Amping Up New Orleans’ LGBTQ+ Marketing Strategy for New Orleans & Company

New Orleans & Company

Amping Up New Orleans’ LGBTQ+ Marketing Strategy

Services: Cause & Diversity Marketing, Creative Design & Production, Media Production, Research & Insights

We began our partnership with New Orleans & Company (NOCO) by conducting a complete audit of their existing LGBTQ+ marketing efforts. The audit revealed that NOCO’s online presence was outdated, included politically incorrect terminology, and often relied on the tactic of “slapping a rainbow on it,” resulting in a depiction of New Orleans that did not align with the inclusive place we know it to be. In short, the city’s authentic LGBTQ+ voice was missing.

Boombox’s goal was to bring New Orleans to the forefront of LGBTQ+ travelers’ minds—and not just for the well-known party scene, but also for food, recreation, relaxation, arts, and more. To do that, we needed to directly engage the city’s queer community. We needed to learn what they love about LGBTQ+ New Orleans, as well as their perspectives on how authentic, inclusive tourism messaging should look.

We therefore assembled a task force of local LGBTQ+ leaders to help us form a baseline for our marketing plan. We collected their ideas, insights, and recommendations, and used that information to create a custom content strategy.

We helped New Orleans achieve recognition as the Second-Most Welcoming City in the World — twice!

Boombox amped up NOCO’s LGBTQ+ imagery with photos featuring diverse members of the queer community enjoying notable attractions and establishments. These vibrant images were used across the NOCO website and its social platforms and channels. We also created an optimized LGBTQ+ landing page, which we populated with editorial content including city guides, itineraries, explorations of New Orleans’ rich LGBTQ+ history, and more.

From there, the work got bigger and better. We developed fun, travel-friendly newsletters, sweepstakes, and unique video campaigns with local and national LGBTQ+ talent. We launched an Everyone’s Welcome Here sticker program to help businesses demonstrate their commitment to providing welcoming, inclusive spaces for queer people. We even brought a NOCO presence to World Pride with a custom-fabricated riverboat float.

These efforts combined made a big impact. Our optimized LGBTQ+ landing page generated a 1,680% increase in month-over-month conversions. New Orleans also began receiving national recognition and rankings for its LGBTQ+ inclusivity, including:

Most Welcoming City in the World (Silver, 2x) — Gay Cities
Emerging Gayborhoods — Marigny (Silver) — Gay Cities
Travel-Worthy Festivals — Southern Decadence (Silver) — Gay Cities
Most LGBTQ-Friendly City of Travel — Club Med
Best United States Gay Bar — Cafe Lafitte — Gaytravel.com
2nd Best LGBTQ-friendly Place in the USA — Hotels.com

“New Orleans & Company has been delighted and enlightened through our partnership with Boombox. Our LGBTQ+ marketing strategy was lackluster until their team breathed fresh air into a campaign that we had not given much thought to in previous years. Now, we believe we are in much better shape to compete with other destinations for the important LGBTQ market. It is the right thing to do for the LGBTQ+ community and the right thing to do for our industry.”

— Mark Romig, President and CEO