The convention marketers of Columbus have long struggled to define or articulate the city's differentiators. When Experience Columbus had an opportunity to do an activation at PCMA Convening Leaders, a tradeshow for convention planners, we knew we had to do something that would stand out and make memorable connections for this crucial target market. I devised a plan and worked with community partners to bring to light innovations that are happening in Columbus, in a way that created shared values with guests, rather than repeating the nuts-and-bolts information that had previously dominated our marketing messages. In a condensed timeframe, I was responsible for copy, content and creative direction for a website and all video content, and worked with a creative agency to design graphics for our activation. 

 

The experience truly resonated with the audience. They spent an average of 5-10 minutes enaged with us on-site, instead of the normal giveaway grab. The automated follow-up email achieved an unheard-of 48% open rate and 10% click-through.