How far would you travel for a good meal? Pretty far as it turns out. The World Food Travel Association, in partnership with Mandala Research, discovered that fully one-third of travelers now choose destinations based on the food and drink activities available and two-thirds consider good dining options an important factor. To that we say, “duh.” Here at Luckie, we’ve been using food to tempt travelers for almost a decade. But leveraging food culture is about much more than just tempting travelers to pick up a fork in your city. Today, it’s about uniting communities behind a food movement or history of unique food.
For Asheville, N.C., we had the privilege of creating a unique brand of epicurean marketing that labeled Asheville as the world’s only
Foodtopia, as it became known, was not only successful because Asheville offered a culinary experience that embraced the farm-to-table movement, but also because the entire destination embraced the campaign. On restaurant windows, menus and online, restauranteurs proudly displayed the Foodtopian badge. This badge also extended to area producers of meats, cheeses, honey and more. Today, Foodtopia is thriving and has become part of the fabric of Asheville marketing and culture.
In Alabama, we discovered a cultural and marketing treasure in the simple pleasure of barbecue. With a rich history and a passionate and dedicated local following already in place, our mission was to introduce Alabama barbecue to the world. In fact, it caught the attention of the online epicurean trope Eater which wrote “How Alabama is using barbecue to sell itself to the world.” But what we created was more than the typical marketing campaign. To truly do justice to a subject that rivaled religion and football in the state, we had to do more. So we started with a full-length documentary that told the history of barbecue in the state and took a comprehensive look at the pit masters and proprietors who had shaped barbecue culture in the state. A website, an Alabama barbecue app and a myriad of more traditional marketing methods followed. But one of the more innovative tactics was creating a traveling photo exhibit of Alabama barbecue pit masters, complete with complementary media events and a heaping helping of attitude. We set up the exhibit at major barbecue events across the country and challenged people to compare Alabama’s barbecue fare with their own. We even challenged Memphis in Memphis. Today, people come from as far away as Europe to experience Alabama barbecue.
For destination marketers, highlighting your destination’s unique dining and imbibing opportunities is the perfect recipe to drive incremental visitor arrivals. But the moral of this epicurean story is that to be successful in promoting a destination with food, you have to be just as creative as the chefs who bring it to life.