En Route is a Philadelphia-based marketing agency that specializes in tourism, cultural, and civic projects.
Driven by a passion for storytelling, economic impact, and analytics, we provide a range of marketing communications services to advance our clients’ goals and positively impact communities.
We work with businesses and institutions in the Philadelphia region and across the country, providing long- and short-term campaigns and solutions designed to motivate residents and visitors to achieve the desired goals.
the company we keep
Captains of the Launch
En Route launched the Hilton Penn’s Landing’s new in-house dining concept – Keating’s Rope & Anchor, Bar + Kitchen, in the summer of 2016. From website and collateral content creation, to photoshoot management, to launch event execution and a targeted media/influencer campaign – we planned, implemented and managed every aspect of the launch. Focusing on positioning the restaurant as an integral part of the waterfront community, En Route tapped into local food bloggers and Instagram influencers to host a series of events (that reached more than 290,000 followers) aimed at engaging regional food lovers and frequent diners. Traditional media efforts, including site visits by print, broadcast and digital media outlets, supported the influencer campaign along with personalized media deliveries to 30 regional outlets. The campaign resulted in more than 30 earned media placements, reaching more than 70 million impressions, over 17,000 social media engagements and an opening event that drew 165 local influencers, media, key industry partners and hospitality representatives.
Content Development, Event Management, Public Relations, Influencer Engagement
Balt-AMORE is for everyone
Since Visit Baltimore launched its LGBT tourism marketing program in 2008, the tourism promotion agency has relied on En Route to lead and manage the multi-faceted campaign. After years of print and digital media ad placements, En Route proposed a new comprehensive campaign to increase trackable results in 2013. En Route’s tailored solution leveraged sponsorships of LGBT film festivals along the East Coast. The sponsorships built brand awareness of Baltimore, promoted an All Access Baltimore contest and built a qualified consumer marketing database through email collection. The film festival promotion included a 30-second trailer shown before festival features, promotional displays in theaters, pay-per-click digital advertising, public relations and on-site themed events resulting in more than 16,000 unique visits to the All Access micro-site and more than seven million paid media impressions. En Route also leads the Visit Baltimore LGBT Tourism Advisory Committee, produces targeted LGBT content for the destination website – baltimore.org, and manages production of the official Visit Baltimore LGBT Visitors Guide.
Niche Marketing Strategy, Product Development, Partnership Development, Collateral Production, Content Creation, Project Management
Making spectacles shareable
Franklin Square is one of Philadelphia’s original five squares and serves as a seasonal hub for family-friendly activities. Historic Philadelphia, Inc. received funding to develop a winter light show as a cornerstone of new holiday programming to enhance the use of the Square through November and December. As HPI’s marketing agency, En Route was tasked with introducing the holiday programming to new audiences and activating Franklin Square for a new season. With our strategic plans for partnership procurement and management, collateral and content creation, social media management, paid advertising campaigns and digital marketing, the Franklin Square Holiday Festival and accompanying Electrical Spectacle Holiday Light Show attracts visitors of all ages to Franklin Square every winter. Over the past three years, En Route promoted special theme nights (such as Ice Sculpting in the Square and Nutcracker Night) to enhance the evening programming during the holidays. The Electrical Spectacle show now attracts more than 200,000 attendees over an eight-week period and lead to a 16% increase in social media followers for Historic Philadelphia.
Product Development, Collateral & Content Creation, Media Buying, Social Media, On-site Event Production, Budget Management, Partnership Development
Crafting Philadelphia’s Makers Story
CraftNOW, a creative collective of Philadelphia’s leading cultural institutions and artists dedicated to preserving and celebrating the city’s rich legacy of craft, launched the inaugural CraftNOW Philadelphia Event & Exhibition Series in 2015. Joining the project on the ground floor, En Route was engaged to build a brand narrative, design and implement an integrated marketing plan, launch social media channels for the new movement and promote the week-long event series through public relations. En Route produced and distributed all print collateral, served as the social media community manager for CraftNOW accounts, and executed a national media relations campaign to spotlight Philadelphia’s craft community and encourage the public to engage with the art of craft. Since the launch of CraftNOW Philadelphia in 2015, En Route has secured more than 60 earned media placements, established a reach of more than 100 million digital and print impressions, and organically grew the social media presence from zero to more than 1,500 engaged followers.
