Last year, Travel Santa Ana hired an agency to conduct surveys and interviews with locals to gauge the identity of the city before the launch of its first brand campaign to the public.
“We realized there was something really special about Santa Ana,” says Wendy Haase, president and CEO of Travel Santa Ana. “There is a lot of passion and pride in the community.”
During the first stage of the campaign, the DMO partnered with four local artists representing various cultures to create four different signatures, or logos, for the Travel Santa Ana brand rather than using a traditional corporate logo. These signatures are seen interchangeably throughout DMO’s marketing efforts and exemplify the city as a diverse mecca of ideas and cultures.
The second stage was the Proud Santanero campaign. “We recognized that Santa Ana is made up of a lot of different characters and small-business owners, and we wanted to share their stories,” says Haase. This campaign highlighted local business owners and their answers to two questions: why they were proud to be a Santanero and what they would recommend to visitors.
These interviews were used to create a video series documenting local business owners to offer insight about the city to visitors. “We’re here to share Santa Ana’s story,” notes Haase.
As the new year takes off, Haase says that Travel Santa Ana plans to build on the Proud Santanero campaign to bring tourism to the city by interviewing more business owners and locals to create a brand that’s genuine and true to the city.
travelsantaana.com
