1. CASE STUDY 18: THE FIVE
SEASONS OF SALEM
A City Hunts for Something More than Witches
Haley McGee
PR192, SpringSemester, 2015, Dr. Martinelli

2. McGee 1
Salem is a town well known for its festivities on Halloween, which is an
extremely important financial time for the town. However, in recent years, Salem has
attempted to branch out from the Halloween festivities of just October and sought to
bring tourism all year round. To achieve this, the city has used many different tactics to
attract a broader scope of visitors through different events and media techniques to draw
attention to the less known aspects of Salem. To further develop this new image of the
town, media relations could be used to enforce a positive notion of these events and
inform a larger population of the exciting things that could be seen in Salem. With this
positive initiative feeding Salem’s tourism, other tactics such as “progress oriented
events,”1 testimonials and photography competitions, television and radio could be used
to raise awareness and attract tourists to the city.
Most of Salem’s tourism occurs during the month of October, with many of its
inhabitants claiming the month to be their fifth season. In recent years, however, the town
has made an effort to try to move from being a single month of events to a year round
tourist attraction. To do this it hired a marketing firm to “create a brand that would work
for all of Salem’s industries.”2 The firm came back with two creations for the town that
were released in 2011, a tagline of “Salem--Still Making History,” and a campaign logo,
which could be interpreted as either a witch’s hat or a sailboat depending on the
perspective of the viewer. This visual illusion showcased both aspects of Salem’s history,
the witch trials and its historic seaport.
The seaport of Salem is a lesser-known attraction of the town but an important
tourist draw. Being one of the oldest seaports in the United States and a nationally funded
1 (Smith, 2013)
2 (Swann, 2014)

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historic site has allowed the seaport to be maintained, with several wharves and buildings
preserved to show the history of New England and the United States. Although this site is
not as well-known as the festivities in October, the National Park Service noted that its
“visitor center had nearly 378,000 visitors in 2010.”3 With Salem using media relations
and other public relations tactics, the town was able to boost the number of visitors it
experienced year round.
The public relations tool, media relations, is an effective method of reaching out
to consumers and giving the client’s company a positive reputation. The concept of media
relations is “centered around the symbiotic relationship between a PR practitioner and the
media most often being described as a journalist, but also, reporter, editor, producer and
writer.”4 The relationship is best explained when the media is described as gatekeepers in
the information supply chain. It is the public relations practitioners’ duty to maintain a
healthy relationship, so they can get as much positive exposure as possible for their
clients. This tool is considered to be essential in a PR toolkit as “media relations efforts
are the ―tip of the public relations iceberg the most visible part.”5 This is an important
tool that Salem did not ignore in its attempt to increase its tourist trade.
During the city’s process to expand tourism, Salem developed a public relations
strategy spanning many different tactics, among which was its media relations strategy.
The town hosted several educational trips for travel writers and also held interviews with
key partners so they could help develop an online media library. A calendar of pitch ideas
and press releases was also created to generate exposure for visitors, planners and the
3 (Swann, 2014)
4 (Tench & Yeomans, 2006)
5 (Finn, 2003)(Kaul, 2013)

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media; these ideas helped increase awareness of events and allowed Salem to target more
niche-based visitors, as well as promoting new itineraries to the media. To help maintain
exposure and keep all parties updated, Salem launched a website, which recorded that
87% of its visitors got their information about upcoming events. The site reflected the
new branding it had developed and was updated with seasonal promotions and special
events as well as a blog to keep potential tourists up to date with changes and other
notifications. Each of these tactics seem small on its own but when combined they can
have a powerful effect, as can be seen when Audi attempted an image change in China.
For several years Audi had been seen primarily as a government vehicle. With
the marketplace changing, Audi decided that it needed to reach a much broader
demographic to maintain sales. In order to achieve this goal, Audi began a targeted media
relations campaign. Employees and key reporters were invited to an Orchestra concert,
tour of the facility and a test drive of the Audi cars, allowing staff and reporters to mingle
in a friendly environment to create a positive atmosphere about the company and its
vehicles. Audi also conducted an interactive workshop that was reported as a huge
success “The workshops attracted 214 media nationwide and received their highly
positive feedback. “6 By incorporating the media through these events, Audi’s image
change was highly successful.
Salem’s campaign, Destination Salem, was made effective by media relations and
other public relations tools that it used. However, there are more tools that it could have
used to further enhance its revitalization. With such a rich history, Salem could have
created a progress-oriented event, showing the town’s history and how much had
6 (Finn, 2003)

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changed through the years. This event would not only cater to specific niche markets, but
also allow for a much broader audience and for a city-wide event with the potential for a
yearly occurrence. Testimonials of previous visitors placed on Salem’s website would be
a helpful tactic as well, as it would help show people what a terrific experience the town
offered. This tactic could be further developed into photography competitions, enticing
people to take the best or most creative pictures, while visiting Salem, to later be used as
advertisement with attached rewards; if the rewards were hotel stays, it would also bring
repeat traffic back into Salem. An advertising campaign focused around television and
radio would also help draw in a wide market, promoting the highlights of the town and
the terrific experience that can be had in Salem. This marketing tactic has proved to be
effective with other towns in the United States and could further stamp the new image of
Salem in the minds of its audience.
Salem’s new image creation to further increase its tourism market was made
successful through the use of media relations and other public relations tools. Including
the media in the renewal of the town’s identity allowed for positive information to be
disseminated across many forms of media and aided in Salem’s goal of becoming known
for more than just the Halloween hotspot of America. There are more tactics that could be
integrated in the future to help boost awareness of all that Salem has to offer. Overall,
with the tactics previously used and new ones that could be incorporated, Salem has the
opportunity for an even more successful campaign.

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Works Cited
Finn, R. (2003, September 2). Bejing Audi Driving Experience Program: A thrilling
driving experience.
Kaul, V. (2013). PR and the Media: Friends or Foes? Global Media Journal: Pakistan
Edition. , 58-82.
Smith, R. D. (2013). Strategic Planning for Public Relations. Oxford: Routledge.
Swann, P. (2014). The Five Seasons of Salem. In P. Swann, Cases in Public Relations
Management: The Rise of Social Media and Activism (pp. 280-293). Abingdon:
Taylor & Francis.
Tench, R., & Yeomans, L. (2006). Exploring Public Relations. Harlow: Pearson
Education Limited.