How Explore Spiced up the Stockton Flavor Fest
Elevating Stockton's Appeal with Digital Passports
Visit Stockton, a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) dedicated to showcasing the unique flavors and vibrant culture of Stockton, California, sought to spice up its annual events and engage visitors more effectively. Amy Alpers, Director of Marketing and Communications at Visit Stockton, shared how Explore Challenges, Seeker’s digital passport platform, transformed their Stockton Flavor Fest and helped them achieve their marketing goals.
Stockton, California a Hidden Gem of Cultural Diversity
Stockton's slogan, "It might not be for everyone, but it can be for you," encapsulates its spirit of tenacity and uniqueness. As Amy Alpers puts it, "If you have a little grit and a little sense of adventure, then Stockton, CA can be a really cool place for you to come visit." Often described as a "diamond in the rough," Stockton offers unique experiences that set it apart from more conventional destinations. The city boasts a rich tapestry of cultural diversity, a vibrant culinary scene, and a variety of one-of-a-kind events, including the Stockton Flavor Fest, Farm-to-Fork Dinner, and the Sports City Golf Tourney. From the Haggin Museum and the Cambodian Buddhist Temple to a picturesque waterway system perfect for pontoon boating, Stockton has something for every adventurer.
Visit Stockton's destination marketing strategy focuses on highlighting these distinctive qualities. Their goal is to creatively package Stockton's unique offerings to attract visitors. By showcasing the city's cultural diversity, rich culinary scene, and engaging events, they aim to position Stockton as a must-visit destination. The objective of Visit Stockton is to present these hidden gems in a way that resonates with potential visitors, encouraging them to discover and appreciate what Stockton has to offer.
Struggling with Differentiation, a Small In-House Team, and Lack of Technology
Visit Stockton faces several hurdles: a lack of major attractions to differentiate their destination, a small marketing team, and the need for better technology to engage visitors and gather insights. The city's proximity to major urban centers like Sacramento and San Francisco often means Stockton loses out on tourism to more prominent attractions. One of their main marketing goals is to set themselves apart from other nearby destinations with similar landscapes.
Without major attractions like sports stadiums and large concert venues, Visit Stockton has to work harder to promote the hidden gems they have and create buzz-worthy events like the Stockton Flavor Fest, a vibrant, multi-day celebration featuring a diverse array of food vendors, local artisans, live music, and cultural performances, designed to highlight the unique flavors and talents of the Stockton community.
Visit Stockton’s marketing team is a small but mighty in-house organization. Unlike DMOs with outside agencies, they do it all themselves. Previously, they’ve tried using digital passport technology to drive engagement, leveraging less robust solutions that required jerry-rigging different platforms together with the goal of collecting user-generated content (UGC), but this approach required significant time and effort from their marketing team due to a lack of seamless integration.
"We really needed something that could turn around quickly and still be visually appealing and user-friendly," Amy explained.
How Visit Stockton's In-House Team Created a Destination Worth Visiting
To alleviate the lack of major attractions, Visit Stockton excels at creating events and festivals that highlight their hidden gems. The Stockton Flavor Fest is a prime example. This year, they aimed to create an event activation that would enhance attendee engagement. To accomplish this, they created a gamified the experience with a check-in challenge. This approach increased visitor interaction and enjoyment and helped collect valuable first-party data and user-generated photos. Using Explore for the first time, the team quickly launched the challenge with the right technology. The self-service nature of Explore proved to be a recipe for success for the team, offering a solution that fit their needs perfectly.
Setting up the Stockton Flavor Fest Challenge with Explore was a piece of cake. The customizable platform allowed Amy's team to highlight key festival areas, such as the 21+ area sponsored by Tia Linda's Margaritas, the kitchen demo tent, and the main stage. They created various badge categories, encouraging attendees to discover different parts of the festival, participate in photo challenges, and win fun prizes.
“The platform was incredibly easy to use, and we loved the ability to gather user-generated content (UGC) seamlessly. It added a new layer of engagement for our attendees and provided us with valuable marketing assets.”
The flexibility to offer multiple check-in options and the ease of uploading photos made the experience enjoyable for participants and a breeze for Visit Stockton to execute.
