Home > Sponsorship Resources > Audience
Sponsorship Strategies for Travel & Tourism Marketers
In the last few years, there has been a proliferation of sponsorship activity in the United States by local, regional and state convention and visitor authorities, tourism bureaus and other agencies whose mission is to entice out-of-towners to their respective cities and states. Previously, many would have thought that these entities fit more naturally into the property category than as a sponsor. The intriguing element of tourism agencies' sponsorship activities is that these groups are buying one-off sponsorships of motorsports teams or individual races. On the ground, many of these sponsorships are essentially regional in nature, but inexperienced tourism agencies feel that logo exposure during an event telecast delivers national exposure.
The problem with this thinking is that vacations tend to be high-involvement purchases (See 18 November Tip of the Day, "Sponsorship and Consumer Involvement Theory"), meaning that most consumers tend do a great deal of research and compare destinations when they make their vacation plans. Can a logo on the side of a car driving 180 miles per hour prompt you to run to the phone and make a reservation, or even include that destination in your consideration set? Not likely. Even more disheartening is the fact that few tourism agency sponsors actively leverage the rights that they purchase.
So what kind of properties should tourism marketers align with in order to attract visitors? Before we answer that question, it's even more important to identify the city or region's target audiences, which are likely to be directly related to the assets that the city or region possesses.
Cities close to the mountains would benefit from targeting hikers, skiers, and mountain bikers. If the city sits near the ocean, then it would be natural to target salt-water anglers and beach enthusiasts. Cities with extensive shopping opportunities would benefit from reaching those with the shopping bug. You get the idea. It's important to remember that consumer lifestyles should not be the only factor determining target audiences because not all audiences are consumers. Attracting conventions and meetings may be a marketer's primary audience.
The key to successful tourism sponsorship is finding a property that ties your city's assets, marketing message, and target audience's interests together. Think of this example: Consider a city with an attractive historical district that has architectural significance, was the scene of many important events, and is an example of unique urban planning. That city would obviously benefit from sponsoring a property that caters to history buffs, not from sponsoring a NASCAR race. Something like a national sponsorship of a network of local and state historical societies and museums, activated through a traveling photographic exhibition and programming on the History Channel. The city could partner with an airline that considers the area a key market and other co-sponsors that would help promote the region, thus lowering the tourism agency's costs and increasing the profile of the sponsorship.
