The San Francisco Travel Association has launched its largest-ever global marketing and advertising campaign, “Always San Francisco,” to promote tourism to the city. The multimillion-dollar campaign targets leisure travelers and meeting planners in major domestic markets and key international markets. It is the DMO’s first campaign to include television advertising.
Celebrating the city’s bold, inviting and playful ethos, the “Always San Francisco” campaign highlights iconic locations visitors already connect to San Francisco—the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars and Lombard Street—and ones that showcase the city’s neighborhoods and the diversity of visitor experiences. The campaign also includes cameos by San Franciscans, such as Lady Camden of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” fame, artist Sirron Norris, dancers from the AXIS Dance Company, singer/songwriter Mae Powell, Chinatown lion dancers and chefs from Michelin-starred Angler, to represent the talent and inclusivity the city champions.
The destination campaign is targeting the meetings trade, as conventions and meetings are a significant component of San Francisco’s tourism industry. This year, the 35 events booked at Moscone Center will account for nearly 700,000 hotel room nights.
“Our campaign supports planners by amplifying what makes San Francisco such a compelling destination for conventions and meetings,” said San Francisco Travel President and CEO Joe D’Alessandro. “Research conducted by Destination Analysts indicates that meeting planners pay very close attention to destination leisure advertising as the popularity of a destination is key to attracting attendees.”
To match the powerful and inspiring imagery, San Francisco Travel collaborated with local and San Francisco-connected musicians to reinvent Judy Garland’s beloved rendition of the classic “San Francisco” song for its campaign video. “We chose a soundtrack that matched the campaign’s energy and uplifting message and tapped into San Francisco’s legendary local music scene to reimagine the song,” said San Francisco Travel Chief Marketing Officer Lynn Bruni-Perkins. “The result is a beautiful artistic collaboration true to San Francisco’s spirit.”
Campaign assets will appear in high-impact media, such as linear TV (traditional TV), connected TV (CTV), and digital out-of-home (DOOH) in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Houston. The campaign will also have a robust digital media layer through programmatic advertising, video ads, paid social media, OTA partnerships, and earned media. A consumer sweepstakes contest in the U.S. featuring an “ultimate” San Francisco package with exclusive access to attractions and activities, will launch in the coming months.
The domestic campaign runs until October 22. Internationally, “Always San Francisco” digital marketing campaigns will run in Australia, India, Asia Pacific, Europe, Canada and Mexico. The campaign video can also be viewed online (www.alwaysf.com). The $6-pluis million campaign is funded by a sub-grant from Visit California, a grant from San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, San Francisco Travel, and industry stakeholders.
San Francisco’s tourism industry has steadily recovered since the city’s reopening in 2021. This year, San Francisco Travel is expecting 23.9 million visitor arrivals and visitor spending of $8.9 billion, an increase of $1 billion compared to 2022.
For more information, visit www.sftravel.com.
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