MGY NJF Continues to Lead the Travel Sector
This PR, social and experiential marketing brand for MMGY Global, continues to prove its worth after being acquired in 2016. Earlier this year, MMGY NJF received the esteemed HSMA (Hospitality Sales and Marketing International) Adrian Award Best of Show in PR for its work on the National World War II Museum’s 75thanniversary of D-Day campaign.
MMGY Global acquired the agency in 2016 to become the world’s largest integrated travel marketing company. It rebranded this travel arm as MMGY NJF, the last three letters “NJF” as acknowledgment to travel and hospitality veteran Nancy J. Friedman, who founded NJF and stayed on with MMGY Global as a partner and senior vice president after the sale.
Expertise identified NJF as one of 27 “Best New York City PR Firms” in 2020.
HMSI earlier acknowledged Friedman’s work by awarding her their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. She’s also credited with conceiving the popular Hotel Week NYC in 2012, which annually tempts potential visitors with rates of $100 to $200 a night by spotlighting more than 20 participating hotels in NYC. This year’s promotion was postponed because of the pandemic.
NJF’s philosophy of “Leave no stone unturned” has served the agency well in retaining its leadership position among other travel-related competitors. Market experts point to the agency’s expertise over a broad range of skills including brand positioning, trade media relations, social media, experiential and event marketing, and crisis communications as skills that set the agency apart from others.
Clients
Many of MMGY NJF’s clients are national, state and local tourism agencies like Visit Dallas, Visit California, Visit San Jose and Costa Rica, British Virgin Islands, Rhode Island and South Dakota Tourism. Others are known brands like Oceania Cruises, Meritage Resort Collection, Amtrak, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, and ITC Hotels.
Locations
To maximize its breadth and reach, the agency has numerous locations. They include New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, Kansas City, and Washington, DC as well as London, Dubai, and Vancouver. Through Travel Consul, an international partner network, MMGY NJF is also able to serve other global tourism and travel brands.
Current work
Research of travel advisors conducted recently by another arm, MMGY Myriad, and travel news publication Travel Market Report revealed that concerns over international travel have stabilized and that clients are again becoming interested in travel deals. These findings were part of a Travel Advisors COVID-19 Sentiment Barometer that’s been monitoring the effect of the pandemic on travel agencies.
Almost simultaneously, MMGY’s Travel Safety Barometer has been tracking American travelers’ safety perceptions since states have been reopening and is showing a slight rise in confidence. Levels of confidence in domestic travel rose from 45% in July to 49% in August. More revealing was that 75% of respondents said they expected to travel in their own vehicles within the next six months. This is the highest number recorded since the survey started. If these trends continue and even increase, NJF can expect to be busy again.
The Aparium Hotel Group and its award-winning portfolio of nine boutique hotels across the U.S. is already preparing for a return of visitors, and recently retained MMGY NJF as its agency of record. The announcement is especially encouraging as the hotel group will soon be debuting six new destination properties. NJF’s role will be to build consumer awareness.
