Can Influencer Marketing Campaigns Reach Meeting Planners

Like many second-tier convention destinations, Oklahoma City doesn’t suffer from a negative perception. It just doesn’t have one at all. But that may change fairly quickly. “We have a lot of momentum happening in Oklahoma City at the moment,” said Tabbi Burwell, communications manager for the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Early next year, the city plans to break ground on a brand-new convention center. Spanning a half-million square feet, the not-yet-named facility will have a 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall, a 35,000-square-foot ballroom, and 45,000 square feet of meeting space. It’s one of many improvements funded by the city’s Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) program, which started in 1993 and is now in its third round, known as MAPS 3. Besides a new convention center, MAPS 3 will add a 70-acre downtown park and a streetcar system, which is already underway.

But despite all of these shiny new additions, the one thing the CVB keeps hearing from meeting planners is, why Oklahoma City? Early on the CVB realized that, even after pumping up traditional efforts — investing in a larger trade-show booth and a new ad campaign — it needed to try something different to catch the attention of event organizers who typically skim over its name. “People just don’t know really what to think of Oklahoma City,” said Seth Spillman, the CVB’s director of marketing and communications.

Lire l'article complet

Source: PCMA Convene