SITUATION
A website redesign for any destination marketing organization (DMO) is an extensive process, and many of them share the common obstacles of overcoming misperceptions and stereotypes. Visit Anchorage is the official DMO for Anchorage, Alaska, tasked with attracting visitors to Alaska's largest city.
With a website redesign project underway, it was the ideal opportunity for the DMO to take advantage of a unique offering within the build process. Visit Anchorage elected for Simpleview's website build team to visit Alaska for a Destination Immersion trip, so they could experience the abundance of nature and outdoor activities outside the bustling downtown, and leave a lasting impression on those designing and creating their new website.
SOLUTION
Simpleview's Destination Immersion proved to be an exciting kick-off to Visit Anchorage's website redesign project. In addition to exploring the area's endless beauty and discovering subtle nuances at each stop along the tour, the Simpleview team developed a stronger relationship with Visit Anchorage, which created a higher level of trust and better channel for communication throughout the project.
From this positive experience, Visit Anchorage was able to compile a few tips for DMOs interested in the Destination Immersion opportunity:
- SHOWCASE the high value experiences in your destination
- INVEST in what your destination has to offer
- COMMUNICATE with Partners beforehand about why they're included in the familiarization (FAM) tour
- REMEMBER your Simpleview team is experiencing your destination as a visitor or journalist would
RESULTS
The impact and success of Visit Anchorage's Destination Immersion is prevalent in the current design being developed by Simpleview's Creative team. Direction of the site has remained clear throughout the process, and accurately portrays the DMO's vision of a synonymous Alaska/Anchorage visitor experience through powerful nature-based aesthetics.
Lisa Love, Creative Director at Simpleview, has confirmed these positive results within the redesign process; "Visit Anchorage's unique point of difference was clearly identified by the selection of immersive experiences we participated in during their Destination Immersion. This experiential visit to Anchorage is the key to a distinct website design. Spending time with their team onsite gave us a solid foundation to meet project goals and exceed their expectations."
The Visit Anchorage Destination Immersion has proven to be a key component in creating a more authentic website, a clear sign of an enhanced website experience for visitors to come. Keep a lookout for the new www.anchorage.net in the near future!
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