City’s improved image gets surprisingly good reviews
Turning heads
City’s improved image gets surprisingly good reviews
By Steve Lackmeyer, Business Writer
Oklahoma City’s tourism and convention organizers are proposing an aggressive new drive to leisure travelers, and are conducting focus groups and surveys to boost the city’s profile across the region.
Results from the first phase of the new marketing plan has caught organizers by surprise. Focus groups found favor with the city.
At the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber and the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau, officials were expecting descriptions such as “rustic,” “frontier” or even “middle of nowhere.” Instead, they’re learning Oklahoma City is seen as “charming,” offering an array of destinations filled with history, western heritage, and yes, “cowboys and Indians.”
The focus groups recently surveyed in Dallas and Kansas City, Mo., were much more complimentary than what was expected by local hospitality and convention executives, said Cynthia Reid, the chamber’s vice president of marketing and communications. Four such groups, each with 12 members, were convened by Strategic Marketing and Research, a Carmel, Ind.-based firm that specializes in tourism.
Rhonda Hooper, executive vice president of Jordan Associates, who is helping coordinate the new marketing effort, said different perspectives were given by focus group members who had not visited Oklahoma City in at least a decade, versus more recent visitors.
“We had advocates in the rooms who had been here more recently, and they were saying ‘Oklahoma City is doing great things — it’s a renaissance — have you been there lately?’ ”
Reid said she knew the city’s image was in flux. She is waiting for an analysis of those different perspectives and travel histories to determine how big an impression the city is making on new visitors.
“Logic will tell you those who visited here more recently registered much higher than those who have not,” Reid said.
Hooper thinks Oklahoma City’s challenge is to expand its image and “dial up the hipness factor” through festivals, entertainment, performing arts and sporting events. And she is curious about how the city’s recent success at luring major athletic events, and the chance to host the NBA Hornets, can play into that strategy.
Visitors such as Bob Wilson and Joe Hanning are among the target audience. The two Washington, Pa., residents followed their Iowa State Cyclones wrestling team to the NCAA championships recently at the Ford Center. They spent most of their free time touring the city’s attractions and dining at downtown restaurants.
Hanning was a first-time visitor, while Wilson had visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial during a stop in 1998. The pair put together an itinerary of city attractions they wanted to visit — the Myriad Gardens, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Hanning said the visit changed his perception of Oklahoma City — and he wants to return.
“There is so much to do,” Hanning said. “It really is a wonderful downtown.”
Hooper said San Antonio booked similar events and business conferences as it strove to become one of the country’s top tourist destinations.
“San Antonio built its tourism based on the business traveler,” Hooper said. “They really went after the business traveler, catered to their every need from a meeting standpoint and also gave them great experiences to have fun. And the business travelers in turn went home and said ‘we need to go back to San Antonio with the kids.’ ”
Reid doesn’t think Oklahoma City is ready to compete with San Antonio for the country’s tourist market. But she suggests the city shouldn’t dismiss the leisure market anymore and should target leisure travelers within a 250-mile radius of the state.
To do so, Reid said, will require a comprehensive marketing plan that goes beyond a simple promotional line or logo. At a presentation this week to tourism, business, restaurant and hospitality executives, Reid and Hooper advised the city needs to avoid competitors’ strengths, exploit their weaknesses and leverage Oklahoma City’s strengths.
They also warned the city cannot be complacent, satisfied with improvements over the past decade. Oklahoma City, they said, is being vastly outspent by other cities competing for leisure travelers.
“If you look at a city like San Antonio that spends $3 billion a year on consumer marketing, they score really well among the travelers we looked at,” Reid said.
“Consumers have an image of San Antonio because they have spent a lot of money over a lot of time. And we’re not doing that. We’ve spent a lot on improvements the past several years. Now it’s time for us to tell people about it.”
At first glance
Strengths
Western imagery.
"Cowboys and Indians."
History.
Bricktown.
Visible hubs of activity.
Easy to get around.
Weaknesses
Unfamiliarity.
Not viewed as hip and cosmopolitan.
Perceived lack of unique, destination shopping.
Opportunities
More visitor "experimental" destinations.
Evidence of Western spirit.
Signature foods "we're known for" -- chicken-fried steak and okra.
Clusters of art.
Festivals and sporting events.
Packaging of activities and events.
Entertainment and nightlife.
Threats
Competitors are outspending Oklahoma City.
Resting on laurels.
Lack of available rooms at hotels during major events.
Source: Analysis by Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau
Core visitor market for Oklahoma City
Meeting planners.
Tour operators.
Equine shows.
Bookmarks