AAACCVB Promotes Frank DiVenti to Chief Marketing Officer

The Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau (AAACCVB) kicked off fiscal year 2015 this month with organizational changes designed to heighten the effectiveness and reach of its marketing efforts. AAACCVB Advertising and Promotions Director Frank DiVenti has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, overseeing the organization’s sales, marketing and communications teams.

AAACCVB President and CEO Connie Del Signore says the change will help further the organization’s mission as a destination marketing organization. “The AAACCVB promotes Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay across the country and around the world. Each department plays a part in achieving that goal. The consolidation of our sales, marketing and public relations efforts under the marketing umbrella allows for greater collaboration, a more unified message, enhanced reach and an optimum return on capital and human investment.”  

DiVenti joined the AAACCVB team in November 2012. Since that time, he has orchestrated leisure and corporate marketing campaigns in the Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Jersey markets. He successfully launched the organization’s “Find It Here” branding campaign that the City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corporation have embraced as their own, and he has furthered the AAACCVB’s efforts to define and promote Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay’s three distinct regions.

According to Del Signore, “Every five years we have set goals, accomplished them, and built the foundation for the years to come. During the first five years of my tenure, we reorganized and professionalized the organization. The next five years were spent pursuing room tax legislation, expanding AAACCVB offices and upgrading the Visitors Center. For the past five years, we have focused on smart and flexible management of a budget that has tripled as the result of new legislation.” With a FY 2015 budget of $3.6 million, Del Signore says the AAACCVB has the funding and the leadership in place to take the organization’s marketing efforts to the next level.

DiVenti says he his humbled by the promotion. “I appreciate this honor and will put forth my best effort to achieve the goals before us. We have assessed the needs of our three distinct regions and have positioned ourselves to effectively market them. We have designed a plan that takes into consideration each region’s unique personality and how accessible they are for leisure travelers as well as meetings and sports events planners.”

To help leisure and business travelers make the best use of their time in Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay, DiVenti is currently overseeing the development of a mobile app visitors can access to create itineraries 24/7. He plans to focus FY 2015’s marketing efforts on capturing meetings, sports and leisure business from the New York, New Jersey and Ohio markets. In the months ahead, DiVenti will be overseeing a research project that tracks consumer interests and buying behavior. In his new role as Chief Marketing Officer, the marketing veteran will continue developing creative advertising and promotional campaigns as well as designing strategic print, broadcast and digital advertising placements.

Prior to joining the AAACCVB team, DiVenti spent 35 years in the fields of advertising, communications and marketing. He launched his career in the broadcasting industry, where he garnered advertising and media experience while serving as Vice President/General Manager of Baltimore-based Producers Video Corporation and as Operations Director at The Commercial Refinery. He honed his creative development and event management skills as principal of his communications consulting company, REAL Communications. In 2011, DiVenti served as Media and Operations Manager for a Baltimore City Mayoral Campaign. The Baltimore native’s Annapolis connections include more than three decades as Producer/Engineer for the Naval Academy Athletic Association's Navy Football Radio Network.

The AAACCVB is a nonprofit, membership-based destination marketing organization that generates revenues for the local economy by promoting Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay to leisure and business travelers across the country and around the world.