While watching television with the family, you sit patiently through the commercials waiting for the show to resume. But have you ever had a commercial capture your attention with stunning images of outdoor adventures, creative cuisines, and memorable attractions from a city far away from home? Suddenly you’re less interested in the show and ready to plan a getaway. We get it. We work to create those such moments by promoting Omaha’s tourism assets to target markets around the region. Specifically, viewers who are residents in Kansas City, Des Moines, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis, and Chicago. 

The results have been a big win for Omaha. 

From March to July of this year, Visit Omaha invested just under $170,000 in an innovative media platform that customizes ads based on consumer preferences. The smart data used by this platform can also track when a person reached by Visit Omaha advertising visits our city and how much they spend while they are here. The results to date show 28,735 people who saw our advertising traveled to Omaha and spent $5.8 million during their visit to our community. That means for every dollar spent on advertising, overnight visitors spent $34 in our city. Good return on our investment, but we need to know how our message is being received by potential visitors from these target markets. That’s where research comes in.  

According to a recent sentiment study, residents of Des Moines and Kansas City responded favorably to Omaha as a weekend destination and expressed interest in visiting the metro. Chicago residents are showing a growing interest in visiting Omaha and want to know more about the city. Overall, nonbinary and people under 55 were significantly more likely to visit Omaha for a long weekend.  

Between the sentiment study and advertising results, we continue to feel cautiously optimistic as we move through this recovery. We will continue to research and find creative new ways of pushing out Omaha’s messaging and inspiring folks to turn off the television and make the trip to Omaha.

This article originally appeared in the November/December  issue of B2B Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.