Visit Duluth’s Marketing Now Includes More Diversity

Ad With Gay Couple Placed In Twin Cities Magazine

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Visit Duluth – the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau – is once again expanding its marketing plan like never before.

The team is taking a deliberate, targeted and diverse approach for a more inclusive and attractive Duluth, as FOX 21’s Dan Hanger reports.

“It is so exciting right now. There’s so much momentum building and we are really fortunate our city continues to evolve,” said Anna Tanski, president and CEO of Visit Duluth.

She says her team is deliberately expanding its reach past the so-called typical family of four.

“Sharing a message that resonates with the gay and lesbian community instead of just a one-size-fits-all type of approach.”

For the first time, Visit Duluth designed an ad featuring a same-sex couple that was recently placed in Lavender Magazine — a leading LGBT publication in Minnesota.

“I think it’s more reflective of a culture we are really trying to promote and to enhance and continue expanding on the acceptance and the openness that we see within Duluth,” Tanski explained.

The targeted marketing is going international, too, with a strong focus on attracting writers from publications all over the world.

“We have Chinese, Japanese, Korean writers from the U.K. We had an Italian production company here to film their travel show,” Tanski said.

In 2014 alone, Tanski says all of those publications featuring Duluth added up to $3.5 million in free publicity.

Visit Duluth’s annual marketing budget is around $2.2 million.

So, technically, Duluth is getting around $6 million in marketing around the world.

“It’s really putting our state on the map when it comes to international travel,” Tanski said.

And that international flare is going to get even bigger as Duluth prepares to host an international travel trade show in 2016 and a big conference in 2017 for Outdoor Writers of America.