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The campaign, dubbed ‘Just for you in San Francisco,’ builds on Visa’s earlier effort, ‘San Francisco Prefers Visa.’ While that program sought to bring area shoppers into the city to use their Visa cards, the new campaign targets overnight visitors with coupon books offering Visa cardholders $3,500 in discounts and upgrades when visiting the city.
Similar efforts in the last four years have helped double credit card sales volume in travel and entertainment to $40 billion, Visa said.
Four-page color inserts, by AdLib Creative Services/S.F., will run in the May issues of Conde Nast Traveler and Gourmet and the May 3 issue of The New Yorker with a toll-free number to order the books. Visa, Dollar Rent A Car and the Visitors Bureau are sharing 60% of the $500,000 campaign outlay and merchants are sharing the balance.
Lovester Law, marketing vp for the Convention & Visitors Bureau, figures the concentrated effort will have more impact than a broader allocation of marketing dollars. ‘My whole philosophy is that it’s better to hit them over the head with a baseball bat once than with a whiffle ball bat several times,’ he said.
Last year low air fares helped San Francisco’s tourist industry stay healthy, but scarce promotional resources have fostered partnerships. Law said the scope of the campaign, which involves more than 100 restaurants, hotels, shops and attractions, presents a new marketing model for S.F.’s $4-billion tourist industry, as well as other cities.
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