After six years of development and more than $30 million in investment, Vue Orleans opened in March 2022.
The experience was ambitious and well-executed. Visitation did not meet expectations.
We were brought in shortly after launch to rebuild the marketing system, aligning positioning, media strategy, and performance infrastructure with the realities of the market.
Vue Orleans had a strong product. It wasn't reaching enough of the right audience.
The initial marketing approach was built on pre-COVID assumptions about tourism demand. By 2022, those assumptions no longer held. Visitor patterns had shifted, competition for attention had intensified, and the channel mix wasn't aligned to how people were actually discovering and planning experiences.
The result:
- Lower-than-expected visitation
- Revenue below projections
- Marketing activity without clear performance feedback
This wasn't a creative problem. It was a market alignment problem.
We treated this as a reset.
First, we re-evaluated the existing research, conducted prior to COVID, against current tourism conditions. The gap was clear: strategy had not adapted to a changed environment.
The key shift was from assumption to observation.
Who was actually visiting New Orleans in 2022? How were they discovering experiences? What competing options were capturing their attention?
From there, we rebuilt the strategy around current behavior, not historical expectations.
We designed and implemented a complete marketing system aligned to real-world demand.
Between Projects led strategy, creative direction, and system design, reworking how Vue Orleans was positioned, discovered, and converted.
The system included:
- Marketing strategy — aligned to post-COVID tourism behavior
- Communications strategy — clarifying how the experience is understood and differentiated
- Channel strategy — coordinating paid, owned, and earned media
- Creative development — new campaign and asset system built for performance
- Website redesign — improving clarity, navigation, and conversion
- Analytics platform — enabling real-time performance tracking and optimization
The objective was not to increase activity, but to make marketing responsive, measurable, and aligned to demand.
1. Studies
We began with a full reassessment:
- Existing brand and campaign materials
- Pre-COVID research and assumptions
- Current tourism behavior and demand patterns
- Stakeholder input from ownership and management
The finding was clear: strategy was based on a market that no longer existed.
2. Blueprint
We rebuilt the marketing framework around present-day conditions.
- Updated audience definitions based on actual visitation patterns
- Repositioned messaging to emphasize differentiation within a crowded tourism landscape
- Defined channel roles across paid, owned, and earned media
- Established a performance model tied to visitation and revenue
The goal was alignment: strategy grounded in reality, not legacy assumptions.
3. Design / Build
We translated the strategy into a working system.
- Website redesign focused on clarity and conversion
- New creative campaign tailored to high-impact channels
- Earned media program to expand reach and credibility
- Photography and video assets aligned with the experience
Each component was built to function together: consistent in message, coordinated in deployment, and measurable in performance.
4. Optimization
With the system in place, performance became visible and adjustable.
- Visitation and revenue tracked against campaign activity
- Budget shifted dynamically across channels
- Messaging refined based on real response
The system allowed the team to move quickly, adjusting to demand as it evolved.
Market conditions change. Marketing systems need to adapt just as quickly.
Vue Orleans didn't need more promotion. It needed a strategy grounded in reality: a system that reflected how people were actually discovering and choosing experiences in a post-COVID environment.
Once the system aligned with the market, performance followed — quickly and at scale.