Tourism campaign putting rural Nevada on the map

A decade ago, Patrick Pharris turned the direction of his advertising agency, Patrick Media, toward promoting the rural communities of Nevada.

“Why not, I love the state and its rural communities. I have personally hiked, camped, hunted, fished and even cowboyed Northern Nevada since 1964,” Pharris said.

The tourism campaign, funded through the State of Nevada/Travel Nevada, promotes the state’s many outdoor and historical adventures and targets both established and new residents.

“A couple of hurdles we have to overcome are to increase visiting rural Nevada is that one, people don’t think that there is much to do once you get off of Highway 80 or 50, and that our rural communities are so far away. Neither could be farther from the truth,” Pharris said.

The campaign splits the state into territories. The first round of TV advertising featured the Cowboy Country territory. The next step produced similar TV spots for the Pony Express territory.

Closed-circuit television spots are running in Reno on Channels 2 and 8, mainly during the morning news programs, and will air into September.

Pharris said the campaign is also producing an arsenal of tourism videos that can be used not only on TV, but in social media and other platforms.