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Denver’s CVB almost made it to the century mark. The bureau of course will remain, but with a new name—VISIT DENVER. For 99 years, the city’s convention and tourism marketing agency has gone by a variety of names, everything from the Denver Tourist and Publicity Bureau to the most recent Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, but with other cities dropping the CVB when they "re-brand," Denver decided to go with something simpler and snappier.

 "It’s a mouthful of a name that everyone from the Mayor to our own Board of Directors has trouble remembering and saying," said Richard Scharf, President of the Bureau formerly known as the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Several years ago, cities from began dropping the "convention and visitors bureau" moniker for simpler names, many that included action verbs (which are almost always in capital letter) such GO, EXPERIENCE, or DISCOVER, an evolution noted by Scharf. "The tipping point came when our own national industry, the International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus changed their name to the Destination Marketing Association International."

To investigate a name change, the Bureau conducted focus groups of board members, meeting planners, potential visitors, city officials and residents, trying out a variety of new names. "Our challenge was to find a 21st Century name that would be easy to remember and enunciate, be consistent with our brand, and have a call to the action," Scharf explained.

At the Bureau’s 99th annual meeting in November, the organization officially rolled out the new moniker, VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We’ll keep ‘the convention & visitors bureau’ as part of the name for a little while until people get used to just VISIT DENVER," Scharf said.

Scharf insists that that the name change was a small detail, but one that resonates with stakeholders. "This doesn’t change how we market Denver, the Mile High City, or the city’s brand.

The name change has also caused a modification to Denver’s online presence. The Bureau will now shift from promoting www.denver.org to www.visitdenver.com as Denver’s official tourism Web site. "There is considerable research showing that a .com attracts more visitors than a .org and it is easier to remember and more common," said Scharf.

Scharf explained that both sites will continue to be used, although the "com" will soon be the URL used in all marketing and promotional materials. In fact, soon is a key word since Denver looks at the VISIT DENVER has a name that will be phased in. "We will continue to use up stationary and printed materials and only incorporate the new name as we run out of old materials," he said.