Branding & Collateral Production, Media Buying, Social Media Strategy & Management, Public Relations, Project Management, Influencer Engagement
Conjuring up worldwide headlines
As the agency of record for the Chestnut Hill Business District, En Route attracts new audiences leveraging the neighborhoods’ diverse events, most notably, the Harry Potter Festival. In 2016, this organic fan festival garnered global attention and shattered attendance records after En Route’s communications strategy generated international exposure. Understanding the power of viral marketing, we worked with a local destination marketing organization (with a highly followed blog and social media platforms) to break the news about the expanding festival. The initial announcement was followed by a regional broadcast media blitz (securing festival previews, human interest stories and executive interviews), a social media campaign (inserting the destination and event into conversations surrounding the series), and national media outreach (ensuring accurate coverage and brand driven messaging). Results from this purely organic campaign included driving more than 40,000 visitors to the destination (an estimated 14,000 visitors attended the previous year), coverage in 100+ outlets across the globe (including Teen Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Newsweek, TIME Digital and BBC News) and more than two million social media engagements.
Social Media Management, Public Relations, Influencer Engagement, Content Development, Brand Management, On-site Event Support
Shoring up critical connections
When the first Tall Ships festival in seven years sailed into Philadelphia and Camden, the event partners and producer signaled En Route to be their liaison with city representatives and tourism agencies to maximize visitation, overnight stays and economic impact. While the Festival planners brought the know-how to recruit ships from around the globe and manage the operations of the nautical event, En Route helped waterfront attractions develop strategies to book group tours and concept VIP hotel packages for visitors who wanted a closer look. En Route managed outreach to hotels and visitors centers, concierge and front line staff, and businesses and attractions that could enhance the Festival and create new opportunities throughout the city.
Product Development, Industry Relations, Partnership Development
Conducting Cultural Diplomacy
Certainly, one of the most unique and rewarding projects – and a frequent flier miles generator – took root when The Philadelphia Orchestra recruited En Route to Asia in 2012 to help launch a five-year China Residency Program. Since that first tour to Shangahi, Beijing, Tianjin and Macao, En Route has managed sponsorship activation, marketing materials, diplomatic events and so much more through China, Japan and Western Europe. En Route currently serves as project manager for the Orchestra’s annual overseas tours and manages globally-focused efforts at home, including the 2014 visit by the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra and the 2016 China-U.S. Year of Tourism Closing Ceremony.
Project Management, Industry + Civic Relations, Event Production, Collateral Production
capturing lightning in your content
Tianyu Arts & Culture Inc.’s Chinese Lantern Festival made its Northeast U.S. debut in 2016 at Franklin Square. An illuminating celebration of Chinese art and culture, the festival provided a unique opportunity to attract new visitors to Franklin Square and the City of Philadelphia. En Route was charged with developing the marketing plan to announce the festival, generate awareness, drive ticket sales for the seven-week event and spur repeat visitation to the Square. The comprehensive campaign leveraged paid media, social media, promotional partnerships, on-site activations, Search Engine Marketing and influencer engagement to successfully launch the inaugural festival. The 2016 event drew 92,000 visitors from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries and will return for a 2017 season. Leveraging organic user generated content, strategic social media engagement lead to a 20% increase in social followers for Franklin Square accounts with more than 800 images shared using the designated hashtag on Instagram.
Media Buying, Social Media Management, Search Engine Marketing, Digital Marketing, Collateral + Content Creation, On-site Event Management, Influencer Engagement, Project Management
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