Amy also highlighted the value of Explore’s flexible subscription model. "The pricing model with Explore is perfect for us," she explained. "We don't always need multiple passports, so being able to pay for a subscription and run one challenge at a time is super valuable. For a three-day event like the Stockton Flavor Fest, we wouldn’t have made the time investment required with other platforms. The flexibility to turn a 3-day event into a summer passport program with Explore is fantastic."
She continued, "The ability to use Explore without needing extensive external support is especially great for smaller, scrappy DMOs like Visit Stockton. We are always trying to make things happen on a budget and have the talent to do it in-house. The platform's self-service nature has been awesome for us."
Achieving Success with Engaging Challenges and Cohesive Marketing
To enhance engagement at the Stockton Flavor Fest, Visit Stockton created a challenge that encouraged attendees to share buzz-worthy aspects of the festival like the food trucks and activation tents in order to earn incentives and win prizes like beach cruisers, concert tickets, and branded merchandise.
Participants discovered things to do and checked-in with photos to earn prizes.
How It Worked:
Participants earned badges and climbed the leaderboard by visiting specific festival locations and checking in with photos. Once they unlocked 3 badges, they were rewarded with a Flavor Fest Bucket Hat, Tote Bag, or Water Bottle, redeemable at the merch table. Unlocking all of the badges entered them into a grand prize drawing for one of five beach cruisers that were on display.
Badge Categories
Digital badges are virtual tokens of achievement awarded to participants who complete specific tasks or challenges. At the Stockton Flavor Fest, these badges incentivized attendees to explore different festival areas, engage in various activities, and share their experiences. Each badge represented a unique aspect of the festival, adding an element of fun and competition.
Art Aficionado Badge: Check-in at 2 art locations
Family Fun Badge: Check-in at 2 family-friendly spots
Foodie Badge: Check-in at 2 food and drink locations
Music Maven Badge: Check-in at 2 music venues
Stockton Pride Badge: Check-in at 2 locations showcasing Stockton Pride
Visit Stockton’s destination marketing team promoted the Stockton Flavor Fest Challenge through social media, email blasts, in-event signage, and word-of-mouth marketing. The challenge was prominently featured on directional signs, beverage tent signs, and large event boards. It was also included in pre-event emails to ticket holders and in email newsletters. Visit Stockton had a very successful digital passport launch by employing all these tactics effectively.
Unprecedented Engagement and Valuable Data Insights
The Stockton Flavor Fest Challenge was a resounding success. Amy and her team were thrilled with the engagement metrics and the quality of UGC collected. The seamless integration of photo uploads within the platform allowed them to capture authentic festival moments, which they plan to use in future marketing efforts for this annual festival. The first-party data collected from participants provided valuable insights for targeted marketing campaigns.
"The response was extremely positive," Amy shared. "We had over 120 sign-ups and 345 user-generated photo uploads in 72 hours! Participants loved the added fun and the chance to win prizes like beach cruisers, concert tickets, and branded merchandise."
Example UGC collected during the 3-day event
Visit Stockton's Future Plans
Buoyed by the success of the Stockton Flavor Fest Challenge, Visit Stockton is planning a summer scavenger hunt and other seasonal challenges. These initiatives aim to highlight Stockton's attractions, put them on the map, and engage both locals and visitors. The flexibility of the Explore platform allows Amy's team to continuously innovate and create engaging experiences without significant external support. "The success of the Stockton Flavor Fest Challenge has inspired us to create more digital passports," Amy said.
Launch Your Digital Passport With Explore
Visit Stockton's partnership with Explore has significantly enhanced their destination marketing efforts. The platform's ease of use, robust features, and excellent support have empowered them to create an engaging digital passport that drives visitor engagement and community involvement. "The flexibility of Explore has been a game-changer for us," Amy concluded. "It’s perfect for scrappy DMOs like ours that need a powerful tool to enhance visitor engagement and drive tourism."
Inspired by Visit Stockton's success? Discover how Explore can transform your destination marketing efforts. Book a demo today and start creating memorable experiences for your visitors.
