Advertising Effectiveness -ROI

California Advertising Effectiveness

Visit California has tracked the effectiveness and ROI of its advertising efforts for many years, using the
same methodology since 2004. The research efforts follow the same pattern so that results will be comparable
to past years.  Advertising research is conducted in two phases.

Phase 1 is conducted immediately after the conclusion of an ad run and measures:
1) the reach of the campaign; 2) reactions to the creative; 3) the impact of the campaign on changing
attitudes toward California and; 4) the ways in which the campaign influenced consumer interest in visiting
the state.

Phase 2 of the advertising research is conducted after a period of time deemed reasonable to allow for travel
which is related to advertising exposure. It measures:

1) Incremental travel and spending associated with Visit California's marketing efforts. 2) ROI as determined by this travel spending in relation to campaign expenditures.

Visit California and its research partners, Strategic Marketing and Research, Incorporated (SMARI) and Rakuten Research,
attempt to be conservative in calculating ROI by only considering incremental travel and not influenced travel. 
Also, in estimating total audience, Visit California considers only its target demographic and not the whole population
exposed to the advertising.

                                     Ad Effectiveness                                          ROI

Domestic:          2006-Spring, 2007-Spring, 2008-Fall,       2006-Spring, 2007-Spring, 2008-Spring, 2008-Total   
                            2009-Fall, 2009-Spring, 2010-Spring         2009-Spring, 2009-Total, 2010-Total, 2011-Total

                            2010-Fall (TV only), 2011- Fall,

                            2012-Spring, 2012- Fall

Winter:               2007, 2008, 2009, 2010                                2007, 2011

Digital:               2009

 In 2008, Visit California aired three distinct TV ads to a US national target audience.  The ads portrayed three distinct but interrelated
 themes. Because of their interrelationship, the results of all three campaigns have been included in one "Domestic" report.

Canada:             2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012                    2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

UK:                      2008, 2009 TV-only, 2009, 2010                 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011   

                            2011, 2012

Japan:                2008                                                                 2008, 2009, 2010

Australia:           2010 (Wave 1), 2010 (Wave 2)                    2010, 2010 (Target: 18-35)

REPORTS AND STUDIES ON EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT OF ADVERTISING, FULFILLMENT AND OTHER MARKETING PROGRAMS

Case Study: In Support of Destination Marketing: Building Credibility - Recommendations and guidelines for establishing credible measures of destination marketing success. How destination marketing organizations can build solid justifications for their budgets based on clear demonstration of return on investment. By Tiffany Urness.

An Economic Evaluation of Public Investment in Tourism Marketing - Methods and recommenations for determining the return on investment from Del Norte County tourism promotion. By Council of Economic Advisors, Del Norte County, March 2006

Best Practices for Measuring Destination Return on Investment - Recommendations and best practices compiled by state travel office researchers, by Tiffany Urness, October 2005.

ROI for Destinations; Ten Best Practices - Presentation to TTRA (Travel and Tourism Research Association), June 2005.

Thank you to our Golden State Sponsors:
MeringCarson Wine Institute Sunset
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An exploration on the trip behavior and attitudes of Multigenerational travelers: What opportunities exist for tourism marketing?

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