Does Pittsburgh Have a Perception Problem?

PHOTO BY OLLIE GRATZINGER

Leaders at VisitPITTSBURGH, the city’s tourism nonprofit, announced a new leisure campaign designed to draw visitors in, positioning the Steel City as a “destination where industrial grit has been reborn as wonder.” 

The Forge On campaign was officially unveiled Monday at the organization’s annual meeting. At a press event ahead of the meeting, Emily Hatfield, VisitPITTSBURGH’s vice president of marketing and communications, called the campaign a “rally cry” for the city.

“Pittsburgh owns grit. There’s no other destination that really has grit in the way that we do,” Hatfield says. “That’s what we’re known for. We’re known as this industrial city.” 

The campaign will focus not only on Pittsburgh’s industrial heritage and “grit,” but also the “lift” the city has experienced over the last decade or so. 

The grit, organizers say, comes from Pittsburgh’s industrial legacy as a leader in steel manufacturing, and the lift comes from the hyperlocal presence of new businesses, arts initiatives and popular festivals, as well as the national spotlight that comes with hosting the 2026 NFL Draft in April. 

“People already associate Pittsburgh with grit [and] with bridges, but … once people come here, they’re surprised about everything else that Pittsburgh has to offer,” Hatfield says.

The theme of the Forge On campaign can be summed up in two words: expansion and unification.

“We have a world class product,” Hatfield says of Pittsburgh. “But we’re kind of stuck … with a perception and awareness problem. Pittsburghers love Pittsburgh, but the way we talk about Pittsburgh is fragmented. It’s different. If we’re not all singing from the same songbook, our message is lost.” 

Hatfield cites research conducted by VisitPITTSBURGH last year, which surveyed 3,000 respondents and included Madden Media-led focus groups involving nearly 50 Pittsburgh visitor industry partners. The study identified a critical “awareness gap” among prospective travelers. It shows that among those who haven’t visited Pittsburgh, only a small percentage are familiar with the city’s tourism assets. Half state that their reason for not visiting the Steel City boils down to the fact that it simply is not on their radar. 

The study also found that among past visitors, 72.8% find the city appealing, and nearly half agree that it is a “city on the rise.” 

Forge On was developed around the idea of evoking a sense of wonder, surprise and discovery. Previous campaigns focused exclusively on the city’s past, but one of Forge On’s four strategic shifts aims to reposition Pittsburgh from a place of history to a destination that is in constant creation. While Forge On will not abandon the city’s historical narrative, Hatfield adds that it is vital to tell the story of the city’s present and the future, too.

Similarly, the campaign’s objective will be not only to support existing Pittsburgh tourism markets — Philadelphia, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Washington D.C., New York City and regional Pennsylvania towns such as Wilkes-Barre and Scranton — but also to expand into additional markets such as Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta. 

“We need to meet travelers when they’re in that early phase of discovery. We want to make sure that Pittsburgh is top-of-mind,” Hatfield says.

Hatfield also hopes the campaign will encourage more people to visit Pittsburgh for the first time; a 2025 study by VisitPITTSBURGH shows that 83% of folks who visit the city have been here before. The Forge On campaign, which will specifically target new visitors, aims to increase visibility and galvanize a message of resurgence that officials hope will increase first-time visitation while continuing to inspire the city’s loyal base of repeat day trippers. 

“We have a really strong repeat visitor rate. People come here, they fall in love, and they come back,” Hatfield says. “But what we have to do if we’re ever going to move the needle in terms of visitation and economic impact — which are VisitPITTSBURGH’s two north star objectives — we have to bring new visitors into the bundle. We want to bring new travelers in, have them fall in love, and help us grow that statistic even more.”

Folks will start to experience VisitPITTSBURGH’s new campaign through billboards and social media, as well as advertisements on TV and streaming services. Hatfield adds that VisitPITTSBURGH will soon be expanding its presence in D.C. through a “station domination” takeover, with the Metro Center decorated in Pittsburgh-inspired advertising.

“The campaign positioned Pittsburgh as one of the original ‘maker’ cities and invites audiences to continue making with us,” reads a press release from VisitPITTSBURGH.

It is a sentiment echoed by Jerad Bachar, president and CEO of VisitPITTSBURGH.

“Pittbsurgh was built on the fire of an industrial era and the grit that shaped champions, but our legacy was never just about steel,” Bachar says in a statement. “It has always been about resilience and creativity. This campaign is our new north star; it is a rally cry that honors our DNA while celebrating the new energy, flavors and ideas that make our city so inspiring today.”