Interview: Palm Springs Tourism CEO on Engaging Millennial Meeting Attendees
Skift Take
We've been saying for years that content is how you engage Millennials, and that applies to meeting planners and attendees as well. Visit Greater Palm Springs especially focuses on attendees to compel them to advocate on behalf of the destination.
While Palm Springs in California's Coachella Valley is an iconic destination brand for older generations, the city also resonates surprising well with Millennials who value the relaxed lifestyle and sense of well-being.
However, going back to 2010, younger generations haven't necessarily viewed Palm Springs and the surrounding areas as a popular place for meetings and conventions.
Over the last couple of years, Visit Greater Palm Springs has invested heavily in content on the leisure side, hiring a Millennial-age crew of full time video production, digital marketing and content specialists. The overall promotional strategy has focused on video and social media to engage Millennials, which then directs consumers to the new Greater Palm Springs website that launched in June.
Traction is growing. A few of the tourism bureau's new Two Dudes videos have topped 400,000 views, revolving around two guys with beards and GoPros, lots of food and fun, and not much of anything resembling a script.
Visit Greater Palm Springs is now sharing those videos with meeting attendees on social media and at industry events. The idea is that when attendees become engaged with the brand, they will advocate for their companies and organizations to host conferences in Greater Palm Springs.
"We're really trying to push the Millennials to go back to their meeting planners and say, 'Hey, have you thought about Palm Springs as a destination?'" says Scott White, president & CEO of Visit Greater Palm Springs. "So we're educating the planners on what's happening in the destination by making it exciting for the attendees to want to come here, who push that to the corporation, association or whoever they belong to."
Based on the success of its video strategy with attendees so far, the bureau is now developing a new series of destination video content aimed squarely at the meetings marketplace. We spoke with White and Rick Blackburn, VP of convention sales at Visit Greater Palm Springs, to see how they're redefining the brand for next generation groups.
Skift: What is the value proposition from a business perspective for meeting planners considering Greater Palm Springs?
Scott White: Over the last decade, the diversity of product in the valley has changed immensely. We're now over 200 hotels and 18,000 rooms. There's a much more diverse product and opportunity for planners to choose from. That not only gives them the diversity o
