S.F.’s ‘Not in L.A.’ Ads Seek to Lure Angelenos

San Francisco is launching an advertising campaign based on the slogan “Not in L.A.” in hopes of luring more Southland tourists to the Bay Area.

Officials at the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau insist that the provocative tagline isn’t a new salvo in the long-running rivalry between SoCal and NoCal. The campaign will include print, radio and billboard ads featuring teaser photos of the Transamerica Tower and other San Francisco landmarks that are “not in L.A.” -- along with an invitation to visit www.notinla.com.

“Our outreach to Los Angeles, our No. 1 feeder market during the winter months, is intended to position San Francisco as an alternative to other nearby destinations such as Las Vegas,” said John Marks, president and chief executive of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Rivalries notwithstanding, Los Angeles tourism officials greeted the new ad campaign with equanimity.

“We think it’s clever, we think it’s great,” said Chris Heywood, media manager with LA Inc., the city’s convention and visitors bureau. “They are our top domestic visitor market, so they can do anything they want.”

Indeed, Los Angeles had 2.3 million visitors from the Bay Area last year, representing as much as 13% of its domestic tourists. The numbers are running about the same this year.

Likewise, Southern California is San Francisco’s leading source of U.S. tourists, accounting for roughly 20% of the city’s 10 million domestic visitors in 2003.

San Francisco tourism officials, by the way, said the campaign wasn’t prompted by the labor problems affecting 14 of the city’s hotels.