Visit Alexandria Debuts Meetings Component of New Unlock Your Story Campaign

CONTACT: Andrew Postal, apostal@visitalexva.com, 703-652-5363

Unlock Your Story campaign now expanded to include targeting of meeting and event planners and conference attendees to consider Alexandria as a premier meetings destination steeped in history and brimming with an independent spirit, modern offerings and stories worth sharing.

ALEXANDRIA, VA (March 19, 2026) – Visit Alexandria today announced the launch of its meetings strategy as part of Unlock Your Story, a new, fully integrated destination marketing campaign. The campaign is designed to expand upon the destination’s nationally renowned historic character to showcase the stories of a progressive and contemporary community offering meaningful experiences that can only be “unlocked” in Alexandria. Building upon the campaign’s consumer strategies, meeting planners will be targeted through paid, earned and owned efforts and engaged by the Visit Alexandria destination sales team to tell their own Alexandria stories through testimonial content.

Unlock Your Story marks a strategic evolution for the destination following three successful years of the Best Kept Shh! campaign, which playfully positioned Alexandria as emerging from hidden gem status. During that time, the city’s national profile continued to rise, with a top five “Best Cities in the U.S.” ranking from Travel + Leisure and, for the first time ever, more than $1 billion in annual visitor spending.

With momentum building, Visit Alexandria seized the opportunity to go in a new direction.

“The secret is out,” said Todd O’Leary, President & CEO of Visit Alexandria. “Now is the time to place Alexandria squarely in the spotlight and invite visitors to discover more of our destination and create their own stories here. With Unlock Your Story, we’re inviting travelers and meeting planners alike to connect with the people, places and experiences that make Alexandria distinctive and to leave with memories and personal connections that become part of their own story.”

A Strategic, Community-Centered Approach

Unlock Your Story is the result of months of research, strategic planning and creative development conducted collaboratively by Visit Alexandria and its agency of record, 62ABOVE. While Alexandria benefits from strong awareness of history and Old Town Alexandria among potential, the team identified a primary challenge: limited perceptions lead to limited time in the destination. For meeting planners, additional barriers include: misconceptions about size and scope of meetings that Alexandria can handle, cost misconceptions and an under appreciated proximity to Washington, D.C.

To increase understanding of the breadth of Alexandria’s experiences, the Unlock Your Story campaign centers on storytelling as both a brand platform and a call to action. From centuries-old streets to contemporary culinary and cultural scenes to unique meeting venues, the campaign highlights the breadth of neighborhoods, small businesses, unique personalities and experiences that make Alexandria more than a day trip and more than visitors expect. Campaign content features meeting planner testimonials and celebrates the stories of the community, including local entrepreneurs, artists, chefs, boutique owners, historians and hospitality partners who create meaningful, personal experiences for visitors and meeting delegates.

The campaign themes that frame positioning for all paid, earned and owned media strategies are: Historic, Not Static (historic but progressive and evolving); Made Up of the Little Things (a collection of curiosities as opposed to large attractions); and A City of Independents (creative and innovative entrepreneurs, artists and small businesses).

“As a meeting planner for the past almost ten years, I cannot think of a place I’d rather be for our regional meetings than Alexandria,” said Lisa Maiale-Howel, whose regional healthcare organization has been holding their annual meeting in Alexandria for over 25 years. “We love the welcoming attitudes of the people, many of whom have greeted us warmly year after year, the beautiful ambiance of King Street and the ease of getting around town, the pooch-friendly vibe, the wide array of lodging options, the exceptional restaurants and local shops and the history of the town and surrounding areas. It’s a wonderful place to visit and we look forward to returning for our conferences for many years to come.”

Engaging Visitors, Meeting Planners, and Member Businesses

Initially launched in February 2026 targeting the leisure audience, Unlock Your Story has now evolved into a broader campaign that invites meeting and event planners to see themselves in the campaign, showcasing Alexandria as a dynamic destination for successful small- to mid-size meetings and events. Visit Alexandria is also engaging its members and partners in the campaign by providing promotional resources and inviting them to share their own stories, which may be highlighted in Visit Alexandria’s content.

To reach key meetings and groups audiences, Visit Alexandria is taking a strategic approach to meet planners where they are:

• Audiences include meeting and event planners for associations, corporate, education and sports, as well as third-party planners.
• In a new approach, Visit Alexandria will reach planners through targeted email and lead generation tatics, paired with paid search.
• The campaign will focus on planners in key high-performing markets including: AZ, DC, FL, IL, MD, NC, NY, PA and VA.

Planners are invited to showcase the innovation, creativity and leadership behind their Alexandria stories on social media using the hashtag #UnlockYourStoryALX and through the “Share Your Alexandria Story” form featured on the campaign landing page.

By integrating consumers, meeting planners and members under a single narrative platform, Unlock Your Story represents a new chapter in how Visit Alexandria markets the destination in a fully integrated fashion.

Campaign Components & Creative

The initial campaign flight for Unlock Your Story will run through June 2026, aligning with key seasonal moments including cherry blossom season, America’s 250th commemoration and the FIFA World Cup 2026 (Alexandria is the official Team Base Camp for Croatia’s national football team).

Explore the campaign landing page and view the brand video at: UnlockYourStoryALX.com

ABOUT VISIT ALEXANDRIA AND ALEXANDRIA, VA

Visit Alexandria is the nonprofit destination marketing organization for the City of Alexandria, Virginia. Recognized by Travel + Leisure as a top five best U.S. city in 2025, Alexandria is a welcoming escape on the Potomac River, minutes from Washington, D.C. Founded in 1749 and boasting the nation’s third oldest historic district, Alexandria hums with a cosmopolitan feel. As Alexandria commemorates the nation’s 250th anniversary, visitors can follow in the footsteps of the Founding Fathers and the Black Americans who shaped the U.S. and the city’s history. Vibrant neighborhoods throughout the city include Old Town Alexandria, with a strollable King Street mile featuring more than 200 independent restaurants and boutiques, plus intimate historic museums and new experiences at the waterfront.

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