With Jeremy Davenport threading his way through the streets of the French Quarter, belting out lyrics and playing his trumpet, the message is clear: New Orleans is back on top as the place to come and “pass a good time.”
“Come Out and Play” is the theme of the new citywide promotional campaign and a three-minute music DVD aimed at getting the message out to the rest of the world that New Orleans has recovered from the hurricane and is once again rating high as a favorite tourist destination. The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, sponsors of the campaign and the music video, is making copies of the DVD available to the public, touting the city’s major attractions and assets. The food, the music, the history, the ambience: they’re all highlighted in the video, written and produced by Peter A. Mayer Advertising, NOTMC’s promotional agency.
The “Come out and play” theme will be featured in much of NOTMC’s $5.2 million summer marketing and advertising campaign. The campaign targets visitors in key regional and national markets that have consistent, high-level visitation to New Orleans, primarily utilizing TV spots, widely read publications and high-traffic websites. Tourism officials are calling it “the most important ad campaign the city has produced post-Katrina.” It is the third such campaign since the storm; the first one thanking those who came to the aid of the city, and the second utilizing local celebrities to get the “Come fall in love with New Orleans all over again” message across to the rest of the world.
