creativity I am looking for.”