Staycations

In times of economic uncertainty the majority can't really afford to take vacations. This in turn is leading to a number of marketers/advertisers/PR pros, etc., pushing the fantastic idea of the 'Staycation'. A term I was first introduced to in the the late summer, you know, back in the days before things started really getting bad, staycation was kind of being used as a way to see, do, and explore all of the things in your city, or nearby city, without having to go a great distance, spend the money on airfare, etc. And from my experience it's still being used this way, but it's been expanded upon.

Maybe the staycation concept was around before this past summer when I first learned about it, but if not, why wasn't it. In reality it's a brilliant idea. I feel like the majority of people that live in or close to a city probably don't regularly explore all of the sights, venues, entertainment that they city has to offer. Now I have to ask myself, if I were in the shoes of a city tourism bureau, why wouldn't I be using this concept and messaging to target my local inhabitants all of the time? And perhaps they have been using this and I'm just unaware, and I also know that city tourism bureaus are probably more focused on just that, tourists, but it would seem like a great idea to target all of the locals just hanging out in the palm of their hand so to speak.

As an example, take my favorite place in the whole wide world, not counting Blacksburg, Va/Virginia Tech, it is Washington, D.C. Now having grown up not too far outside of D.C. we made the trips into the city to visit the museums, see shows at the Kennedy Center and the National Theatre quite often, but my parents believed in culturing us. I can't say I had too many friends at the time who's parents regularly took them into the nation's capital to let them experience all it has to offer. D.C. has so much to offer, and what's even better is so much of it is free.

Having many friends that have grown up and/or live in Northern Virginia, I can say that a lot of them don't Metro in to check out the newest exhibits/renovations at the various Smithsonian museums on a regular basis. And we're talking FREE museums here. Of course the thought running through my mind is man, why wouldn't you take advantage of the close proximity, I'd be there like every weekend, but maybe that's just because I miss D.C. that much. Maybe the real problem for these locals is that it's just not top of mind having grown up with it all right there.

So, then my question is: Are these institutions/tourism bureaus putting into effect the staycation message, is it new, or have they been using it in good times too, and should they? Especially with the current economic climate, the doom and gloom recession, and the growing unemployment rate news that seems to be showing up on a daily basis, I'd think a little staycation, 'all of this stuff can be done in your city and you're on it's front porch' messaging would be pretty timely.

My post on staycations here was spurred by by an article I read last week on the BrandWeek website. It seems Sabra Hummus is breaking a new campaign inviting consumers to "enjoy the taste of the Mediterranean without leaving home". I would say that Sabra is tapping into the staycation concept, which is something that I'm seeing for the first time with a product, but that doesn't mean others haven't done it before. Will their first national campaign sell more hummus, and can this be attributed to the use of the staycation concept, well your guess is as good as mine, but I'm all for timely messaging.

Sabra hummus is pretty good too, I recommend giving it a try if you're a hummus eater!