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Travel Portland
Location
Budget$30 million[1] (2024)
Staff72[1] (2024)
Websitetravelportland.com

Travel Portland, formerly the Portland Oregon Visitors Association, is a destination marketing organization in Portland, Oregon, United States.[2]

History

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Travel Portland has office space in First & Main (exterior pictured in 2015) in downtown Portland

The organization has had an office at Pioneer Courthouse Square.[3] In 2024, Travel Portland's office was on the eleventh floor of the First & Main building in downtown Portland.[1]

Joe D'Alessandro was the organization's president and chief executive officer (CEO) from 1996 to 2006.[4][5] Jeff Miller was later the CEO until late 2024.[1]

Oregon Business said in 2024: "Travel Portland's budget is made up of 1% of Portland's tourism tax revenue as well as a 3% hotel tax and a $4 million contract with the convention center. Funded as it is by tourism dollars, the organization's fortunes rise and fall with the crowds. Prior to the pandemic, Travel Portland employed 76 people with a budget of $30 million. COVID cut those figures to 38 employees and a $8.5 million budget. The budget's now back at $30 million with 72 staff members."[1]

Artist Mike Bennett has attended a creative conference in New York City on behalf of Travel Portland.[6]

Campaigns and projects

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In 2014, Travel Portland launched a winter tourism campaign with 7,000-pound, 24-foot-tall cuckoo clock carved from an Oregon maple tree.[7] Dubbed the nation's tallest freestanding cuckoo clock, the clock was disassembled in late 2016.[8] Travel Portland launched a campaign featuring the Bondi Hipsters in 2017.[9] The organization had a stop motion campaign during 2017–2018,[10] in collaboration with the studio House Special and Wieden+Kennedy.[11]

In 2019, the organization as well as the city and the Portland Business Alliance offered deals and free parking to make up for revenue lost during protests.[12] In 2021, Travel Portland placed an advertisement in The New York Times and other major newspapers.[13][14][15] The "This Is Portland" campaign received a mixed reaction.[16][17] Industry collaborated on the campaign.[18]

In 2023, Travel Portland launched a campaign called "Ticket to Dine" to encourage dining in downtown Portland.[19] The organization also funded a mural visible from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in southeast Portland with the text "support working artists".[20]

Mr. Dude

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Mr. Dude is Travel Portland's mascot to market the city to Japanese tourists.[21][22] The "blue furry, Sasquatch-like creature"[23] was created in 2016 as part of a campaign called the "World of Odnarotoop". The bearded character was introduced in a video hosted on the website Odnarotoop.com. The campaign's name comes from the Japanese pronunciation of Portland, spelled backwards.[24][25]

The video's theme song is performed by the Portland-based rock band Ages and Ages in Japanese, with some English words and phrases such as "breakfast", "crazy donuts", and "ice cream". Mr. Dude is featured on the website, saying, "Are you the one who want to go to Odnarotoop? I am your guide/camera man. Nice to meet you. Let's take a picture to start the trip."[24] He also instructs users to upload their pictures, which are integrated into the music video.[24]

The mascot was inspired by "the joy and lightheartedness that the city embodies" and Sasquatch (or Bigfoot).[25] Some Reddit users speculated that Mr. Dude was derived from a Portland man who is often seen wearing blue makeup, though a Travel Portland representative has denied that the mascot was based on any particular individual. He clarified, "[Mr. Dude] is a characterization of the city, but any resemblance to a real person is purely coincidence. The character is not based on 'a man who walks around Portland in blue makeup' and that person is not associated with Travel Portland."[24]

A live version of Mr. Dude has appeared before the Japanese Association of Travel Agents and at a tourism conference in Tokyo.[24][25] Matthew Korfhage of Willamette Week has described Mr. Dude as "huggable".[26]

