By Mike DeNardo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Convention and Visitors Bureau on Wednesday launched an effort to make Philadelphia more of a global destination.

The new marketing initiative seeks to show Philadelphia as a blend of history and innovation and culture. Research with focus groups led the bureau to six Philadelphia storylines: Democracy, education, creativity, sports, street life and accessibility.

Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Jack Ferguson says public and private groups are encouraged to use the themes to promote Philadelphia to international travelers.

“It really starts to resonate, of those six anchors,” he says, “those six pillars of stories or songsheets, start to make people think collectively — collectively — that this is what Philadelphia is all about.”

The initiative is branded with the letters PHL — globally recognized as airport and rail code for Philadelphia.