SJ Public Relations social media relation programs helped the IOT reach the state’s multicultural travelers.
OPPORTUNITY
The Illinois Office of Tourism (IOT) tapped SJ Public Relations to reach Hispanic travelers who had historically underutilized the state’s local travel destinations. IOT departed from its traditional marketing approach of translating its general market campaigns into Spanish and empowered SJ Public Relations to develop a Hispanic marketing program that embraced the Hispanic traveler’s unique needs/ lifestyles.
STRATEGY
SJPR applied its ‘Inside Out’ strategic research approach to discover that the Hispanic family sought a variety of family-oriented activities and convenient, accessible travel information when planning vacations. We developed the ‘Illinois İViva la emocion!’ (Live the Emotion) slogan to underscore IOT’s large-scaled, consumer education platform. Through traditional PR tactics, social media/digital marketing activities and a Spanish-language travel guide showcasing family travel packages and destinations within the state.
RESULTS
SJPR garnered more than 30 million media impressions for the program and increased traffic to the IOT website by 802 percent.
