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Thinking
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From NOCVB to New Orleans & Co.

The NOCVB is the leading Destination Marketing Organization for the City of New Orleans. While enjoying a very successful history, leadership realized that the organization needed to evolve beyond its historic role of driving visitors to the city for the benefit of the CVB’s membership.

New Orleans and company blue and gold logo

Beyond these two constituencies, the organization needed to take responsibility for protecting and nurturing the unique culture of New Orleans if tourism was going to be sustainable. With Trumpet’s help, he articulated his vision for the organization and asked that we facilitate a rebranding.

We immediately convened a series of workshops with senior leadership from across the organization to engage them to take part in creating the new brand. Trumpet acted as a facilitator for these workshops, encouraging thoughtful dialogue and consensus-building. Prior to each workshop with senior leadership, Trumpet and NOCVB’s communications team collaboratively set the structure, context, and content for the workshops. Each senior leader was given this work in advance and asked to come prepared to offer their perspectives.

We started with a discovery phase wherein we presented major trends within the industry and New Orleans, including topics as diverse as over-tourism and transportation issues facing tourism employees. The group discussed them and prioritized those most relevant to the organization. In the next workshop, we focused on Perry’s vision for the organization, and how they could see that vision impacting their roles and departments. Following that, we focused on brand values, collaboratively editing a long list of potential values into just a handful that either already represented the organization or were important and attainable in fulfilling the new vision. With the values set, the next workshop covered the roles the organization should play in the industry and the local community. These roles were important because they set the context for how the organization would act in day-to-day operations—how it would represent its values through action.

After the leadership team had blessed the organization’s vision, values, and roles, Trumpet started working on the external expression of the new brand. In one workshop we presented new name options to the group, which led to another workshop where a new name was chosen: New Orleans & Company. Once chosen, we moved on to logo design, and finally, the external identity was set. We then created a presentation and video for the Board of Directors, which was met with unanimous support.

A final workshop was held to discuss and plan Brand Transmission, the process of educating the employees and key stakeholders who will ultimately be responsible for representing the new brand externally. Trumpet then led each department in a series of training sessions to present the new brand traits and teach them how the brand could potentially affect their daily work. Employees were engaged in exercises that allowed them to better understand the brand, what it stood for, and how it would impact the organization as a whole as well as them individually.

Once everyone was on board, we held a launch event attended by organization membership, industry stakeholders, and local officials. New Orleans & Company was introduced to a crowd of over 300 attendees who were then led in a parade to a riverside celebration and concert. The NOCVB was now an organization of the past, and New Orleans & Company had taken its place, promising a new, more inclusive era for New Orleans tourism.

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