VisitPITTSBURGH New Brand Identity

Entered by: VisitPITTSBURGH The pause in tourism caused by the global pandemic provided the perfect opportunity for Pittsburgh, PA, to re-examine the destination's brand. Long known as 'The City of Bridges' (they have more than 400 of them), 'Steel City', or 'The City of Champions' for their beloved sports teams, they were also saddled with a reputation as just another tired Rust Belt City. The destination's brand identity was overwhelming black-and-gold; the DMO logo depicted one of our 400 bridges, and the messaging leaned into Pittsburgh’s industrial past. They'd be living with the same logo for more than 20 years.The team recognised that post-pandemic tourism recovery was going to hinge on rebranding the destination to reflect its 21st-century diversity of assets, 90 largely unknown neighbourhoods, and vibrant, welcoming population. They were their own best-kept-secret, with a wealth of arts and culture, culinary and craft beverage, history, and heritage to share. It was time to tell the world...but how?To first understand how they were perceived outside their market, VisitPITTSBURGH contracted with global placemaking consultancy firm Resonance, and global brand strategists, Landor & Fitch. Visitor sentiment, quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted with results confirming assumptions: visitors and travel intenders tended to know one or two things about the city and when they visited, they stayed in a one-to-three mile radius of the downtown area close to the sports arenas and nearby bars and restaurants.The strategy, therefore, was to redefine the place brand, Pittsburgh, to show the diversity and wide array of assets available outside the downtown “Golden Triangle” and out to their 90 distinctive neighbourhoods. They learned that visitors were aware of Pittsburgh having cultural attractions and a vibrant arts scene; culinary and craft beverage offerings; and opportunities for outdoor recreation, but the destination branding did not show that.Based on this strategy and the goal of showcasing diversity, Landor & Fitch developed a platform based on the phrase, City of Multitudes. Their team was inspired by our varied tapestry of pocket neighbourhoods, colour, sensory experiences, and the combination of reverence for history yet embrace of cutting-edge technology.They offered four direction options, and the team chose one they called ‘Showcase Lens’ where a strong typographic logo “Visit Pittsburgh” is matched with a vivid colour palette of shapes that can open to reveal an ever-changing array of visual assets. The new branding is flexible, allows the team to capture the panoply of exciting things there are to see and do in Pittsburgh and throughout the region and enables them to custom-target messaging to audience segments depending upon interests: arts lovers, foodies, outdoor enthusiasts, and more.They have been delighted to see how well it works across digital channels and in three-dimensions at their trade show booth, via OOH, and soon, their visitor engagement centres. Landor & Fitch was engaged beginning July 2022, with creative strategy, execution, and final directional selection made with input from a stakeholder committee drawn from around the Pittsburgh region. The new brand was officially completed in March of 2023, and debuted at the VisitPITTSBURGH Annual Meeting on March 15th, 2023.The team opted to introduce and implement the new branding on a rolling basis, beginning with website, social media, Annual Visitors Guide in print and digital, and then ongoing revisions of their digital campaigns, signage, internal collateral, promotional items, and on both in-market and out-of-market advertisements and OOH placements.To engage local partners, they distributed branded promotional materials, including coffee mugs and cookies, and introduced the brand’s iconography and strategy with key DMO board members and subcommittees. They partnered with key members of the Mayor’s office, along with county leadership, to engage with them on the idea of Pittsburgh being a City of Multitudes.The website and social media channels were deployed to “walk the walk” of the concept of multitudes. The team brought their colourful and vibrant neighbourhoods to the forefront of the website, shining a light on heretofore unheralded pockets of the metropolitan area. This led online visitors on a journey of discovery. No long merely the “City of Bridges,” the team showed the spectacular array of people, places, and experiences that surprise and delight visitors.Whilst the targeting of potential visitors did not change, digital messaging immediately did. The team used the City of Multitudes concept to guide targeted demographics through a digital experience of uncovering surprises, focusing on pillar assets of arts and culture; culinary and beverages; sports and outdoor recreation, and demonstrating the surprising revelations that await visitors with those interests.The City of Multitudes branding, and subsequent executions have proven to be both a critical and performance success. Visitation to the website is up by more than 30% since the introduction of the new branding, with page dwell time and engagement up by an astounding 120% YOY. Social media followers have continued to increase on every channel, and leisure visitation numbers for the first two quarters, have surpassed 2022 numbers by more than 18% YOY, even though the new branding was not introduced until near the end of Q1 2023.The team have introduced the new campaign to a new programme for more than 80,000 undergraduate and graduate students who increase Pittsburgh’s population by almost 20% every year. They've seen partners in the region adopt the new colours and shapes of the destination identity in some of their own materials, and when they introduced the colours and shapes at events like the local Marathon, and on branded merchandise for their college giveaways, their street teams are running out of merchandise, as students proudly wear their branded bucket-hats, cross-body bags, and phone cases.

VisitPITTSBURGH New Brand Identity

Related content

Vilnius Choir

Tasmanian Youth Story

Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail

From insights to impact: Canada’s Tourism Data Collective powering a transformative future

Selling modern Scotland to the world – NEXT!

Odd Jobs

Norfolk Coast – Protected Landscape

VisitPITTSBURGH New Brand Identity

Discover CNP Connect

Related content

Vilnius Choir

Tasmanian Youth Story

Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail

From insights to impact: Canada’s Tourism Data Collective powering a transformative future

Selling modern Scotland to the world – NEXT!

Odd Jobs

Norfolk Coast – Protected Landscape

Confirm cancellation