As Milwaukee
prepares to take center stage during the 2024 Republican National Convention next summer, the organization responsible for promoting the city to visitors is getting a facelift.
VISIT Milwaukee is undergoing what its head of marketing recently called a "massive brand overhaul," complete with a new website, a new logo and new ad campaigns.
While the rebrand won't be fully unveiled until early 2024, VISIT's redesigned website is set to launch in a couple of weeks.
"We happen to love this visual approach, which we're calling 'Milwaukee fresh,'" said Josh Albrecht, vice president of marketing and communications, during VISIT Milwaukee's annual meeting on Wednesday. The new website will be much more functional and highlight you, our partners, better and ultimately help us reach more potential visitors in a better way."
Traffic to VISIT Milwaukee's website last year hit an all-time high of 4.1 million page views, up 18% over 2021, according to the group's annual report. This contributed to what was a record year for the local and statewide tourism industry, with visitor spending in the greater Milwaukee area up 20.5% at $3.3 billion and economic impact up 15% at $6 billion. The new website is expected to drive even more web activity in 2023, said Albrecht.
VISIT has contracted Milwaukee-based design agency
Ocupop, which is partnering with Milwaukee-based
P3 Development Group, to spearhead the rebrand effort and "ensure that the community’s voice is represented in the process." To that end, VISIT will release a survey for the public to weigh in on the group's new look and messaging.
VISIT has used its current branding and logo, which features the recognizable silhouette of the Milwaukee Art Museum's iconic wings, for the past 20 years. The group's most recent digital redesign was in 2018, with the launch of its current website. At
the time, VISIT touted new features on the site including a "My Trip" tool, in which visitors would fill a virtual shopping cart with experiences they wanted to have on their trip, a neighborhood exploration section, interactive maps and 360-degree meeting venue tours.
In addition to the rebranding effort, VISIT Milwaukee on Wednesday announced the launch of an NFT (non-fungible token) art tourism program, in partnership with Summerfest. The program is known as
Authenticating Experiences, or AX, and VISIT Milwaukee says it's the only immersive and interactive NFT platform in tourism industry.
Its goal is to help people explore the city through original art. A collection of NFT art, created by local artist Tiara Nicole, is geolocated around Milwaukee for collectors to find and "unlock exclusive, real-life experiences and prizes amidst a scavenger-hunt-like format," VISIT Milwaukee said in a news release.
[caption id="attachment_570958" align="aligncenter" width="768"]
The 2023 VISIT Milwaukee annual meeting.[/caption]
