Midwest Insider

The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CCTB) broke news this past week with its new marketing campaign and tagline - Chicago: Second to None. Playing off one of Chicago's many nicknames ("the Second City"), the rollout comes as part of a $6-million outreach initiative that will include new, diversified strategies in how Chicago markets itself: an appeal to international visitors, to auto-based visitors and to sports enthusiasts. Also part of the rollout, the bureau will reopen sales offices in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France and Germany.

As the Second to None tagline suggests, the CCTB has deployed its new voice in cheeky ads declaring Chicago's supremacy on numerous fronts. One ad boasts, "The city that's ranked number one in number one rankings." Another: "If our restaurants get any more stars, they'll qualify as a solar system." 

The new effort comes on the heels of a federal judge's permanent injunction against many of McCormick Place's cost-saving changes to its labor rules. The injunction could push state legislators back to the drawing board on the labor issue. In the meantime, visitors are still heeding the CCTB's former tagline: "Make no little plans," a quote from the late Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. Last year, overnight business and leisure travel to Chicago rose nearly 8 percent over 2009.

Read more about Chicago and its 16 area destination guides in the Cvent Destination Guide.