Visit California has retained the services of marketing agency Black Diamond, awarding a new five-year contract to promote the Golden State in the UK & Ireland.

Following a competitive RFP process, Black Diamond, who has held the account since 2007, was successful in again securing the Visit California business.

The agency will continue its work across consumer marketing, public relations, travel trade, and digital disciplines to promote the California travel experience and lifestyle to trade, media, and consumer audiences.

“We were impressed with the quality of Black Diamond’s pitch, which demonstrated the teams’ depth of knowledge and understanding of Visit California’s vision for the future”, said Leona Reed, senior director of international marketing at Visit California.

“We are extremely confident in their abilities to market California in innovative and competitive ways and look forward to continuing our work with Black Diamond in the UK and Irish markets”.

The travel trade is integral to Black Diamond’s remit to promote California as a premier travel destination and drive visitation to the state.

Key activities will include an increased marketing co-operative remit, further development of the hugely successful SuperFAM in conjunction with British Airways, plus numerous strategic partnerships and incentive programmes designed to drive sales through the trade.

Guy Chambers, managing director of Black Diamond, added: “Over the past eight years we have worked with Visit California to create impressive
momentum for the California brand, and we are absolutely delighted to have retained this account.

“It’s one of the most sought after in the UK and Ireland, and the team has worked tirelessly to maintain California’s in-market presence and showcase the state to media, trade, and consumers in ever increasingly creative ways.”

The UK & Ireland is one of California’s leading tourism markets, with over 779,400 visitors to the state in 2014 and a 6.2 per cent year over year increase in visitor spending.

With expanded marketing activity and a 20 per cent increase in air capacity to California from the UK and Ireland in 2015, projections for UK visitation forecast a 5.1 per cent increase.