• Brandweek, Friday, March 30, 2007 11 AM

The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau is launching a campaign today that targets gay men in the United Kingdom. Through satellite radio network GaydarRadio, more than 2 million unique listeners every month will hear Ben--a 30ish gay character from London--report every Friday about his travels in four-minute snippets. Ben initially intended to stay in Philly for three weeks, but because he's finding so much to do in the "birthplace of America," he's staying for 10 weeks.

Ben's travelogue also will urge listeners to log onto PhiladelphiaUSA.travel/ben to read journal postings and watch online video reports of him partaking in the city's dining, activities and history. The $50,000 budget also includes on-air ads promoting Philadelphia travel packages, Web mentions of "Ben approved" travel packages, and print ads in Gay Times monthly magazine.

More destinations--Chicago, Dallas, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Washington, D.C.--are billing themselves as gay friendly to tap a market that spends about $55 billion annually, according to Community Marketing Inc.

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