Press Release

WEB 2.0 MEETS TOURISM 2.0:
PHILLY’S $5 MILLION PLAN TO ATTRACT NEW VISITORS
Mayor John F. Street Unveils A New Media Strategy Aimed At Wired, Savvy Travelers

PHILADELPHIA, January 5, 2007 - Honorable John F. Street, Mayor of Philadelphia, announced today a $5 million, two-year initiative to promote the city primarily through the power of new media and Web 2.0. The campaign, called uwishunu™, will use blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, photo- and video-sharing Web sites, RSS feeds and “in-the-know” residents to spread the word about the new Philadelphia. The campaign marks the largest single investment by a U.S. city for a marketing effort centered on new media.

Blogging on uwishunu

Photo courtesy of uwishunu.com

A year in the making, the goals of Philly’s newest marketing effort are to:

• Reveal Philadelphia’s unconventional and contemporary side and show off the city as a hip, urban destination that fosters the creative class
• Positively impact Philadelphia’s quality of life through increased tourism from previously untapped, highly wired, urban travelers

The Audience
uwishunu™has been created to appeal to a global audience of people, both young and old, who are tech-savvy, connected consumers and travelers. Relying on psychographics rather than traditional advertising demographics, this initiative is designed for people who like YouTube, MySpace, Second Life, Flickr, multi-function cell phones and online conversation. uwishunu™connects with those who individualize their travel primarily through evolving Internet-based tools. uwishunu engages a specific travel style and lifestyle, just as GPTMC’s traditional tourism marketing campaigns do (Philly’s More Fun When You Sleep Over®, Boundless Philadelphia™ and Philadelphia – Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay®).

The campaign is called uwishunu™ (pronounced “you wish you knew”) because all travelers “wish they knew” where to find the coolest things to do, the best places to eat, the most unique shops and other fresh experiences awaiting them in the city. Travelers trust word of mouth as good authentic information. uwishunu™ acts as a word-of-mouth vehicle filled with insider travel tips from the people of Philadelphia.

Why Make The Investment?
“In January 2006, I convened tourism, business, civic, arts and cultural leaders for a Hospitality Summit to identify the best investment the city could make to capitalize on Philadelphia’s momentum for future growth,” said Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street. “This campaign is an investment, not an expense, because it will support jobs, create tax revenue for the city and help keep us competitive.”

“uwishunu™is one part of the city’s long-term strategy to entice more people to live here, to start a business here or to visit here,” said Meryl Levitz, president and CEO, GPTMC. “uwishunu™ speaks to a new, untapped stream of potential visitors in their language. The people we’re looking to attract with this initiative are characterized by their desire to stay like a local and take part in the ‘insider’ experience.”

The Blog
GPTMC has completed work on the first phase of the effort, which includes a collaborative blog that will make its official debut on January 5, 2007. Why a blog? The blog serves as a central, globally accessible connector for the campaign that allows many Philadelphia voices to tell the city’s story compared to the “one voice” of a traditional Web site. The blog also gives uwishunu™an online home with its own look and content, different than that of GPTMC’s successful gophila.com.

uwishunu.com debuts with 32 contributors who have written nearly 200 blog posts in eight categories, including retail, restaurants, arts, nightlife, outdoor activity and music. According to blog-tracking site, Technorati, uwishunu.com has already risen to 216,000 in the world’s top blogs out of a possible 63 million blogs the site tracks. To date, there have been 6,914 unique visitors to the site, with 242 average visits per day.

“In-the-know” Philadelphia residents are invited to share their insider knowledge by becoming a contributor to uwishunu.com. On the blog, they can share their pictures, videos and thoughts using their own preferred mobile or computer device.

First Friday Events
A series of First Friday events were held from October through December (October 6,
November 3 and December 1) to drive traffic to uwishunu.com and to recruit contributors to the blog. On Friday, January 5, 2007, GPTMC will throw the initiative’s official launch at The F.U.E.L. Collection, once home to that MTV television show that we can’t legally name and now home to the artwork of Philadelphia’s emerging artists, located at 3rd and Arch Streets. The event is open to the public from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and will feature artists, live performances and four DJs, plus live blogging on uwishunu.com.

Hotel Research
GPTMC has completed an online research study focusing on what appeals to a uwishunu™-type traveler in a hotel stay. GPTMC is developing a collection of experiential travel and hotel experiences (not hotel “packages”) designed to appeal to the uwishunu™ traveler called “New Ways To Stay.” Details will be announced later in January.

Marketing
Web 2.0 gives Philly a global audience for this initiative. The blog is the first step and is accessible worldwide. uwishunu.com will be promoted through consumer-generated online media, online ads and cell phone technology, including text messaging and wireless applications.

Traditional advertising vehicles will be used to support the uwishunu™ Web 2.0 campaign. Later in January, advertising inserts and a classified ad program will appear in alternative weekly newspapers and business publications in New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and Boston. Less traditional advertising, such as outdoor posters and uwishunu™-branded promotional items in nightclubs and bars, will build buzz for the effort.

In addition to its focus on this new and social online media, GPTMC’s communications department will continue to reveal the “new” Philadelphia story to traditional media whose readers live in university communities and urban centers.

The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau’s (PCVB) Marketing Efforts
The PCVB will reach out to urban insiders through online, print and guerilla marketing in Philadelphia’s key international markets throughout Western Europe, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Asia and Scandinavia.

The PCVB will encourage online travel companies popular with connected consumers to include uwishunu.com on their sites. Targeted messages will be featured on pages highlighting Philadelphia, such as lastminute.com, travelocity.com and deckchair.com. And, for the first time ever, messages will appear on online booking company Web sites throughout Asia (zuji.com) and Scandinavia (restferber.com), extending the city’s marketing reach to new and emerging international markets.

Other initiatives include promoting uwishunu.com on online travel sites such at sta.com, a popular student-oriented travel Web site (as well as STA retail travel outlets); dazeddigital.com and their print publication, Dazed and Confused, in the U.K.; and social networking sites. Guerilla marketing will include coffee cup sleeves, table wraps and screen savers at more than 90 Coffee Republic Internet cafes throughout the U.K.

In addition, uwishunu.com will be featured on philadelphiaUSA.travel’s home page and its international country-specific Web sites.

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside™ a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit http://www.gophila.com/ or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.

Note to Editors: For photos of Greater Philadelphia, visit our Photo Gallery. On the pressroom, you can also subscribe to RSS feeds to receive updates on topics that are specifically of interest to you: What’s New, Dining, Events, Seasonal Travel, Hotel Packages and Tourism Research.

CONTACT:

Joe Grace, Mayor’s Press Office
(215) 686-6212
Anthony Malerba, GPTMC
(609) 922-3537, anthony@gptmc.com
Ellen Kornfield, PCVB
(215) 636-3471, ellenk@pcvb.org

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