Vibin’ Venue + Edgy Marketing Produces Palm Springs Convention Center Awareness

By Melanie Cornwell & Colette DuChanois

The Palm Springs Convention Center (PSCC) is a vibe of a venue located in the heart of downtown and surrounded by hotels, restaurants and entertainment that exude the spirit of the destination. The Convention Center welcomed Digital Edge as an extension of its team to elevate its branding, creativity and messaging for its meetings marketing initiatives, create digital tools to support its group sales team, and execute strategies to move planners through the sales funnel.

Raised awareness for the Palm Springs Convention Center

More booked business

Segment-specific growth

Greater investment from community stakeholders

The Challenge

Coming out of the pandemic, the PSCC staff was running lean and needed help with meetings marketing messaging and digital strategies to raise awareness for the distinctive and architecturally striking venue and downtown core as an attractive and authentic Palm Springs experience for conventions and events and generate soft leads.

The PSCC team needed a highly specialized agency focused on meetings and conventions marketing.

Introducing Digital Edge.

The Solution

The PSCC and Digital Edge teamed up in 2021 to uniquely position the convention center through strategic digital marketing bursting with a vibrant, modern-retro creative design that elevated the overall branding and included vivid imagery of the Convention Center’s architectural uniqueness and the desert playground’s experiential aspects—hotels, dining, airport, shopping, etc. Energetic and welcoming messaging was crafted to focus on key content pillars the group sales team needed that were missing from the general marketing in previous years.

Best Microsite

One of the star project highlights is the microsite Digital Edge created in 2022 for the Convention Center to give its group marketing and sales team an informative and colorful tool for their sales process, creatively spotlighting the PSCC’s features, downtown amenities and the desert oasis’ unique offerings for meetings and conventions. When the venue is a vibe, and the digital marketing has an edge, it makes for a MUSE Creative Award-winning microsite and campaign.

Campaign Highlights:

How Do You
Palm Springs

Awareness Campaign
November 2022–Present

An Intimate Evening
With the Stars

Film Fest Lead Generation Campaign
September 2023–Present

PS We
Love Meetings

Awareness Campaign
April 2021–May 2022

Digital Deliverables

New Microsite, Banners, Email Templates
Digital Media Management
Ongoing Performance Evaluation & Optimization
Creative Social Banners/Messaging
Comprehensive Social Distribution
Content Strategy & Development
Email Marketing
Web Page Content Creation for Microsite
‘Convince-Me’ Kit
Sales Sheets

"A film festival with star-studded icons deserves a design direction with star-studded landmarks! Palm Springs has a rich history and aesthetic known across the country, and it was important to focus on bringing that through the design to get meeting planners excited about such a unique event! From using their standout palm trees to the iconic Marilyn Monroe statue and cinema marquees, we put Visit Palm Springs' brand colors to work, bringing the mid-century modern direction to life through the campaign collateral."

CAROLINE CIRILLO | DIGITAL EDGE

INTERACTIVE MEDIA DESIGNER

The Results

Thanks to the awareness campaigns, planners worldwide are now picking up on the PSCC vibe and getting an idea of what it’s like meeting in the destination and experiencing the nearby hotels and downtown attractions. As a result, the PSCC has recorded more booked business as planners take advantage of the opportunity for an authentic city takeover in the heart of Palm Springs. The PSCC has also seen growth in industry segments, such as education, tech and nursing.

Palm Springs Convention Center Citywide Growth

With the lead gen campaign for a FAM trip during the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the PSCC has been able to bring new clients to the table.

And because of the raised awareness and increase in PSCC and hotel bookings, the facility has garnered more community investment, including support for studies to stay competitive and renovations to keep the venue’s vibe going strong.

“Something that's part of this whole grand scheme is because we've raised awareness for the Convention Center, and they are growing and booking more business, and they are busier — they have created a lot more investment in what they're doing.”

MAE BODINE | DIGITAL EDGE

VP OF CLIENT STRATEGY & DEVELOPMENT

Need a hand promoting your convention center and supporting your sales and services team? Reach out to us directly to put our expertise to work.