Los Angeles Selling the Feeling of the City
In a break with the traditional tourism advertising formula, Discover Los Angeles – the official destination marketing organization for the City of L.A. – isn’t selling the city in its latest global brand campaign. Instead, it’s selling the feeling of the city.
The new campaign features visual metaphors that evoke the emotion of an L.A. moment. In one example, a dance troupe from the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance perform against the backdrop of a twinkling, dusky Downtown skyline view from Griffith Observatory, bringing to life the magical feeling of experiencing L.A.’s sweeping vistas.
“Following in-depth focus groups in nine of our key global markets, one point became clear: the feel of Los Angeles has an inexorable pull on visitors. They are interested in all of the things they can do in the city, but to them, L.A. is first and foremost about a lifestyle and a feeling,” said Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer for Discover Los Angeles. “We wanted to convey the experience of getting into the L.A. frame of mind and invite viewers to feel the palpable energy of the city.” To feel all the feels, visit discoverlosangeles.com.
In 2016, Los Angeles welcomed a record-breaking 47.3 million visitors from around the globe and became the first U.S. city destination to host more than one million Chinese visitors.