`Loves you back' advertising campaign to get makeover

A year-old ad campaign designed to help remake Philadelphia's image as a tourist destination is undergoing a remaking of its own.
"For a brand-new campaign ... it has made a measurable impact on visits to Philadelphia for both day and overnight trips, but the bottom line out of all of this is, the print is not nearly as effective as TV," said Bill Siegel, president of Longwoods International, a Canadian-based research firm hired by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. to gauge the campaign's effectiveness.

Last week, Siegel presented Longwood's findings to GPTMC's staff and board, Tierney & Partners, which is GPTMC's ad agency, and Arthur Andersen Consulting, which is working on a study for the Mayor's Hospitality Cabinet. GPTMC paid Longwoods $160,000 to produce an image study, visitor tracking and accountability research.

Longwoods sent surveys to 2,200 households within GPTMC's designated market area, of which 1,440, or 65.5 percent, were returned. The time period under study was April to October 1997. That time frame coincided with the launch of GPTMC's "Philadelphia: The Place that Loves You Back" campaign.

The study found that the group that saw one or more of the ads had a higher opinion of Philadelphia. Also, these people were twice as likely to visit Philadelphia than folks who were unaware of the campaign.

Yet, the survey also showed that, when a person's only exposure to the campaign was via print ads, there was little impact.

Siegel's conclusion: "The print campaign needs to be re-examined."

Both print and TV ads featured voiceovers by famous Philadelphians including Bill Cosby, Julius Erving and Kevin Bacon, as well as fashion designer Nicole Miller and historian Ken Burns. That, apparently, made a big difference. Merely reading copy on a page, attributed to a celebrity, doesn't make much of an impression.

Siegel suggested it would be better if the print ads had their own identity.

Further, he suggested that rather than employing a collage effect, the print ads should address specific subject matter. "You can't just be variety," he said. "Variety is all things to all people and nothing to anybody."

Norman Tissian, a member of GPTMC's board and a retired advertising executive with four decades of experience in tourism and hospitality advertising and promotion, shared similar thoughts.

"I thought the TV campaign was very good. But with the print, those full-color print ads ... were panoramic and kind of a mishmash," Tissian said.

Meryl Levitz, GPTMC president and chief executive officer, wasn't surprised by Siegel's findings or Tissian's comments.

The GPTMC and Tierney, she said, knew the print campaign needed tweaking based on their own research. The good news is "some of the print recommendations that were mentioned at the meeting, we've already started," she said.

Most notably, certain of the print ads now cater to specific interests, playing up things like the fact that Philadelphia has great restaurants, is uniquely historic and has many sites geared to kids.

Moreover, the current crop of print ads are designed to suit a publication's specific readership.

For example, one touting the city as a friendly place sports a jazz saxophonist when it appears in American Visions, a magazine targeted at African-Americans, while the same copy is illustrated by an image of Independence Hall when it's in National Geographic.

"We are [adjusting] as we go forward," said Molly Watson, a senior VP and the director of media services at Tierney.

Longwoods' survey indicated awareness of the entire ad campaign (TV and print) was highest in areas outside the New York media market.

Tissian, and Scott Franks, Tierney's management director of the GPTMC account, said that issue is now being addressed.

The agency recently ran a test series of TV commercials aimed at the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, and Wilkes Barre markets. Tissian noted different toll-free phone numbers were used "to see which ads are pulling best."

According to Franks, some of the money being spent in the New York TV market may get shifted to other areas. Still, he stressed, despite the high cost and difficulty of getting someone's attention amid "all the clutter" of Big Apple media, New York is a vital market for Philadelphia's tourist trade.

The plan is to continue to court it. "I don't think the data showed there should be a mass migration from New York," he said. "It just showed there's more interest in outlying areas than we originally thought. "

With that in mind, Franks said, "it all comes down to a matter of prioritizing the money you've got." GPTMC's budget for advertising is $2 million.

Much as Levitz would like to hit up major corporations to help supplement that budget, she has refrained from doing so with limited exception (Visa, Comcast and Budget Rent-a- Car).

She said that's because GPTMC's $12 million operating budget, now funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the state of Pennsylvania and the city, runs out in August 1999. There's no assurance if and how GPTMC will be financed after that point.

"We do not want to get people involved in a relationship that's going to be temporary, where what you need to do is build up equity over time. If we know we have permanent funding we will go after companies who are interested in people traveling," Levitz said.