The Cincinnati USA Virtual Reality Experience, which debuted in 2016, provides a motion-focused, guided tour through Cincinnati, showcasing some of the city’s best entertainment districts, venues, restaurants and attractions. The narrated video, produced by Lightborne Communications, is an immersive experience targeted toward meeting planners, attendees and visitors, and aims to leave the audience with an emotional connection.
Per the Pinnacle Award’s criteria, the Cincinnati USA CVB’s virtual reality experience is used to drive sales initiatives, asset creation, relationship development and conference/trade show participation.
“In Cincinnati, and especially here at the CVB, we value innovation, hard work and civic pride. Our marketing team has taken these qualities and has paired them with cutting edge technology to create a product that we are truly proud of and that has helped drive meetings to our region,” said Dan Lincoln, president and CEO of the Cincinnati USA CVB.
"In Cincinnati, and especially here at the CVB, we value innovation, hard work and civic pride. Our marketing team has taken these qualities and has paired them with cutting edge technology to create a product that we are truly proud of and that has helped drive meetings to our region"
Dan Lincoln
President and CEO
Cincinnati USA CVB
The CVB sales team uses the 360-degree experience at various trade shows and events to increase engagement, to promote Cincinnati as a meetings and conventions destination and to give future attendees a glimpse of what to expect in the Queen City.
By syncing monitors with the virtual reality headset, the CVB’s 360-degree video becomes more than a singular experience, and allows a large audience to follow along with what the individual viewer is seeing on the screen. The CVB’s new trade show booth, also revealed in 2016, includes built-in screens to make the virtual reality experience viewable for groups.
At the 2016 IMEX Tradeshow, the largest industry trade show in North America, the CVB used the Virtual Reality Experience to showcase the city to hundreds of meeting planners, ultimately receiving 35 RFPs, collectively worth 45,000 room nights and a potential economic impact of more than $13 million.
“Great marketing and sales initiatives happen when we’re able to evoke some sort of feeling or call to action from our audience. We’re excited to see that our virtual reality experience is encouraging people to host their meetings in Cincinnati or to come for a visit, and that it’s working,” said Randie Adam, Vice President of Marketing and Visitor Services at the CVB.
The Cincinnati AMA Pinnacle Award marks the most recent accolade for the CVB’s award-winning marketing team. The marketing team is a repeat recipient of previous AMA Awards, Middy Awards from the Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus and Ruby Awards from the Ohio Travel Association.
How to view the Cincinnati USA Virtual Reality Experience on a mobile device:
- Install the YouTube application on a mobile device
- After opening the video, ensure that the quality is set to at least 1440s
- Make sure the volume is turned up to an appropriate level
- Don’t forget to look around. The experience is meant to be immersive, look up, down, and behind you. Each time you watch it, it’s possible to have an entirely different experience.
When you're ready, click here to watch the Cincinnati USA VR Experience via YouTube.
About the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau is an aggressive sales, marketing and service organization whose primary responsibility is to positively impact Hamilton County's and the City of Cincinnati's economy through convention, trade show and visitor expenditures. The travel and tourism industry traditionally has been a $4.4 billion industry in Cincinnati USA, employing 74,000 people in a variety of fields and bringing 24.1 million visitors to the region annually. Visit www.cincyusa.com for more.
