The Convention & Visitors Bureau officially launched a new website and its 2011 advertising campaign promoting Springfield as a travel destination March 22.

Produced by Kansas City-based MMG Worldwide, the new website at www.SpringfieldMo.org features colorful photography, video, user-friendly options, social networking capability, an enhanced events calendar, mapping and much more.

More people are planning their travel with the Internet and with rapidly changing technology, expectations of website users and competition with other cities at an all-time high, CVB staff determined it was time to bring in a team of experts to take the site to a new level. In the past, the bureau managed most of its website production in house. The last redesign of the site was in 2005.

The new site is just one way the CVB is enhancing Springfield’s Internet presence. A mobile application for smart phones was developed (available free at www.VisitSpringfield.mobi) last year, online advertising promoting Springfield as a travel destination has increased and the bureau is working with the Missouri Division of Tourism on a search engine optimization campaign to increase website visitation from Google. The bureau maintains Twitter and Facebook accounts, a blog and an online newsletter. Texas A&M is conducting a survey to determine what visitors like and don’t like about the former website and the new site.

Along with the website launch, the 2011 advertising campaign is going into full swing. The $1 million campaign includes online, TV, radio and print components. View the new TV ads and print ads below.

The advertising campaign is a cooperative effort including the CVB, Bass Pro Shops, Fantastic Caverns, Wonders of Wildlife, the Springfield Cardinals and the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation. The organizations pool resources to match money from the Missouri Division of Tourism’s Cooperative Marketing Program. Bass Pro produced the TV ads.

For more information, call the Convention & Visitors Bureau at 417-881-5300.

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Print Ads

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TV Ads

Click here for the radio ad.