National State Tourism Directors Mercury Awards > Broadcast Advertising: Television

West Virginia, Almost Heaven

About This Entry:

Since 2013 West Virginia experienced consistent, stagnant demand for travel to the state across all demographics. It struggled to appeal to new audiences, demonstrated by the fact that 86% of its visitors were repeat visitors. At a time when attracting new visitors to the state was an economic necessity, national negative press coverage around poverty, the decline of the mining industry and the prolific opioid crisis created negative consumer sentiment.

Research showed that those who had visited or lived in West Virginia felt an almost magnetic pull back to the destination after they’d left. Even more interesting was that it also indicated those that had not visited West Virginia felt an almost indescribable pull to the idea of its heavenly beauty, authentic experiences, and ethereal mountain vistas; travelers felt a real longing to experience all the state represented. Even the late Anthony Bourdain felt the pull of West Virginia saying, “This place moves me like very, very few others. And I’ve been everywhere.”

Inspired by this insight, the “Almost Heaven” campaign and tv spot were creatively brought to life by showcasing the otherworldly features of its unvarnished landscape with an iconic song that perfectly captured this core human value of longing: John Denver’s, “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” It wasn’t just a song about West Virginia – it was a song that captured a feeling the target audience related to and strengthened their desire for it. Lyrics from the song inspired the brand tagline (“Almost Heaven”), illustrated through elegant animated script connecting the final few frames of the spot.

The song has an intrinsic power over its audiences- as an anthem for the state’s residents and incredible strength in its global recognition. By focusing solely on the lyrics and updating the rendition for today’s audiences the final spot’s tone and simplicity pays off the campaign’s heavenly tagline.

This approach helped connect both the brand and co-op partner tv spots in key markets, increasing the impact on consumers while featuring the multitude of activities and experiences available in the state.

Campaign Strategy:

To increase destination awareness and increase first-time visitation, WVTO’s media strategy incorporated strong branding and performance-based layers that aligned with the various phases of a consumer’s travel-planning journey.

To identify the out-of-state market priorities, the campaign used a variety of data sources to create a perceptual map to visually prioritize markets. First, by creating an efficiency index based on market media costs and visitation. This was then layered against a Potential/Interest Index, developed based on website visitation and market population. These inputs were cross-referenced against the state’s Arrivalist visitation data to develop a scatterplot to identify which markets indexed highest. It quickly became clear the most efficient and effective markets for WVTO’s campaign would include Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, PA, Columbus, OH along with a few other select DMAs and in-state placements.

The TV campaign was developed to reach its key audience segments early in the summer campaign season, playing at 100 GRPs in almost every market. Knowing over half of the target audience’s overnight trips were planned 2 months or less in advance of the trip (2017 WV Visitor Research, Longwoods International), front-loading the large broadcast efforts guaranteed the largest impact on summer visitation while audiences are still in the early stages of dreaming about an escape. The ads were included across social, digital, and pre-roll placements for the entire duration of the campaign and were used to retarget people who had previously engaged with ads or visited the WVTO website in order to drive them directly to the website’s travel-planning tools.

In addition to the TV spot promoting the brand, four industry partners participated in the Cooperative Advertising Program, blending their own footage within the core brand spot, lending additional awareness support in key markets.

Creatively, the campaign utilized a modern rendition of John Denver’s well-renown, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” across both the brand TV and co-op ads. Using its mystical and heaven-like visuals paired with the song’s powerful lyrics and melody, the resulting ad is captivating and emotionally charged.

The campaign is evaluated against the campaign’s primary goals to combat negative destination stereotypes and change consumer sentiment.

Results:

In this six-week flight, over 40 million impressions were served for TV. Combined with the co-op TV flights and spots, a total of 45 million impressions were served to promote the destination in key markets. These impressions translated into a 30 percent unaided recall rate of the brand TV spot from the survey sample, which is significant given the short flight and saturated media markets, particularly Washington, D.C.

Most importantly, overall West Virginia Tourism Office’s Almost Heaven campaign succeeded in delivering on its primary campaign objectives. For travelers who saw the advertising, 64 percent said it made them want to visit the destination and 52 percent indicated it changed the way they feel about West Virginia. Additional key results included:

• 50 percent said West Virginia was portrayed as a natural, unspoiled environment
• 59 percent strongly agreed it had beautiful scenery and gorgeous views
• 43 percent strongly agreed it feels almost heaven-like
• 40 percent felt it was a place they could reflect on what’s important in life, and 35% indicated it is a place they can be fulfilled
• 42 percent also said it convinced them to consider taking a trip to the destination

• Estimated TV production budget: $65,000
• Estimated TV media budget: $905,000

Why This Is A Finalist: 

This campaign had a very interesting strategy challenge—how to generate first-time visitors in light of the negative publicity that was having a national impact. What better way to counteract that perception than with a very soulful refreshing version of Take Me Home Country Roads? The resulting spot was beautiful and authentic to West Virginia. Work was well-produced, and the subtle use of devices was effective. The application of the treatment among co-op partners was very strong. The shots were beautiful and it inspired me to want to make a trip there. The outcome was positive and judges liked how the measurement included survey research and did not just rely on Google Analytics. The program methodology was clearly stated and supported the reasoning and the logic of the campaign. The program was innovative in that the refreshed version of the song was perfect.