In September 2016, Travel Portland credited Mr. Dude and the "World of Odnarotoop" campaign with helping to increase Japanese visitation to Portland by as much as eleven percent in the preceding eighteen months.[25] Lizzy Acker ranked Mr. Dude seventh in The Oregonian's 2017 list of Oregon's mascots and wrote, "Mr. Dude is a twee Travel Portland creation meant to represent Portland to the Japanese market. He's tall and hairy and blue and maybe into donuts? The best thing about him, probably, is his music video. The worst thing about him is that you can't see him unless you live in Japan."[27] Animation Magazine called the campaign "bizarre" in 2018.[28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Andrews, Garrett (2024-07-12). "Q&A: Outgoing Travel Portland CEO Jeff Miller". Oregon Business. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  2. ^ Richard, Terry (2008-01-17). "The new name: Travel Portland". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  3. ^ "Pioneer Courthouse Square". www.oregonencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  4. ^ Read, Richard (2013-12-12). "George Azumano, founder of Azumano Travel, dies at 95 after a life working to improve U.S.-Japan relations". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  5. ^ Barreira, Alex (December 6, 2022). "SF Travel CEO Joe D'Alessandro to retire at the end of 2023". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  6. ^ "This Portland Artist Is Blowing Up Online For Bringing Popular Memes and Cartoon Characters Into the Three-Dimensional World". Willamette Week. 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  7. ^ Lloyd, Michael (2014-12-19). "Giant cuckoo clock at PDX welcomes travelers, in a very Portland way (photos and video)". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  8. ^ Hewitt, Lyndsey (2016-12-08). "Travel Portland's gigantic cuckoo clock disassembled". PortlandTribune.com. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  9. ^ "Bondi Hipsters front Portland campaign". Travel Weekly. 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  10. ^ "W+K Portland Wants You to Know That 'You Can, in Portland'". Adweek. 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  11. ^ "Portland artists celebrate hometown in nifty stop-motion spot". kgw.com. 2018-11-15. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  12. ^ Acker, Lizzy (2019-08-21). "'Shop. Eat. Play.' campaign aims to help downtown Portland businesses hurt during last weekend's protests". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  13. ^ "'We have faith in future': Travel Portland buys full-page NYT ad". KOIN.com. 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  14. ^ Tabrizian, Ardeshir (2021-06-23). "Travel Portland's $100,000 ad buy tries to rehab Portland's reputation — to mixed reviews locally". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  15. ^ "Portland's tourism plea signals Northwestern drive to revive". The Seattle Times. 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  16. ^ "Ad Funded by Travel Portland in The New York Times Raises Eyebrows on Social Media". Willamette Week. 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  17. ^ "'This is Portland' ad campaign draws mixed reactions". opb. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  18. ^ Notte, Jason (2023-08-09). "Can a Creative Agency Reshape Portland?". Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  19. ^ "Travel Portland's "Ticket to Dine" Campaign Encourages People to Eat Downtown". Willamette Week. 2023-03-01. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  20. ^ Acker, Lizzy (2023-10-10). "New murals in Portland's inner core hope to inspire a little old-fashioned civic pride". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  21. ^ "Meet Portland's Mascot in Japan: Mr. Dude". Willamette Week. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  22. ^ "Meet Mr. Dude! Portland's mascot in Japan with an awesome song". KGW. 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  23. ^ "PDX Trending in Japan". 1859 Oregon's Magazine. 2016-12-06. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  24. ^ a b c d e Acker, Lizzy (September 27, 2016). "In Japan, Portland has a mascot named Mr. Dude and he has an awesome theme song". The Oregonian. Advance Publications. ISSN 8750-1317. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  25. ^ a b c d "Travel Portland uses Mr. Dude to increase tourism". KOIN. September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  26. ^ "The Dream of Portland Is Alive in Japan". Willamette Week. 2023-01-08. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  27. ^ Acker, Lizzy (2017-05-04). "Oregon mascots, ranked". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
  28. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (2018-03-13). "Watch: Travel Oregon Spot Conjures an Anime Fantasy in the PNW". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2025-02-02.
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