Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
Learn how the premier conference and tourism organization in Atlanta was positioned to power through an unprecedented change to their industry
“It’s about communication and transparency. It’s important to know everything that's going on—when it's happening, who's involved, who's on first, who's on second for that matter. BasicOps helps us run our projects much more efficiently, especially when the team is operating remotely.”
-Sheretha Bell, VP of Brand, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
Meet Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau:
Industry: Tourism & Hospitality
Location: Atlanta, GA
Team Size: 100
Founded: 1913
For more than a century, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) has served the Atlanta area as the primary organization that drives economic growth through conventions and tourism. In 2020, as travel came to a staggering halt, conferences were virtually reworked and the hospitality industry took a plunge due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ACVB had to quickly rethink the year ahead and pivot from hosting more than 50 million in-person visitors to the city to an entirely digital model for the near future.
Unlike other organizations who also found themselves needing to instantly pivot from in-office to at-home work models, ACVB’s marketing group had been using BasicOps for several years to manage projects and collaborate as a team. ACVB’s Chief Marketing Officer, Andrew Wilson explained that BasicOps met two, clear business needs for them, “One was to communicate internally within our organization and externally with multiple agencies specifically on project delivery. Everyone uses email as the common denominator, but on technical projects that had many tasks and deliverables, agencies would have their own preferred tool and we were suffering through the use of too many platforms. The second need was the institutional knowledge that was being developed over the course of each project that was captured and archived by the agency. That body of knowledge from previous work is key to refer back to in the interest of better work in the future and we needed to own those elements. BasicOps was an opportunity for a system that would serve our internal needs but also standardize our communication with various agencies.”
BasicOps is an integral part of how the marketing team at ACVB functions. As they navigated uncharted territory, they were well positioned to power through the disruption.
A Quick Pivot
ACVB, like all hospitality-driven organizations, had to quickly rethink their year ahead at the start of 2020. As the entire team began to work from home and conferences and tourism were turned on its head, ACVB had to take an audit of every single marketing asset at their disposal to determine how to optimize what was available and fill newly identified gaps.
VP of Brand, Sheretha Bell explained, “We ran a marketing asset audit in BasicOps which could have been complex and difficult, but it became very simple. It was: ‘Here's the project, here’s the due date, here is what needs to get done, now let’s take a look, review and approve. Do we need to do anything else with this piece? Check, check, check.’”
Traditionally, the ACVB sales team focuses on long-lead business, and by extension, the marketing team creates content that speaks to what Atlanta will be like well into the future. That has shifted to content development for immediate needs that reflect what coming to Atlanta will look like today, including new policies that speak to pandemic-induced cancellations and new safety measures. Materials are entirely digital and due dates are constantly shifting which means timelines are also shifting.
During this period, ACVB has come to heavily rely on the BasicOps board view which makes adjusting timelines as easy as a drag and drop. As a remote team, they are able to see who has made updates to their piece of the work without a flood of follow-ups, emails and calls. They can communicate without having to, which makes their dedicated time to connect during meetings, far more effective.
What are the considerable differences for ACVB since adopting BasicOps?
ACVB has used the Enterprise version of BasicOps for several years, longer than any other Enterprise user group. During that time, they have touched each and every feature which has led to the following improvements:
Reviews. As a Team Leader, Sheretha uses BasicOps for snapshots of the team and quick approvals of the work being produced in her department. “I am able to jump into the system, review discussions and deliverables, and easily see where things stand. I use the dashboard to make sure that projects are moving forward at-a-glance and to also give input and quick approval at any given time, no matter where I am. And that is extremely helpful for our entire team and our agencies.”
Work Assignments. With a small and agile team, project leads are able to assign and reassign directly within the system. The deliverables and tasks might not change, but if a single person is overloaded, they can rework who owns various pieces of a project. This keeps momentum up by ensuring that each team member is working at a balanced capacity.
Optimize Communication. BasicOps has focused the team's internal and external communication. It drastically reduces unproductive back and forth by offering constant visibility into updates and milestones. According to Graphic Designer Melissa McApline, “I check every morning to see if I have mentions and respond directly within the discussions on tasks. Minimizing communication lets me focus on producing my work especially during times when I’m receiving a high volume of design requests.”
What ACVB workstreams are being managed in BasicOps?
There are four key categories of work that the marketing department manages in BasicOps:
Design. The marketing team began using BasicOps primarily for design projects. The team recently produced a multi-platform campaign, ATL Unguided (more information below) with a print brochure, social media amplification and a portal on the website. The design piece of the project was always intended to be managed in BasicOps, but eventually the entire launch of the campaign was run through the platform.
Website. The website discoveratlanta.com was recently redesigned and relaunched. Now that the site is live, they work with their agency and vendors to manage content updates with BasicOps, including new imagery, copy refreshes, article and blog content, maintenance and support.
Social Media. BasicOps ensures that social content is aligned with larger marketing campaigns. The team can work with their social media agency to plan for media campaigns, review content plans and what’s coming on social, see how long it will run, where there are opportunities to amplify partnerships, and determine the content to publish. They most often use links to Google Drive docs which integrates seamlessly with BasicOps.
Collateral Management. Collateral is organized and managed in BasicOps which ensures version control, coordinated access and minimal time spent on finding what is needed.
Result: ATL Unguided
As the marketing team began to assess how to best meet their goal of the economic development of Atlanta through conferences and tourism, they shifted their strategic thinking on the types of campaigns and collateral that would add the most value. ATL Unguided is a multi-platform configuration of content that illustrates Atlanta’s rich Black heritage and the collection of Black institutions, landmarks and businesses in the area. The guide serves as a planning tool for trips to Atlanta, a cultural destination, as people begin to plan post-pandemic domestic travel. With a three month turn around from November to February, the team had to navigate an evolving scope, shifting deadlines and a substantial task list to take this campaign across the finish line. “There was continuous pivoting throughout this project and there is no doubt that in addition to having an amazing team, BasicOps was the system we needed to stay on track and on the same page to get it done. We met our deadline because of how we worked in BasicOps,” said Sheretha. The team tracked each step with BasicOps, from every draft of content design to website updates and various versions of messaging and copy.
“A majority of our marketing team and agencies are collaborating in BasicOps every day, all day. Most other departments currently use it to work with us. But as more departments get in and get used to the platform, they start to see that it’s not a marketing tool, it’s just a user-friendly project and task management tool. That’s it, plain and simple.”
-Sheretha Bell, VP of Brand, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau