Skift Take
Destinations have traditionally undervalued the ability of meetings-specific website content to drive convention attendance, but Las Vegas is attempting to do just that with an integrated, high-tech content delivery platform.
Editor's Note: Following our previous CEO interview series in online travel, hospitality, and destinations, Skift has launched a new series, this time focused on Chief Marketing Officers.
To better understand the big marketing challenges facing travel brands in an age when consumers are in control, Skift's What Keeps CMOs Up at Night will talk with the leading voices in global marketing from across all the industry's sectors.
These interviews with leaders of hotels, airlines, tourism boards, digital players, agents, tour operators and more will explore both shared and unique challenges they are facing, where they get insights, and how they best leverage digital insights to make smarter decisions.
This is the latest interview in the series.
Following record visitation in 2015, Las Vegas is striving to increase its convention business further with new content platforms and a series of virtual reality videos.
The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) rolled out its new Vegas VR virtual reality app at the ITB Berlin travel trade show in March. Visiting attendees flew over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter and soared over downtown Las Vegas on the SlotZilla zipline inside their virtual reality headsets.
With the Vegas VR videos, there are two options to consume the content. People can download the Apple or Android apps and view the content as a 360-degree, 2D video on their phones. Or, they can use a VR viewfinder like Google Cardboard or a VR headset like Samsung Gear for the full 3D virtual reality experience.
Over the last few years, the LVCVA has experimented with content in new ways to showcase Las Vegas for visitors of all types.
In summer 2014, for example, the destination marketing organization (DMO) launched its GeoVegas initiative, in partnership with Google Street View, to create 360-degree panoramic video content of the Las Vegas Strip and surrounding areas.
Last year, the LVCVA unveiled its quirky series of Unconventional long-form videos to showcase the Las Vegas Convention Center's ability to host all types of niche corporate and association events. And in March, coinciding with the launch of the Vegas VR videos, the
