National State Tourism Directors Mercury Awards > Special Projects

Tennessee Department of Tourism Development

Live From Tennessee

About This Entry:

Tennessee has more musicians than anywhere else in the world, so the state has become famous for big-name artists showing up and performing in tiny venues — even on street corners. This unique music scene is one of the state’s biggest tourism draws. But when you just talk about it, it can feel manufactured and inauthentic. Our strategy was to take that authentic experience and give people in other cities a true taste of Tennessee by putting on the first-ever live music performance in two cities at the same time.

For three days, we beamed four artists from three Tennessee cities to a single street corner in downtown Chicago via a two-sided digital billboard. The artists — Jason Isbell, Citizen Cope, Old Crow Medicine Show and Ashley Monroe — are not only established hit-makers, but also have strong ties to Tennessee. Using multiple cameras and synchronized satellite feeds, we created a 360-degree view of the artists, giving the appearance that they were actually standing on the sidewalk. Passers-by got an intimate performance and could interact with the artists, who chatted, took song requests, signed posters, and even gave away trips to Tennessee. By turning an ordinary digital billboard into a portal, we were able to give Chicagoans a taste of what happens every day in Tennessee.
Our research showed that Chicagoans had a higher average income, spent more on travel and stayed longer than the average Tennessee tourist. And because they made up the largest audience of our “Made In Tennessee” Pandora station and, on average, listened the longest, we knew they loved the music. Additionally, Chicago had direct flights to Tennessee’s major cities and was only a half-day drive, making it the perfect city for the campaign.

Campaign Strategy:

In the weeks leading up to the pop-up performances, we generated buzz by putting show posters in outdoor placements around Chicago hinting that Tennessee music was coming, but provided no details about where it might happen. Then, days before, the artists used their social channels to further hint about the events.

We then set up an ordinary-looking digital billboard on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue and, for three days, turned it into a portal by beaming four artists from Tennessee onto the street corner to surprise passers-by with an intimate concert performance.
We invited press and influencers to attend the performances in Tennessee to further spread the word. After the live events, we turned the artists’ performances into 360-degree videos and placed them on Facebook, YouTube and the artists’ personal social channels.

The methodology to evaluate success for the campaign centered around finding an innovative way to break-through the crowded tourism marketing in the Chicago market by focusing efforts on earned media compared to just buying traditional advertising in broadcast.

Partners included Flytevu for talent acquisition, PR and licensing. MTP for directing. Outcold for digital billboard production. Plan A for production and editing.

Results:

Thousands of people saw the concerts live, but the event reached far beyond that, generating 1.24 billion earned media impressions and more than $2 million in media value. Ninety-four percent of those who saw the performances said it made them consider visiting Tennessee. Proof of that was a 38 percent increase in hotel and flight search interest from Chicago in the months that followed and a 139 percent increase in bookings from Chicago in late summer. The campaign also generated an average CPM of $9.22 compared to a Chicago broadcast CPM of $54.74.

The budget for the campaign was $955,000.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

This campaign was innovative, creative and modern. The use of pop-up locations is on the cutting edge. Social media amplification and expanding the reach to key tourism markets was a huge plus. The campaign had great visuals, music and scenery. The use of digital billboard on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue, targeting the passers-by with an intimate concert performance, knowing who the travel influencers would be that could help amplify the messages were all great strategies. It was such a surprise—I expected to see the artists actually in Chicago, and then your team utilized technology in a way I haven't seen done to create such an intimate and first-hand experience for those possible visitors. This is such a fresh approach, and we can see why the media absolutely adored this campaign.