Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Launching the “City of Inspiration” Marketing Campaign
National and international media following the terrorist attacks on September 11,
2001, constantly publicized the images of a burning icon of American military
strength and the horrific counts of victims. Washington, DC was powerfully por-
trayed as a “capital under siege” or “at the heart of an international crisis” through-
out the United States and every part of the world. Subsequently, a series of
bioterrorism events and frequent terrorist warnings issued by the Justice
Department allowed the media to continue to project an image that it was unsafe
to travel to the Washington, DC area. Facing devastating negative publicity at home
and abroad, the hospitality industry was keenly aware that a marketing plan had to
be developed and funded to restore and even capitalize on Washington, DC’s char-
acter and tourism assets when travelers were ready to receive that message.
The planning for the marketing campaign was coordinated by WCTC, and
Burston Marsteller was contracted to assist in developing this marketing plan.
WCTC, the District of Columbia, Washington Convention Center, and the Greater
Washington Initiative contributed an initial marketing campaign fund of $3.37 mil-
lion. Those funds were subsequently supplemented by donations of private indus-
try. The objective of the marketing campaign was to target local, regional, and
national travel markets. The promotional strategy included a full range of market-
ing and advertising activities: newspaper, radio, television, Internet, public rela-
tions, collateral materials, and direct consumer promotions. In the months
immediately after September 11, tourists were not only reluctant to fly, they were
also reluctant to travel far from home, and many were specifically reluctant to visit
Washington, DC because of continued bioterrorism events and a nagging fear that
the Nation’s Capital and its many symbolic landmarks were obvious targets for
additional terrorist activities. Further, because of the cultural and historical attrac-
tions of Washington, DC—the White House, Washington Monument, National
Mall, the US Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian Museums,
Arlington National Cemetery, and so on—many of its most devoted tourists are
families and school-age children. Parents were understandably even more reluctant
to place their children’s safety at risk. Most critically, even when it became rea-
sonably safe and enjoyable to return to Washington, DC, people outside the region
would remain very reluctant to visit the city as long as somber terror alerts and war
updates were being issued by various political leaders based in Washington, DC.
The marketing campaign would have to be developed and launched in a series of
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expanding circles around Washington, DC: small and then larger and larger as
tourists’ fears of visiting DC receded.
The marketing campaign for the local market was themed “Be Inspired in Your
Hometown” and “Hometown Homecoming.” It was launched in October less than
five weeks after the initial terrorist attacks and just prior to the series of anthrax
events, which shook Washington, DC with a second set of terrorist tremors. Many
Americans were seeking ways to demonstrate their patriotism, and probably no
other city in the world evokes such an atmosphere of courage and inspiration as
Washington. The initial campaign sought to enable area residents within a short
drive of Washington, DC to be inspired by their “hometown.” The Washington
Metropolitan Transit Authority offered free bus and rail passes to visitors.
Restaurants and attractions offered special promotions during the weekend as
added value for local residents to rediscover the monuments, museums, and spirit
of the Nation’s Capital.
Nationally, a comprehensive and large-scale marketing campaign was launched
with the message: “Washington, DC is the City of Inspiration. Home of the
American Experience.” Television advertising was developed using a public ser-
vice announcement format with the nationally recognized cast of 
The West Wing
and the Mayor of Washington, DC. These ads were aired on select television pro-
grams. An additional ad was done featuring several notable Washington area per-
sonalities, some of America’s most recognized political leaders, and the First Lady,
Laura Bush. Cast appearances and most production costs were donated to the city’s
tourism recovery effort, as were many ad placements. Supporting print media ads
were developed and placed in newspapers and magazines. Promotions were devel-
oped and launched on key Internet travel planning sites such as Travelocity and
Orbitz. Tapes of the spots were incorporated in the WCTC convention sales efforts
and supporting collateral materials were developed. An aggressive public relations
program was initiated and its activities included:
■
Managing media calls and requests;
■
Developing positive stories, such as the reopening of Reagan National Airport;
■
Collecting media clips from key daily papers to monitor consumer sentiment;
■
Coordinating a letter writing campaign to the editor in order to generate more pos-
itive stories about DC;
■
Holding editorial roundtable meetings with 
The Washington Post, Washington
Times,
and 
Washington Business Journal;
■
Developing talk show strategy for programs such as 
Good Morning America
and
The Today Show;
■
Communicating with school groups and school group organizations encouraging
them to maintain their plans to visit Washington, DC; and
■
Preparing news release and special event announcements (WCTC, 2001c).
Much focus was placed on developing the city’s web site with rich, timely, and
easy-to-access content and developing its Internet marketing capacity. An open let-
ter of reassurance from Mayor Anthony Williams and Bill Hanbury, CEO of
WCTC, was placed on the WCTC web site. Partner organizations were encouraged
to distribute this letter to their customers and staff through all available channels
in the interest of message penetration and consistency. Local hoteliers offered tar-
geted “Be Inspired” rates through the online booking engines of WCTC: Hotel
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Reservations Network and Capital Reservations. A digital version of the television
broadcast spots was distributed to targeted lists purchased from Travelocity, AOL,
Orbitz, and other travel service providers. The hotel booking engine sites were
linked at the end of the broadcast spot. A special online section titled “Why
Washington, DC Inspired Me” was developed to target school-age children. Well-
written essays were scrolled on the WCTC home page.
A tremendous amount of work went into planning and executing an aggressive
marketing plan. All the partners involved in developing the marketing plan were
thoughtful about how to proceed in order to ensure long-term success rather than
a quick fix. The marketing plan had to be comprehensive in order to communicate
with its wide array of target audiences. The marketing plan had to be emotive in
order to convey as much of the unique attitude and character of Washington, DC
as possible. The city lacked the huge corporate and state-funded budgets of desti-
nations such as New York, Las Vegas, or Orlando, and therefore could not afford
to make any mistakes. Finally, the campaign had to be executed at the right time—
the time when target audiences were ready to receive the message. This last aspect
required enormous discipline on the part of the WCTC and the hospitality indus-
try. Had the marketing campaign been launched with full force in early October,
the investment would have been largely wasted, as Washington was soon besieged
by a series of bioterrorism events and constant war and terrorism alerts. However,
had the late winter timing of the marketing plan execution been more reticent, the
spring tourism resurgence in DC would probably have been diluted significantly.
In turn, it is quite likely that a softer spring would have led to residual tourism
weakness in the summer.