GLOBAL BRANDING EXPLORATORY

NYC & Company is the official destination marketing organization (DMO) and convention and visitors bureau (CVB) for the five boroughs of New York City.

NYC & Company was developing a new global marketing campaign to move the needle of New York City as a leisure destination and attract first-time and repeat visitors. The primary objective was to create a single brand strategy that would resonate with potential visitors to NYC across major global markets.

Heatly Custom Research (now Root Research and Insights) conducted online discussions among leisure travelers across four major global markets: US, Canada, China, and the UK, representing a mix of never-been and lapsed visitors to New York City. Participants interactively shared what compels them to visit NYC, including sites, activities, and must-do experiences. The in-depth discussion deeply explored perceptions, drivers, and barriers to visiting this destination; evaluated reactions to campaign concepts; and generated global branding ideas to take the new marketing campaign forward.

Insights gave the research and insights team direction about how to redesign the current logo, which messaging concepts resonate, and what imagery shows a “new” side to New York City.