CTTC opened its South Korea office in November, making 2008–2009 a year of many firsts. CTTC capitalized on the Visa Waiver Program to refresh California’s image and establish California as a top-of-mind destination.

LAUNCHING CALIFORNIA
CTTC and 14 California delegates successfully celebrated the opening of CTTC’s Korea office in November. With a high-profile launch event coinciding with the official Visa Waiver announcement, CTTC’s new office and surrounding promotions received significant attention from the industry and media.

To maximize its impact, CTTC held a VIP travel trade reception at U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens’ residence. Stephens, who is a media celebrity in Korea, drew enormous attention and added an extra level of depth to the event. Over 130 VIP guests attended the reception, while 70 media participated in a special roundtable. The events were featured in 29 publications (circ. 11.9 million), resulting in total unpaid advertising value of $309,000.

Coinciding with the office opening, CTTC also launched three key deliverables:

• Korean-language Web site: visitcalifornia.co.kr
• California—7 Reasons to Visit 100-page consumer publication
• Official Korean International Visitor’s Guide

KOREA WEB RESULTS
CTTC launched visitcalifornia.co.kr with 120 pages of dynamic and customized content. As many Korean travelers use the Internet for vacation research and planning, CTTC designed the site to provide both inspiration and deep content (with relevant links) to motivate Koreans to choose and plan a California vacation. All in-market promotions incorporated the URL as a call to action—since its launch, visitcalifornia.co.kr has received nearly 20,000 unique users and 100,000 page views. CTTC also distributed a monthly e-newsletter to nearly 2,000 travel trade, media and consumers.

OBTAINING CALIFORNIA COVERAGE
CTTC’s aggressive public relations activities raised awareness for California as a world-class leisure travel destination. CTTC successfully pitched and led a fam trip with Luxury magazine, Korea’s leading high-end membership magazine (circ. 70,000). The California feature, spread across two issues, included 15 pages—worth a total of $105,000. Additionally, placement in the Asiana Airlines in-flight magazine achieved 500,000 in circulation and secured a total of $246,000 in unpaid advertising value. A regular press release based on the seven in-market themes generated 18 million in circulation and an ad equivalency value of $400,000 in just three months.

KOREA SALES MISSION
CTTC brought 16 delegates to Seoul for a series of travel trade and media events. In total, 210 travel trade representatives and 52 media learned about California products and met California’s new celebrity ambassador, popular actor Jung Gyu Woon. A special microsite built around Jung, "Hotel California" (mycalifornia.co.kr), made a splash, reaching the top of search engine charts after the press event. In just a few months, this program reached a circulation of nearly 43 million—a PR value of $336,000. The events communicated clearly that Korea is important to California.