"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."

Will Rogers

Have you been bombarded with advertising from AirBNB or VRBO yet? Tourism advertising is back with a vengeance. Cities, states, and countries are sinking sizable budgets into campaigns to encourage people to scrape themselves off the couch and put their gaming consoles down.

New York City is a great example.

They're investing $30 million in a revival campaign that begins next month.

It's their most extensive campaign to date, showing tourists that it's ready to welcome them back with open arms.

Bars are staying open until midnight. Museums are at half capacity.

Meantime in many places downtown the streets are filled with homeless people, many stores are still bordered up, and crime has increased in double digits.

To put it mildly, tourists to NYC will not have the quintessential experience of the incredible city Manhattan was before COVID. That's going to take a while to return.

Fortunately, Tourism NYC isn't waiting for it to happen magically.

Instead, it's "making" it happen by pivoting their marketing strategy to focus on the strongest marketing angle available to them.

Namely:

There’s a really interesting opportunity to visit NYC this summer, which might not be like any other time in history. Expect to visit a NYC with just New Yorkers. NYC without the overwhelming throngs of tourists. NYC just for the people …

Do you see how cleverly they are using what they have?

They can’t use the same kind of advertising that they used before the pandemic. No one can. The world has changed too much.

Instead, you have to make the most of what you’ve got.  That’s what brilliant marketing does – it creates new communication angles and points of interest that people can relate to.

Now having said that, if the City of NY doesn’t do a great job of cleaning up the streets, incentivizing businesses to reopen, and helping re-home its destitute population – then their strategy could spectacularly backfire.

But I have faith.

(Similar campaigns are being launched in London, Switzerland, Georgia, and Connecticut). 

Some questions for you to ponder:

1)    How is your advertising different now compared to pre-pandemic? 

2)    Are you using different messaging (as NYC is)? 

3)    Are you using different offers to appeal to people’s new altered reality?

4)    Are you testing advertising on new platforms – not because that’s what’s trending, but because this is perhaps a newly discovered hangout for your target audience?

Using the right marketing message is everything.

If your business is not yet on track to match or exceed your pre-pandemic revenue numbers, then know that the first place to start is not, as you might think - to just advertise “more”. In this new economy you must pivot your messaging to ensure it grabs attention and resonates with your audience.

Depending on your situation, you might need a company-wide messaging reinvention (aka a rebrand) built for the long term.  

Or, like NYC, you may just need to reinvent your campaign messaging for the short term.

Either way, we are entering a brand new frontier and I am excited about the many incredible business opportunities waiting - if you’re ready to seize them.