Intelligence
Tulsa County passed a big economic investment package in 2003 called Vision2025 to fund major infrastructure improvements in the region. Projects included a new event center and a refurbished convention center as well as others that would help reinvigorate Tulsa's convention and visitor industry.

When we began working with the Tulsa CVB, all that was underway. But nothing yet had really emerged. And Tulsans at the time were suffering from a slight lack of self-confidence.

We noticed this when we talked to Tulsans. Those who were new to Tulsa were generally more outspoken about how great the city is. Native Tulsans were usually the hardest on their home town. And while some of that sentiment is natural among natives of any city, it was beyond that here.

This became crystal clear when we brought in three professional brand planners from across the U.S. and asked them to experience the city. Then we debriefed them. And were astonished by what they said.

Three hours later, we had enough of an outsider's POV to develop the brand promise we have used ever since: Tulsa is a welcoming city that is comfortably cosmopolitan.

What emerged was a multi-media campaign meant to intrigue someone to discover Tulsa for themselves. Even if they were a hardened native.

Influence
A completely redesigned website, visittulsa.com, is the central piece of this campaign. Of course, print, radio, outdoor, a ton of collateral and even some rather unusual channels invited everyone to visit Tulsa.

Impact
Nearly 6,000 people visited the visittulsa.com website that December, with more than 1,500 viewing the Holiday Page specially designed for the campaign. From it, TCVB built an opt-in database of more than 400 highly engaged members.

In addition, Tulsa Ballet Theatre sold 235 tickets to Arkansas visitors who had never before attended a TBT event. And Joplin TV station KODE had the most response to this on-air promotion than any in their history.