To ensure that what we promote to our various customer groups is indeed consistent with who we are as a destination, Meet Minneapolis frequently seeks feedback from stakeholders and customers. This feedback gathering has been a major component of our ongoing Destination Transformation 2030 process.

In the Meet Minneapolis Minute last week, we reported on some hot-off-the-press findings from a focus group of frequent travelers in Chicago. Those participants indicated that they appreciate our lakes and natural beauty and appreciated the fact that Minneapolis is the home of a significant number of Fortune 500 corporations. When we probed further, we found that there is a significant lack of awareness about Minneapolis in Chicago due in part to limited marketing resources to dedicate to attracting visitors from there. But we also learned that the marketing message needed to carry a strong value proposition and reason for visiting. In short, Chicagoans are not necessarily as enamored with us we would like.

Fargo is another key leisure market for us. According to Market Research Director Kevin Hanstad, visitors from Fargo make up 5% of our total annual total. A focus group there also revealed an overall lack of awareness. Those focus group participants looked at us as an accessible big city experience, but there were also concerns about safety, wayfinding and traffic. This will clearly provide insight into how to better reach potential Fargo visitors.

Des Moines is another city where we conducted focus groups. That city also generates about 5% of our total visitor count; however, competition is tough for attracting visitors from there because of its proximity to Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. That’s in spite of the fact that both St. Louis and Chicago are farther away from Des Moines than Minneapolis is. Participants in the Des Moines focus group viewed Minneapolis as an adult getaway and were pleased with our array of amenities and activities. They also shared that they felt we lacked activities for children.

When Minneapolis rebranded in 2011, we encountered other areas of our destination that didn’t align with our own perceptions. So our destination self-awareness pursuit has been in place for some time, which allows us to hear things that we may not want to, yet they’re things we need to hear in order to be an authentic brand.

To ensure that what we promote to our various customer groups is indeed consistent with who we are as a destination, Meet Minneapolis frequently seeks feedback from stakeholders and customers. This feedback gathering has been a major component of our ongoing Destination Transformation 2030 process.

In the Meet Minneapolis Minute last week, we reported on some hot-off-the-press findings from a focus group of frequent travelers in Chicago. Those participants indicated that they appreciate our lakes and natural beauty and appreciated the fact that Minneapolis is the home of a significant number of Fortune 500 corporations. When we probed further, we found that there is a significant lack of awareness about Minneapolis in Chicago due in part to limited marketing resources to dedicate to attracting visitors from there. But we also learned that the marketing message needed to carry a strong value proposition and reason for visiting. In short, Chicagoans are not necessarily as enamored with us we would like.

Fargo is another key leisure market for us. According to Market Research Director Kevin Hanstad, visitors from Fargo make up 5% of our total annual total. A focus group there also revealed an overall lack of awareness. Those focus group participants looked at us as an accessible big city experience, but there were also concerns about safety, wayfinding and traffic. This will clearly provide insight into how to better reach potential Fargo visitors.

Des Moines is another city where we conducted focus groups. That city also generates about 5% of our total visitor count; however, competition is tough for attracting visitors from there because of its proximity to Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. That’s in spite of the fact that both St. Louis and Chicago are farther away from Des Moines than Minneapolis is. Participants in the Des Moines focus group viewed Minneapolis as an adult getaway and were pleased with our array of amenities and activities. They also shared that they felt we lacked activities for children.

When Minneapolis rebranded in 2011, we encountered other areas of our destination that didn’t align with our own perceptions. So our destination self-awareness pursuit has been in place for some time, which allows us to hear things that we may not want to, yet they’re things we need to hear in order to be an authentic brand.