The Official Travel & Tourism Website of the United States
DiscoverAmerica.com
ESTO Meeting August 16, 2007
Overview of Cooperative Agreement
Feb „07 - TIA & the Department of Commerce entered into a 2-year $3.9M cooperative agreement to develop and market destination marketing websites for the U.S.
Markets – UK, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Germany Objectives: – Increase travel to the U.S. – Reinforce a favorable image of the U.S. – Self funded by 2009
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Partners
Development Partners – Department of Commerce – DA.com Advisory Council – States & Destinations – Tribal DDB – Blue Canopy – American Express, Yahoo, Fodor‟s and Travelocity In process – Marketing and advertising agencies – Sponsors and additional strategic partners
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Source & Use of Funds (in 000’s)
Federal Research, Creative, Web Dev & QA Hardware & Software TIA Labor (2 yrs) Hosting, Maintenance & Operations Marketing Legal, Insur, Audit & Travel (2 yrs) In-Kind Content Contributions $1,674 $617 $540 $447 $360 $262 $0 $1,115 $1,412 Non-Fed $170 Total $1,844 $617 $540 $447 $1,772 $262 $1,115
Total
$3,900
$2,697
$6,597
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Balanced Approach
Industry
Customer
Department of Commerce
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Department of Commerce
Cooperative Objectives – Increase market share – Positive image of US Requirements – 25% match – Self sustaining – Design, functional and content requirements
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Customer – Research Sources
DoC, TIA and Tribal DDB in-country developers In-market experts (i.e. Stats Canada, JTM) Research leaders (i.e. Forrester Research) Industry subject matter experts/extensive interviews
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Online travel articles
Industry
Content - free versus pay to play Site traffic Advertising “rules” Metrics/reporting Channel
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Guiding Principles
Customer driven
Quality appropriate for “brand USA” Broad industry benefit Within budget and time limitations Sustainable marketing platform
Unbiased as to destinations or channel
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Expandable - additional content/destination
Content Strategy - Challenges
Volume of content Time to launch Critical mass of relevant content at launch Budget / Cost of translation – Cost per word (before negotiation) ranges from 21 to 28 cents depending on vendor and language. – Total pages estimated for all sites = 15,000 – Estimated cost of $270K for 4 languages (budget $120K).
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Content Strategy – Phase I (Launch)
50 States and 6 Territories (content received from 49) Top Customer Preferred Destinations (content received from 1/3) Destinations determined based on the following criteria: – Most visited destinations by market – Available from Fodor‟s – Added gateway cities – Added more cities for English sites Destination count by market – Germany, Mexico, Canada (Fr.) and Japan: Top 20 to 25 – UK: Top 40 – Canada (English): Top 40 + all other
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Content Strategy Phase I Continued…
Only “core content” will be included at launch. Contact information for official offices and URL(s) to be displayed on the “Overview” page for states, territories and destinations (no cost). All TIA members to receive a link on the Official Links page at no cost with a reciprocal link to DiscoverAmerica.com
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Content Strategy – Phase II
Additional destinations added in Phase II scheduled for April through June – TIA member DMO organizations will be added at cost
Initial estimate of $1,250 to $1,500 for English sites and $2,500 to $3,000 for translated sites (Subject to change).
– Non-member DMOs will be added on a fee basis “Expanded content” can also be added for a fee (more to come).
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Annual support of $300 to $500 per market.
Overview of Site Content & Functionality
Travel Planning
About the U.S. Regions, states, territories, top destinations Activities and Attractions User generated photos and reviews Maps
Travel Booking
Lead generation for travel agents Deals & Packages Online booking engine
Practical Information
Visa and Passport Policy Trip Planning Tools (Weather, Currency, etc.) Entry/Exit Procedure
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Discover America Branding
Primary messages:
– “Official Travel and Tourism Website of the United States” – Diversity
Secondary messages:
– – – – – Friendly and welcoming Value Freedom Quality (“Best in class” product offering) Beauty
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Timeline
Design (through 8/07) Development/testing (through 3/08)
Launch and marketing (3/08)
Add phase II content (4/08 to 6/08)
Next Development Phase - Emerging markets
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Appendix
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Appendix Content Strategy - Definitions
Core Content = – State or city overview – Limited travel articles, itineraries, brochures, rich media – Limited attractions and activities – Restaurant and shopping listings
Expanded Content = – Expanded state/city overviews – Additional articles, itineraries, brochures, rich media – Additional and/or expanded attraction and activity descriptions – Expanded restaurant and shopping listings
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Appendix Content Pricing Matrix
States & Customer Preferred Destinations
Link to official site Core Content
Member
Federal Funds Federal Funds
Non-Member
Federal Funds Federal Funds
Expanded Content
Additional Destinations Link to official site Core Content Expanded Content 19
Fee
Member Federal Funds Cost Fee
Fee +
Non-Member Fee Fee Fee +
English (CA)
French (CA)
English (UK)
Japanese
Spanish
German
Destination
Atlanta Boston Chicago D.C. Dallas Houston Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami New Orleans New York City Orlando Philadelphia San Francisco Seattle Portland (OR) San Diego Cincinnati Detroit Anaheim Hawaii Island
Home Page (UK)
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Ft. Lauderdale Tampa/St. Petersburg Phoenix Riverside
Honolulu/ Oahu San Juan (PR) Oakland San Antonio Ft. Myers Baltimore Charleston Florida Keys Sarasota Denver Minneapolis Maui Monterey (CA) San Jose Pittsburgh
Home Page (UK)
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Sacramento
Norfolk /VA Beach Salt Lake City Santa Barbara Savannah (GA) Cape Cod Kauai Austin Albuquerque Tucson
Home Page (UK)
Charlotte
Cleveland Columbus Hartford / Springfield (CT) Kansas City (MO) Nashville Milwaukee Palm Springs Raleigh (NC) St. Louis (MO)
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