Crab cakes are going on the road.
In an effort led by Tom Noonan, the president and chief executive officer of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, the tastes of Baltimore will be on display all across the country in an effort to bring conventions and other groups to Charm City.
Already taking trips to Washington, Chicago and Philadelphia on Wednesday, one of the unique pieces of Noonan?s effort is to take the wining and dining of Charm City on the road with him in the form of Baltimore chefs who can prepare traditional local dishes on the spot.
“I got calls from people that said, ?Thanks, and we had a great time,? ” said Noonan, who earlier this month landed two medical conventions booked for 2010 and 2011. “It?s a good way to network and everybody does lunch and dinners, and when you do that by bringing in a personality or chef it helps you sell.”
Facing a deficit of scheduled large groups visiting the city in 2008 through 2010, Noonan has launched an aggressive campaign to land future conventions and find small pharmaceutical mini-conventions to help fill the gaps.
Aside from taking the cooks on the road, Noonan and BACVA have released that two new advertisements have been created to spark interest in visiting Baltimore. These ads, as reported on March 12 in The Examiner, are running in 10 different trade publications, as well as sporadic use of previous pitches. The first ad features “two feet,” and points out how easy Baltimore is to get around on foot. The second spot is a big one for BACVA, in that it was partially funded by several local hotels to target pharmaceutical meeting planners.
“We have worked very closely with BACVA on restaurant week and a number of other promotional incentives and we are in touch almost weekly with their leadership team,” said Mike Evitts, a spokesman for the Downtown Partnership. “We know how creative they are in convection sales and spreading the good word of Baltimore.”
Baltimore is a city that depends on the $2.17 billion in overnight visitor impact that BACVA reported last year, and Noonan understands the importance of his plan succeeding.
More phases of his plan will soon come into effect as well, as he hopes to have a New York City-based employee set up by the end of next month to help recruit pharmaceutical meetings. Noonan also hopes to get the results of the group?s Trend Analysis Study within the next few weeks.
