Gnome Roams through New Orleans, Inspiring Visitors to Follow

NOLA

New Orleans tourism has steadily recovered over the last decade, and to jump-start the 2015 warm weather season the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOCVB)—working through Expedia Media Solutions to partner with the Travelocity integrated marketing communications team—brought the world-renowned Roaming Gnome to highlight all that the city has to offer.

Together with the NOCVB we developed an integrated campaign that featured the world-famous bearded traveler exploring New Orleans. Often known to tourists primarily for Bourbon Street, the Gnome enjoyed a customized itinerary of activities that make the city so unique (many of which can be purchased on our site), including: braving a ghost tour, joining in a Bourbon Street line band, meandering the French Quarter, eating at the famous Commander’s Palace, jumping on a Natchez steamboat ride, and more.

An interactive landing page showcasing 15 Ridiculously Fun Things to do in New Orleans and Romantic New Orleans along with full social media integration highlighted the Gnome’s adventures around the city.

The engaging campaign was promoted through a multi-channel approach, including on-site and affiliate ads, email, social, search, influencer posts, and media outreach.

As a result, the campaign dramatically increased exposure to – and awareness of – the city and its tourism opportunities as well as grew Travelocity visitor demand in the market by double digits year over year. In particular, the display and email activities drove 4.5M impressions, as part of the broader campaign.

What can we say? People love New Orleans, and people love the Gnome! Check out other success stories {{cta(‘b275fc7d-8524-403f-b6f6-eb1ba2101b3e’)}}

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Erica Eyring

Director, Business Development, Expedia Group Media Solutions

Erica Eyring brings more than 15 years of online advertising industry experience to her role as a director of business development for North America at Expedia Group Media Solutions, where she focuses on strategic digital media campaigns for travel and non-travel brands. Erica has worked with notable brands such as American Airlines, Hilton, South African Tourism Board, Starwood, Estée Lauder Companies, L'Occitane en Provence and more. Erica previously served as a senior manager on air and international development accounts at Expedia, Inc. She also spent nearly five years at Yahoo! Inc. where she worked on e-commerce, shopping, jewelry and beauty categories, and pioneered Flash advertising and homepage takeovers on the site. Erica currently lives in Seattle with her family.

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