Hartford Business Journal

4 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 28, 2025 Politics & Policy Anthony Anthony, the state's chief marketing officer, says the goal of a new tourism initiative coming this fall is to leverage 'word-of-mouth' marketing. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever famous restaurants — anything fun that any tourist attraction, restaurant or venue wants to showcase. Whatever those experiences turn out to be, the object is to promote them on social media. "We're trying to leverage word-of- mouth marketing as the strongest form of marketing," Anthony said. "So people, when they go out and do something that they absolutely love and enjoy doing, snap a picture of it — show, rather than tell — and let people know what you did and why you loved it so much." He then hopes those photos or videos can leverage the significant traffic that already exists on the state's tourism website, ctvisit.com. "Over the last three years, we've earned anywhere from 5 million to 10 million unique visits on that site," he said. "So, that's comparable to travel websites like Condé Nast or others. We're certainly getting eyeballs." Anthony believes there is also "a value proposition" for state busi- ness brands that might want to use the site for sponsorships and advertising. He said the state has also developed a partnership with a merchandiser who, for a fee that hasn't yet been determined, will produce state-branded merchandise as needed. The program, which Anthony said will officially be unveiled in September or October, will be called CT Perks and Recreation. By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com S cott Dolch, president and CEO of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, recently attended a conference in Alaska. The event was a gathering of the Council of State Restaurant Associations, which has 52 member organiza- tions from all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. On their own, Dolch and his wife took "a helicopter ride to a glacier," where they went sledding with dogs that compete in the annual Iditarod race. He posted about the excursion on social media, and was surprised at the response. "The amount of likes and comments were great, but I just encouraged four people that are at this conference to sign up to go," Dolch said. "I didn't get paid to do that. I just loved my experi- ence so much, and I wanted to show it off because it was a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list thing." That's a small example of social media's influence, but it offers a peek into why the state wants to harness that power in a new way to promote tourism here. State officials plan to unveil a new tourism initiative this fall, following a recently passed law (House Bill 7166) aimed at boosting Connecti- cut's important hospitality and visitor economy. Under the law, the state Department of Economic and Community Devel- opment can create a program to sell Connecticut-branded merchandise and offer digital advertising opportu- nities to local businesses. Revenue from the program will support the state's tourism fund. The task of overseeing the program's development falls to Anthony Anthony, the state's chief marketing officer. He says that while any money raised for the tourism fund would be welcome, that's not really the goal. "My objective, my goal, my hope for this really is for it just to be self-sus- taining," Anthony said. "I don't think it's really going to bring in much revenue, but I do think that the return on investment is well worth it." Some in the tourism and hospitality industry, however, say that while the state has gotten creative with its marketing, what it really needs is more money invested in that effort. 'See, do and eat' Anthony said DECD is developing an e-commerce site where people can buy merchandise to receive reward points, which can only be exchanged for special experiences. "We see it as a rewards program, where people can accrue points and utilize those points to cash in, either buying unique, one-time merchandise or experiences," he said. "So, obvi- ously, we're in the tourism business, so it's all about experiences. See, do and eat." The intent, Anthony said, is to create "one-of-a-kind experiences that money, literally and figuratively, cannot buy." That could be almost anything, he said, from a basketball lesson from a University of Connecticut athlete to making New Haven-style pizza with the owner of one of the Elm City's Scott Dolch Amid decline in gov't funding, new state marketing program will promote 'experiences,' leverage social media to support tourism industry

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