NEW YORK, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- American Express Cardmembers now have more money-saving reasons than ever to enjoy the stellar attractions of alluring Downtown San Diego, courtesy of a value-added partnership forged by American Express Travel Related Services Co., The San Diego Union-Tribune's SignOnSanDiego.com website, the Gaslamp Quarter Association and scores of merchants that accept American Express located in the bayside urban core.
The international travel/financial services giant has launched an innovative e-commerce destination marketing initiative, the American Express San DieGO Downtown Marketing Program.
Consumers who visit the page will be able to choose from among a wide variety of special incentives offered exclusively to American Express Cardmembers by dining, retail, entertainment, hotel, cultural, recreational and professional services enterprises within Downtown San Diego's 92101 area code.
The new marketing program is free of any administrative or promotional charge to the participating merchants -- they merely agree to offer special incentives to American Express Cardmembers and honor those specials for consumers who have downloaded the appropriate offers and use their American Express Cards for redemption.
Colin Temple, Vice President and General Manager for American Express in the Western region, described the new e-destination marketing campaign as a "win-win" for American Express, SignOnSanDiego.com, participating enterprises and consumers, alike.
"This pilot program will enable our Cardmembers, whether tourists or locals, to take advantage of special incentives that add additional value to their Downtown adventures," he said, noting that campaign enables participating businesses to leverage the marketing resources of American Express and SignOnSanDiego.com while simultaneously enjoying real-time verification of the program's effectiveness in the form of the offers redeemed by Cardmembers.
The American Express Downtown page will be updated on a monthly basis with participating vendors committing to three-month long offers. American Express also will provide and maintain Hyperlinks between its own website and those of the business participants.
Temple indicated that American Express' desire to forge a partnership with SignOnSanDiego.com has been fostered by the compatibilities of their user markets.
Presently, the Union-Tribune's news, entertainment and advertising website is visited each month by more than 2 million unique users who view nearly 30 million pages. A late 2004 survey by The Media Audit determined that the multi-award-winning SignOnSanDiego.com website was visited by significantly more San Diego County adults than Yahoo!, MSN or America Online.
According to Chris Jennewein, director of Internet operations for the Union-Tribune, SignOnSanDiego.com's visitors are adults who are affluent, diverse and youthful. The most recent studies indicate that about 44 percent of the website's adult visitors are San Diego County residents. The remainder of its visitors are domiciled throughout the nation, Mexico and Canada.
Consumers' redemption of San DieGO Downtown-related offers they download from American Express will enable the travel/financial services provider, the web host and the participating businesses to track and analyze the effectiveness of their marketing efforts with a rare degree of precision, Temple and Jennewein agreed.
Initial participating merchants include dining, lodging, entertainment, retail, cultural, professional services and transportation enterprises, according to Temple. These include Blue Point Coastal Cuisine, Cafe Sevilla, Cloud 9 Shuttle, Comfort Inn San Diego, Courtyard by Marriott/San Diego Gaslamp, Croce's, Dakota Grill and Spirits, Gaslamp Plaza Suites, Hilo Hattie -- The Store of Hawaii, Hotel Solamar, House of Blues, Indigo Grill, Jolt 'n Joe's, Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, Mr. Tiki Mai Tai Lounge, Omni San Diego Hotel, Quality Inn & Suites Downtown, Restaurant Events, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Trading Company, Spa Tiki, The Field and Visions Restaurant and Lounge.
"Ideally, consumers will visit sdgodowntown.com, then click on the American Express 'blue box' to access the special American Express Selects offers by Downtown merchants and download the offers that they wish to use," he said. "Our goal is to generate awareness and drive business to the hundreds of commercial and cultural entities of Downtown San Diego. We foresee the time when consumers will be customizing their own money-saving day or nighttime 'adventures' Downtown from parking and retail, through dining and entertainment (including sports and cultural options), to spas and lodging."
The impetus for the new destination marketing program is the multidimensional San DieGO Downtown campaign that was crafted at the behest of the Gaslamp Quarter Association (GQA), the Business Improvement District for more than 300 enterprises doing business in Downtown San Diego's historic district.
During fund-raising to support the pilot first year of the three-year destination marketing program, proponents realized that visitors to the Gaslamp Quarter, whether they hail from San Diego County or almost every nation in the world, tend to fan out to the experience the numerous other attractions of bayside San Diego after "doing the Gaslamp," which also is the city's only official Entertainment District.
Likewise, they realized, the historic district should be cross-marketing to persons using or visiting other Downtown destinations such as the San Diego Convention Center and the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, which in its inaugural year moored at Navy Pier attracted more than 880,000 persons to be ranked among Southern California's most visited attractions.
By expanding the mission of the destination marketing effort to embrace the entire 1,500-acre urban core, the architects of the program also were able to garner financial and/or in-kind stakeholder participation from diverse private and public sector interests in addition to the GQA, American Express and SignOnSanDiego.com.
The participants include Cloud 9 Shuttle; Districts 1 and 4 of the County of San Diego; Cox Communications; The Daily Transcript; JUDDesign; Manchester Grand Hyatt; Next Level Sailing; Old Town Trolley; OliverMcMillan Foster; Omni San Diego Hotel; San Diego Business Journal; San Diego Convention Center Corporation; San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina; SBC Yellowpages; Sempra Energy; Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation; Union Bank of California; Wells Fargo, and BERKMAN COMMUNICATIONS, the Downtown San Diego public relations and marketing firm that crafted the plan for the GQA and lined up the stakeholders.
Among the first to opt into the American Express San DieGO Downtown Marketing Program was the Cohn Restaurant Group, a San Diego hospitality company whose venues include five distinct restaurants and a club in the Gaslamp District; another restaurant in Downtown's Little Italy neighbor; the main restaurant and lounge in neighboring Balboa Park; two restaurants in nearby Hillcrest; and a new restaurant on Harbor Island near San Diego International Airport.
Although David Cohn, founder and president of the rapidly expanding family-owned hospitality company, recently was installed as chairman of the GQA for 2005-06, his support for innovative destination marketing of Downtown San Diego dates back many years, noted Jimmy Parker, the GQA's executive director.
"He's a Downtown business owner who understands and supports raising the bar for marketing Downtown San Diego as a destination whose attractions will accommodate all ages at any time of the year," Parker said.
To sample the new San DieGO Downtown Downtown/Gaslamp Guide and the innovative American Express program, please visit www.signonsandiego.com or take a "short-cut" by visiting www.sdgodowntown.com . To learn more about the Gaslamp Quarter National Historic District, please visit www.gaslamp.org . American Express Cardmembers can access the programs at www.mylifemycard.com/go/sandiegodowntown/ .
This is cache, read story here
