Destinations Council Destiny Awards > Special Projects

Combating a Shutdown

About This Entry:

On December 22, 2018 at midnight, the possible became a reality when the U.S. government partially shut down. Though the ripple was felt throughout the world, a few of the most historical sites in Philadelphia—America’s birthplace—were greatly impacted. Countless visitors would be disappointed when they tried to visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell—the city’s most visited attractions—only to find the doors locked at both of the National Park Service (NPS) sites. If trips were altogether cancelled or visitors skipped their stop at Independence Mall, businesses in the Historic District would miss out on anticipated holiday revenue.

Jeff Guaracino, president and CEO of VISIT PHILADELPHIA, the organization charged with building the region’s image, driving visitation and boosting the economy, said it best: “Leisure tourism to Philadelphia is a big part of our regional economy, and thousands of visitors want to see our iconic historic sites. We felt that it was important during this very busy holiday week to make Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center available to our visitors and residents.” There was a dominant, unsettling national narrative around the shutdown, but VISIT PHILADELPHIA saw an opportunity to help our city shine and keep visitors feeling happy and satisfied during and after their visits.

The plan was to re-open the two Independence National Historical Park (INHP) buildings for the critically important three-day weekend that landed between Christmas and New Year’s Day. With help from our partners, that’s just what we did—and, the results were grand. After we made the announcement and leveraged social, earned and paid media to disseminate our messaging, tourists visited the sites in droves.

Campaign Strategy:

When the country awoke on Saturday, December 22 to learn that the threatened shutdown had gone into effect, VISIT PHILADELPHIA snapped into action.

Just as we had during the government’s 2017 shutdown, we provided our audiences with information on what they could still do in the Historic District despite the closure of the two most visited attractions. We spread the message on social media, our website (visitphilly.com), our blog (uwishunu.com) and in a press release that pointed visitors back to our digital properties. Though the Bell and Hall are the marquee sites of Independence National Historical Park (INHP), the NPS entity includes nearly 25 historic locations in Center City Philadelphia.

Simultaneously, Jeff Guaracino, just three months into his role as CEO, began mobilizing a plan to re-open Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell during the holiday weekend. Jeff pitched the idea to key stakeholders and received necessary buy-in. After speaking with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, furloughed INHP Superintendent Cynthia MacLeod and city hospitality leaders, the plans were set into motion: the VISIT PHILADELPHIA board approved a non-refundable $32,000 contribution to INHP to pay for three fulldays of staff and operations.

Then, the rest of the VISIT PHILADELPHIA team got to work on executing a targeted communications plan to spread the word. Following the distribution of a press release and live announcement on NBC10, the media relations team began securing placements in local and national press. They fielded media calls for a full week after the announcement, explaining why the opening of these sites was so important to the organization. After the social media team distributed the news of the closings (also posted to visitphilly.com and uwishunu.com), they amplified the news of the contribution across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, driving conversation using the locally popular hashtag #OpenInPHL. We also advertised the special open dates on digital billboards across the region.

Results:

In short, the agility of VISIT PHILADELPHIA and its partners had a spectacular impact on the Greater Philadelphia region. During the three-day period between December 28 and December 30, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall welcomed 30,000 visitors—5,000 more than anticipated. The $32,000 contribution also helped to generate $1 million in estimated visitor spending over the same period.

We also:
-Generated 1,275 stories in the press—850 of which were broadcast on television. Coverage included a glowing editorial from The Philadelphia Inquirer and positive coverage from the Associated Press, The Washington Postand Bloomberg.
-Drove an incredible 15,378 engagements on 1,312 posts from the organization and its fans about the re-opening; an overwhelming portion of this sentiment (86%) was positive.
-Welcomed 493,000 visits to visitphilly.com and uwishunu.com between December 22 and 30, 2018, a 23% increase over the same time period in 2017.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

The narrative of this campaign is what the American spirit is about. Keeping people informed and not allowing a government shutdown to disappoint visitors who expected more from the USA, especially international visitors. Visit Philly’s teamwork and communications strategy is commendable and lifted up the image of the country at a truly low point. This is a perfect example of out of the box thinking and being proactive. Judges loved how Visit Philly took it upon themselves to save the holiday weekend and do whatever it took to stay open and let people know! Leveraging the press is an effective strategy under the circumstances and allowed for the team to react quickly with urgency.