See Plymouth is a not-for-profit, investor-driven marketing organization for the town and county of Plymouth, MA as well as the neighboring Bristol County. Known for history, culture, and the annual America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration, the area is a popular destination during the tourist season. They run the official tourism and travel website of Plymouth, seeplymouth.com, which promotes and markets the attractions, businesses, restaurants, and events of the South Shore.

the challenge

Tourists flock to Plymouth and Bristol County on the coast of Massachusetts during the summer and early fall months, but the region experiences a dramatic drop in visitors during what is known as the shoulder season. (November-April). In response to the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on travel and tourism, the federal government awarded states with tourism grants to quickly help with marketing, workforce, and infrastructure development. The Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism then awarded See Plymouth with a $1 million tourism marketing grant over two years to promote visitation during the shoulder season and give the local economy an extra boost.

our solution

With our experience in travel and tourism marketing, we were hired by See Plymouth to develop strategy, media tactics, and creative for their shoulder season campaigns. “South Shore Secrets” creates intrigue and interest in a typically quiet region during the winter months, giving audiences reasons to explore arts, culture, history, food and so much more without the summer tourist crowds.

While working the visual identity for the campaign, we developed comprehensive media plans with Hearst Corporation, iHeartMedia/WBZ Radio, GBH, various print publications, YouTube, Hulu, and other media outlets. See Plymouth gained national attention when America’s Hometown Celebration parade and the South Shore Secrets campaign commercial aired nationwide on Hearst television stations and on the Very Local app. A full page print ad also appeared in Smithsonian Magazine for Women’s History Month.

Creative for awareness marketing tactics included TV and radio spots, print ads, OOH (out-of-home) advertisements, organic and paid social media, Google display ads and demand gen, blogs, and website SEO. Tactics directed target audiences to the South Shore Secrets landing page, where they could discover things to do and explore the Secrets of the Massachusetts South Shore.

the results

Sperling’s marketing efforts have substantially increased website visitation year over year. We’ve also seen other exceptional results including:

3 x

increase

in website usership during November 2023 - April 2024 compared to the pre-pandemic period of November 2019 - April 2020, going from 107,406 total users to 303,477 total users.

1.9 million

views

and 12,386 interactions on a Hearst StoryStudio/WCVB sponsored content article. Readers spent an average of 4.5 minutes engaging with the story, which is significantly higher than average for similar articles.

5,000

followers

gained in the first few months of creating the See Plymouth TikTok account.

700,000 +

views

on a video collaboration with local influencer Alaina Pinto, whose reel “6 nature adventures to go on south of Boston” went viral.

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