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With the Nevada Commission on Tourism six months away from unveiling the state’s new tourism branding message, commissioners agreed Tuesday to double their meeting schedule next year to offer more frequent feedback to their new director on the project.
Commissioners got a glimpse of the direction research is steering the brand message at the commission’s quarterly meeting and met new director Claudia Vecchio in the session conducted hours before the opening of the Governor’s Conference on Tourism at the Rio.
Commissioners said early indications show that the development of the brand by Seattle-based GreenRubino is on track and members believe it will provide a message that will attract visitors to the state, especially rural Nevada.
“It all my years with the commission, this is one of the best things I’ve ever seen,” said Commissioner Lorraine Hunt-Bono, who as lieutenant governor headed the commission from 1999 to 2007.
GreenRubino President John Rubino is scheduled to give delegates attending the tourism conference a look at work to date later today.
In Rubino’s review with commissioners, he described how his company researched public sentiment about Nevada to learn what visiting the state meant to people. In interviews with 3,000 people, the common theme Rubino found was that Nevada represented uninhibited freedom, inspiring discoveries, rewarding adventures and that it’s unexpectedly diverse. People used words and phrases like “thrilling,” “uplifting,” “awe-inspired” and “off the grid” to describe their feelings for the state.
Rubino interpreted that into a brand insight – that “Nevada is for do-ers.”
His company will next test some concepts with potential visitors in mid-December and tweak them, running results by Vecchio and commissioners. The brand rollout is due May 28, in time for summer advertising campaigns.
Because Vecchio – who arrived in Nevada from Texas earlier in November and headed tourism initiatives in Ohio earlier in her career – has been a resident for only a few weeks, commissioners were asked to conduct meetings more frequently to provide feedback.
In the past, commissioners have met quarterly, but the group now plans to meet every two months. The commission’s marketing committee also will meet more frequently so that it can begin coming up with advertising and marketing ideas fitting the branding initiative.
Commissioner Rossi Ralenkotter, the president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said the research for the proposed state branding concept drew similar conclusions to the LVCVA, which found that Las Vegas visitors crave “adult freedom.” From that concept, the LVCVA eventually produced the “What happens here, stays here” advertising campaign.
In other business, the commission approved nearly a half-million dollars in grants to organizations marketing rural Nevada outside of the state and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, chairman of the Tourism Commission, gave an update on the state’s efforts to lure the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to Northern Nevada and Northern California.
The commission approved $492,771 in grants to 72 organizations for advertising, website development and projects that would attract tourists to rural areas.
The commission received 87 grant requests totaling $708,615 and the staff evaluated each request and recommended awards.
Krolicki also told commissioners that the time is growing close for organizers planning to develop a proposal to bring the 2022 Winter Olympics to the Lake Tahoe area to have some funds available to produce reports proving that the area has the characteristics necessary to house the necessary winter sports venues.
Krolicki said ideally, funds would be raised by private interests, but that it’s also possible that state room tax revenue could be used as seed money to invest in what could be the most significant tourism event in Nevada history.
A long-time supporter of bringing the games to the state, Krolicki is expected to offer some additional details in a presentation at the Governor’s Conference today.