On the Road Again
Greater Raleigh will be represented at the TEAMS national convention in Charlotte, October 18-22. Members of the Bureau’s Sports Marketing Department, in partnership with the N.C. Sports Association, will have the opportunity to meet with dozens of sports event owners and rights-holders who represent potential future business for Greater Raleigh.
Director of Communications Ryan Smith attended the Society of American Travel Writers annual conference in Dresden and Leipzig, Germany, October 7-13, where she met one-on-one with travel writers, editors and photographers to pitch Raleigh area story ideas.
Welcome...to the October issue of Pulse, the official newsletter of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. If you have questions, or would like to submit news for possible inclusion in the November edition of Pulse, please contact Ryan Smith at rsmith@visitRaleigh.com
In this issue...
On the Road Again | 'Tis the Season | Enter to Win | ISO All-Star Volunteers | Raleigh-Opoly | Video Update | Media Mashup
'Tis the Season
It’s hard to believe the holidays are right around the corner, but the Bureau is getting ready by compiling events, giveaways, special packages and promotions. If your organization or hotel is offering special rates, incentives or packages during the holiday season (November – January), please email Charissa Todd, ctodd@visitRaleigh.com.
Enter to Win
The Bureau and 10 Wake County hospitality partners have joined in a fall co-op promotion with the N.C. Division of Tourism. The leisure promotion includes print and online exposure with AirTran Airways GO Magazine and sweepstakes exposure on visitnc.com’s homepage throughout September/October. Greater Raleigh and the partners will award the grand prize trip in the state’s annual fall sweeps, which in turn is being advertised in numerous print, TV, online and social media outlets. The Bureau’s co-op promotion is expected to generate millions of impressions and thousands of visitor leads for the area. Check it out yourself or refer your faraway family members to enter to win.
ISO All-Star Volunteers
To help present all of the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) All-Star Weekend festivities, the NHL is now recruiting the coolest fans. If you are 18 or older and a fan of the Game and a fan of our area, here’s a chance to share your enthusiasm, energy and skills. Help showcase the Raleigh area and your favorite sport by volunteering as a City Ambassador or Hockey Ambassador and join the NHL for a truly memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience. To add your name to the All-Star roster, you must be available to volunteer for at least three shifts January 26 through January 30, 2011. For more details and to reserve a seat at the Volunteer Information and Registration Meeting in Raleigh on November 10, call the volunteer hotline at 919.861.7190. For All-Star and volunteer updates, visit www.nhl.com.
Raleigh-Opoly
Associate Director of Sales Malinda Pettaway, CASE, and National Sales Manager Loretta Yingling, CMP, said “Game On” during the Meeting Professionals International – Carolinas Chapter event held in Concord, N.C., and attended by planners from North and South Carolina. The theme of the booth was Raleigh-Opoly, a take on the ever-popular Monopoly game, and planners answered trivia questions about the area to win a grand prize gift basket.
Video Update
The Bureau, in conjunction with Raleigh-based new media company Triangle Blvd, has developed more than 100 videos on topics ranging from every major park system in Wake County to individual municipalities, montages of dining, entertainment and nightlife, as well as attractions and family-friendly activities. The videos, which are located on the Greater Raleigh video gallery and on individual pages of the visitRaleigh.com site, have also been shared with other outlets including visitnc.com to get a wider viewership. Throughout the 2010-2011 fiscal year, GRCVB will continue to work with Triangle Blvd on a focused slate of 23 videos complementing those done last fiscal year, and we will also be looking for ways to extend the videos onto new mobile platforms including iPhone and other smart phones. While the videos produced have been cost-free to non-profits and publicly-funded tourism partners, area accommodations, restaurants and other private businesses can also participate in the program through a co-op partner program (a cost-effective marketing opportunity that can help the Bureau showcase the diverse range of area businesses and allow individual properties to use the videos for other in-house marketing efforts). To learn more, contact Director of Marketing Jonathan Freeze at jfreeze@visitRaleigh.com.
Media Mashup
The Raleigh area has been popular in the media lately—from being listed at the top of “Best Of” lists to positive coverage about the destination in both leisure and meeting trade publications. Smart Meetings, Convention South and Meetings South highlighted numerous hotels, restaurants and meeting sites in feature articles highlighting North Carolina and Greater Raleigh, while AirTran Airlines GO Magazine made the state its destination feature for October. Cooking Light highlighted the Best Restaurants in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill in its October issue, and Charleston Magazine ran a feature story on The Umstead Hotel and Spa. Raleigh’s own Char-Grill made the list of USA Today’s “Best Burgers in America,” and Raleigh ranked fourth on CNN.com’s list of “America’s Smartest Cities.”
