Case Study
The gaming and entertainment landscape across Northern Nevada and California has never been more competitive. New properties, added attractions, and recent renovations continue to raise the bar. Properties are looking to re-engage key market share.
Reno Tahoe has experienced these challenges first-hand. EXL Media worked alongside the Convention and Visitors Authority for 10 years to strategize and implement multimedia campaigns in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle DMAs.
The Challenge
Despite high brand recognition in key markets of San Francisco and Los Angeles DMAs, The Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority (RSCVA) struggled to convert awareness into their desired visitor action of night room bookings and a higher daily average rate.
To bridge the gap, the RSCVA partnered with EXL Media to balance broad brand awareness with precise demographic targeting, ensuring every media dollar reaches travelers most likely to visit and act toward the stated goals.
This new strategy was initially implemented in the two primary markets of San Franciso and Los Angeles but due to its success was later expanded to all markets, including Sacramento.
The Strategy
EXL Media analyzed proprietary client visitor data and third-party data to identify opportunities for audience targeting. Strategically, the team conducted demographic overlay analysis to recommend media channels where we could 1) hyper target advertising to zip codes that had high prior room night stays, and 2) reach demographic characteristics that fit the destination’s target.
In these zip codes, awareness wasn’t the need—focus was.
By narrowing the geography, layering precision targeting and focusing on retargeting, EXL Media created a high-efficiency, high-impact media plan that outperformed broad awareness buys.
Audience Targeting:
- San Francisco DMA
- Los Angeles DMA
- Travel Interests: Gaming, Outdoor Activities, Entertainment
- Adults 25-49
- HHI $100k+
Schedule:
Four flights, 5 weeks each over 12 months
The Tactics
High Impact Out-of-Home
EXL selected billboards in target zip codes using Geopath data to ensure optimal traffic, visibility, and target impressions.
Out-of-Home Retargeting
Reinforced exposure with social media and Google display retargeting to audiences who passed each billboard providing trackable engagement and stronger recall.
Precise Audience Targeting
Used RSCVA’s Visitor Origination Analysis to select zip codes with high room nights booked in prior years, then overlaid this data with high indexing zip codes against adults 25-49 with HHI $100k+ (Scarborough data).
Captive Digital
Negotiated an LAX Wi-Fi video sponsorship requiring travelers connecting to Wi-Fi to watch a Reno Tahoe video which captured attention during high-impact travel moments.
The Results
