“It’s the age-old question," says Megan Buchbinder, director of marketing for Springfield’s newly-rebranded destination marketing organization. "Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau — it’s a pretty typical kinda-governmental-sounding name for destination marketing organizations.”
The CVB decided it was time for a change. A new "Visit Springfield, Missouri" brand began rolling out on Friday.
New branding and signage went up on Friday at locations like the Route 66 Visitor Center downtown.
The group, which got $4.3 million in city funding this year, works to bring tourists to the Springfield area. Last year, Visit Springfield says they brought in 140 groups of tourists, some 225,000 visitors among them. Many stay overnight, spending money on food and other items.
“You don’t realize it until it’s gone," Buchbinder said. "I mean, that’s the case with a lot of things.”
Visit Springfield has been working on the rebranding for more than a year, as the tourism economy continued rebounding off the effects of the global pandemic. They say each advertising dollar spent yields an economic impact of $91 on the local community. Their group sales efforts netted a $30 million impact last year.
"When it’s thriving, the tourism industry is responsible for millions and millions of dollars of economic impact," Buchbinder said.
Visit Springfield says its digital campaigns were seen 124 million times on the internet last year, and more is coming soon.
Buchbinder said, “Right now we’re also working on a campaign, an advertising campaign that will roll out in the new year that will take it to phase 2 — which is the national campaign.”
