How Visit Baton Rouge is Using ZDOS® Insights To Light Up a Low Season

The challenge of destination marketing isn’t just to bring in more visitors — it’s about attracting the right visitors to the right places at the right times.

“The holidays are always hard,” explains Fallon Tullier, research and technology manager at Visit Baton Rouge.

But this challenging season will look a little brighter this year, thanks to a new community partnership and data insights from Zartico’s Destination Operating System (ZDOS®) that are fueling the effort to optimize demand through strategic marketing.

Visit Baton Rouge recently seized an opportunity to partner with Louisiana State University and the Burden Museum & Gardens to develop a holiday lights show in an underutilized area of the city near many of its retail and lodging options.

For the event to have a real community impact, the marketing strategy needs to be more than “if you build it, they will come,” Fallon says. As the kickoff date approaches, her team is relying on Zartico data to inform all its marketing decisions, with the goal of increasing overnight visits and visitor spending.

Lighting up the low season

The key to demand optimization is finding a balance between volume and value. That means looking at visitor distribution across time and geography — and then zeroing in on how those visitors experience the destination to give them more of what they want.

December, when elected representatives and college students both head home for the holidays, stood out as a time of traditionally low lodging occupancy in the Louisiana state capital. When the local botanical gardens suggested hosting a holiday lights show, Visit Baton Rouge saw an opportunity to fill in the gap. But before they could sign on as a sponsor, the team needed to ensure the investment opportunity would have the desired impact.

The organization used ZDOS® insights to evaluate the potential ROI of supporting the holiday lights show and to map out a data-driven marketing plan to make that impact a reality. Offering the organization’s financial support would allow the event to shine brighter by expanding beyond its initial scope. With a solid visitation driver as an anchor, Fallon and her team could see a clear path to success and community impact.

As part of its 10-year sponsorship agreement, Visit Baton Rouge is investing in marketing efforts backed by ZDOS® insights and infrastructure improvements to the garden itself. “We’re hoping to see a lot of growth throughout the years [by] planting those seeds,” Fallon says.

See the lights, stay for the shopping

Visit Baton Rouge developed a data-led plan to ensure their holiday lights campaign will have maximum impact and ROI. The event is already filling an otherwise quiet period, so its success now depends on attracting the most desirable visitors and enticing them to stay longer and spend more.

“We’re not just going to put on lights, but make it a bigger destination experience,” Fallon explains. “Not just drive people to the event, but keep them in the market for a bit so they can spend money, stay, and explore the rest of the area — and have a little more fun.”

The team is targeting the visitors most likely to engage in desired behaviors, including spending at retail and traveling to underutilized areas of the destination. 

The Burden Museum & Gardens is located on 440 acres in South Baton Rouge. Zartico Geolocation Data reveals that fewer than 20% of visitors are observed in this neighborhood. But the location is perfect for holiday lights visitors because it’s close to dozens of hotels and retail outlets including the Mall of Louisiana, boutiques, and vintage shops.

By connecting the holiday lights event to nearby retail offerings, Visit Baton Rouge will attract visitors to the destination, expose them to an underutilized area and attraction, and then motivate them to continue moving around and exploring the city.

In addition, the marketing campaign will build overnight visitation by targeting market areas located three or more hours away.

“There’s going to be shopping involved and different holiday events to push [visitors] throughout our community,” Fallon says. “We want to see them go everywhere.”

Marketing with a laser focus

To translate this demand strategy into a marketing campaign, Visit Baton Rouge uses ZDOS® to identify which of its visitor origin markets spend more and stay more.

Looking at areas more than three hours away, the team used ZDOS® insights to target three markets (Alexandria, La., Monroe, La., and Jackson, Miss.) that together contribute nearly 30% of visitor spending, despite making up less than 10% of total visitors. Visitors from these markets — and from Houston, Texas — are also highly likely to stay overnight. More than one out of every six visitors from these markets are observed at accommodations.

“We want to target those areas because they’re coming, spending money, and also staying,” Fallon explains, adding that advertising will roll out in the fall, closer to the event dates. 

Ahead of every decision related to the event, the organization considers the questions: Is it going to bring more visitors? Is it going to bring visitors who are spending? Sticking to this laser focus — and using reliable data insights to back up the answers — ensures Visit Baton Rouge fulfills its mission as a destination ambassador and gets the best return on its investment. 

Early estimates suggest the gardens will see up to 3,000 guests per night during the holiday lights show, with about 35% of those guests traveling from out of state. But within the larger context of optimizing demand by offering a broader destination experience, Visit Baton Rouge has its eyes on much more than the attendance number.

“It’s not that we don’t care about the event attendance, because we do,” Fallon explains. “But our focus is really on our destination as a whole.”

Sparking hometown pride

Visit Baton Rouge’s data-led plan received enthusiastic board approval for sponsorship of the holiday lights event. Its infrastructure improvements to the botanical gardens and upgraded facilities are already enhancing the quality of a beloved place in a way locals can enjoy throughout the year.

The enhanced partnership with LSU brings one of the state’s leading institutions on board to promote and raise awareness of its capital city. The university is already a huge draw for visitors — not in small part due to its football team — and the potential for future collaboration is enormous.

The destination expects to see a lift in visitation, lodging occupancy, and retail spending once the event kicks off in November. And they will continue using ZDOS® to measure, track, and report that impact. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re being very proactive,” she says.

But for Fallon and her team, the real goal of the holiday lights show is to have a meaningful impact on the community, creating a festive event locals can attend and enjoy while also enjoying the benefits of a robust visitor economy.

“The more successful this event is, the more people are going to have hometown pride,” she explains. “That’s what I’m excited about.”

Residents and leaders in Charleston, W.V., cheered on elite athletes — and new data-driven event impact metrics — when they hosted a USA Cycling championship event. Find out how the destination is using ZDOS® to shift the conversation about community impact.