Consumer Marketing
The global competition for tourism visitation escalates daily. This competition makes it imperative for AOT to elevate the state’s competitiveness to secure valuable visitor dollars, as these dollars are directly attributed to strengthening and expanding Arizona’s economic and social vitality.
AOT competitively positions Arizona’s travel brand and maintains its tourism marketing momentum
Domestic Campaign
The “Here You Are” campaign was introduced in FY23, measured for effectiveness, and optimized based on results to run again in FY25 to continue increasing reach, frequency and awareness. The campaign positioned Arizona as the ideal place for visitors to truly live in the moment. The campaign was built on the desire to disconnect from the modern world of Zoom calls, schedules and busy routines, and to reconnect with family and friends over a simple lakeside campfire or to find exhilaration in solitude during a ride down a snow-covered mountainside. The key message to visitors was “Arizona immerses you in its undeniable wonders and has a way of making you stop and see that being present has never felt so good.” “Here You Are” was deployed in the primary target markets of Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, and the secondary markets of Chicago, Dallas, LA/Southern California, New York and San Francisco. We employed our marketing persona strategy to target our key five personas (Natural History Lovers, Luxury Travelers, Self-Care Seekers, Wild Bunch and Foodies without Pretense). These targeted market efforts complemented our national advertising efforts, which also targeted our five personas.
Results
Advertising Effectiveness Survey
Advertising impact is evaluated by comparing the attitudes and behaviors of those who have seen the advertising to the same measures among those unaware of the ads.
• The FY25 advertising campaign achieved the highest ad awareness on record since reporting began in FY15, reaching 46% awareness and approximately 45.9 million traveling households.
• The level of incremental travel translates into nearly 1.5 million ad-influenced trips and about $3.8 billion in revenue.
• With a media investment of $6.5 million, the advertising returned $579 in visitor spending for each $1 invested. In terms of total tax revenue, the ROI is $45 for each $1 invested.
• Since the launch of the “Here You Are” campaign in FY23, 90% of ad-influenced travel has come from travelers who align with AOT’s personas, highlighting the effectiveness of the advertising targeting these audiences.
Results
Arrivalist Data
The Arrivalist data platform measures the effectiveness of digital marketing using anonymized location data of consumers exposed to our digital advertising and visit vs. consumers who have not been exposed to our digital advertising and visit. If we’re doing it right, then the exposed consumer should be visiting more and staying longer than the unexposed consumers.
• Exposure to advertising in our top ten markets (California, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Washington, Illinois, Utah, Florida and Minnesota) represents 42% of exposures and 79% of attributed arrivals, indicating great exposure dispersion and a solid arrival rate.
• Arrivals Per 1,000 Exposures (APM) – Arizona’s efforts are more than 5x the industry average.
• There is an average 51-day arrival rate from exposure to arrival.
• Measures of success:
• Sources and tactics are working.
• Travelers are coming from markets where impressions were invested.
• Travelers stayed longer.
• Travelers came based on the media.
Results: January – April 2025