Now introducing: Reno, Lake Tahoe

A big change in the way that the Reno-Tahoe region is marketed to potential visitors in northern California is on track for an autumn introduction.

Details of the campaign still are being hammered out by the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority, which is working with executives from casinos, hotels, ski areas, golf courses, transportation agencies and others that have a stake in the health of the tourism industry.

Mortar Advertising, a San Francisco agency selected from a field of five finalists six months ago, is updating what marketing gurus call the region's "brand promise" the big idea that differentiates Reno and Lake Tahoe from its tourism competitors.

As analysts at Mortar fine-tune research that's been developed by RSCVA in the past nine months, they're focusing on two groups of northern Californians:

* Folks who haven't been to northern Nevada for at least three years and need a reintroduction to the new-look Reno-Sparks.

* Potential first-time visitors to the region.

Those groups present the biggest opportunity to grow visitor numbers quickly, says RSCVA marketing chief Michael Thomas.

"These are our new visitors," he says.

But they also require a different marketing message than the gaming-and-nightlife advertising that's provided the tourism theme for Reno for decades.

The consumers who need to be introduced or reintroduced to Reno and Sparks are looking for fun and excitement, Thomas says, and they're looking for a getaway that's easy to get to and offers good value.

But just as important is this: They're looking for an experience that is authentic experiences such as the pecan punch at Louie's Basque Corner, Awful Awful burgers at The Nugget in downtown Reno or even Shakespeare on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

"People don't know that these things exist," Thomas says.

A challenge for marketers, he says, is that the groups that RSCVA and its partners want to woo typically don't put much faith in the claims of traditional advertising. To reach them, he says the campaign is likely to rely on public relations and social media that can generate some word-of-mouth buzz for northern Nevada.

Equally important, the message needs to be believable and can't over-promise the region's attractions.

While the creative aspects of the campaign have yet to be entirely worked out, Thomas says it's likely to look unlike previous advertising from the Biggest Little City.

A blog post by Mortar's staff a few days ago gives some hints about the company's approach after employees visited northern Nevada:

"We are smitten," they wrote in the blog. "It's the sublimely unspoiled, supremely authentic, ridiculously cool getaway we always wanted but thought we could never have, much like the unicorn we never got for our birthday. Part of us (a big part) wants to keep this goodness to ourselves, but where is the fun in that?"

No matter how clever the creative may be, the RSCVA wants to make sure the campaign is closely tied to the reality of the marketplace.

"It's going to be rooted in a great deal of research," says Thomas.

The advertising agency is testing some of its concepts with consumers this summer after winning approval for its general direction from the RSCVA board of directors as well as the agency's marketing and sales committee.

The market-segmentation study has cost $71,300 so far, and RSCVA expects will spend another $40,000 to test the marketing program.