Visit Oakland
PR, Marketing, Branding, Community Engagement Case Study
Oakland, CA - Jan.2020 - Jun.2021
Going Somewhere?
JPZ helped launch a drive-market digital advertising campaign that generated over 3,000 booked room nights. The Expedia and Hotels.com ads generated over $350,000 in hotel revenue.
JPZ helped construct a new landing page, consulted on creative direction (editing, cut sequence and soundtrack) and also helped drive the creation of a Community Travel Pledge.
Strong Roots
JPZ helped create a COVID-19 response campaign, starting with a new landing page titled #OaklandFromHome where local businesses accessed free marketing toolkits. The page generated over 4,000 page views, with an average viewing time of 4 minutes on the site.
JPZ also co-created the concept for a “Strong Roots Weather The Toughest Storms” video that was used as a sales asset to share a positive message to partners and stakeholders, rooted in Oakland’s history and namesake.
Spend.Stay.Love.
JPZ helped design a “spend local” economic development campaign, which achieved over 25,000 website views, 600 partner referrals, 8M impressions, and social media reach of 4M - and received the endorsement of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
New assets developed included Out of Home advertising like digital billboards and bus shelter posters translated into Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese; a citywide partnerships outreach campaign; new digital toolkit and web page; and new social media content promoting businesses.
Following the success of the initial Spend.Stay.Love.Oakland., the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce partnered with the Visit Oakland team to circulate new collateral and toolkits to promote Black-owned businesses.
Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce
JPZ worked directly with the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce to counteract the targeting of Asian-Americans during COVID. In addition to achieving media coverage that promoted Oakland’s Chinatown as welcoming and open for business, JPZ also helped present an AR activation to the Chamber as a way to elevate a “re-opening” message.
Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce
JPZ contracted with Oakland’s Latino Chamber of Commerce to directly phone Spanish-speaking business owners, so they were aware of how to access CARES Acts funds during COVID. As a native Spanish-speaker, I called, emailed and spoke door-to-door with business owners to guide them through the application process.
Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce
As a result of the Spend.Stay.Love.Oakland. campaign, the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce partnered with Visit Oakland to produce a series of images showing Oakland’s Black business owners thriving in billboards, bus stop adverts, and street banners, directing people to spend money at Oakland’s Black-owned businesses.
Oakland Chamber of Commerce
JPZ served on the DEI Board for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, helping the Chamber draft an update to Mission and Vision and research DEI resources for local businesses. JPZ also helped write and edit Visit Oakland’s 2020 DEI statement in support to the Black Lives Matter movement.
California Travel Association
JPZ joined the inaugural DEI Task Force for CalTravel, helping California’s tourism organizations envision an equitable future. JPZ helped kick off their Voices series, serving as a panelist on a discussion on diversity in tourism, presided over by one of the only Black women CMOs in tourism: Visit Sacramento CMO Sonya Bradley.