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Regional
Partnerships Mitigate the Gas Crunch
Taken
from the Summer 2001 edition of the Zeitgeist Client Newsletter
Call it luck. Call it clairvoyance (they do). Or just call it knowing
your market. The slogan adopted by the 9 CVBs that make up the Indiana
I-80/90 Tourism Development Commission last year says all the right
things at precisely the right time.
"Drive Less. Getaway More." That's the theme of the advertising
campaign directed squarely at Chicago, Northern Indiana's undisputed
feeder market.
"Even in a summer in which gas prices were 'normal,' it says what
we want to say," says TDC Coordinator Dan Bearss. "That it
capitalizes on today's skyrocketing gasoline prices is icing on the
cake."
Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles to the west, two CVBs on opposite
sides of the Mississippi have joined forces to convince prospective
visitors that the price of gas is no reason to put off a visit.
 The
Galena/Jo Daviess
County (IL) and Dubuque
Area (IA) CVBs are offering free gas to visitors that spend
at least two nights in participating hotels this summer. Stay two nights
and get a voucher for $10 of gas. Stay three and the voucher becomes
$15 in gas.
Powered by a 50,000 direct mail drop to a demographically targeted mailing
list within 150 miles and supported by select radio and TV buys, the
message hit home just as gas prices hit $2 a gallon in Chicago.
The June response has been very promising, according to Galena CVB executive
Nancy Breed. As many schools in the target area didn't dismiss classes
until mid-month, she expects the big hit to come in July and August,
despite the slowly declining gas prices.
"Even at a buck fifty...this is still a pretty great deal,"
she said. And, best of all, participating businesses (as well as the
customers) love it.
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