San Francisco Travel Association

In June 2022, San Francisco Travel Association UK (SFTA UK) was tasked with executing a campaign to highlight San Francisco’s welcoming spirit and vast diversity in terms of product and geography, entertainment, culinary, attractions, with a particular spotlight on LGBTQ+ and inclusivity. Another marketing goal was to showcase SFO airport as California’s leading gateway airport and ultimately to drive bookings to San Francisco.

The campaign was brought to life by several activations including a talent partnership with two drag queen stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: Kitty Scott-Claus and Vanity Milan. A consumer competition across media and social to find the UK’s next undiscovered drag performer to join the trip with stars, feature in nationally distributed content and perform at Manchester Pride as part of Virgin Atlantic’s event sponsorship.

In collaboration with Virgin Atlantic, four journalists were secured for trip attendance and coverage as well as to distribute further press releases for additional coverage. We worked with video production company Pensara, to create a bank of stills and video content for campaign promotion and ongoing promotional use and with three key tour operators to build ‘A Royal Welcome’ packages and drive conversion, facilitated by a dedicated media plan, which was enhanced by the Brand USA uplift programme.