National State Tourism Directors Mercury Awards > Broadcast Advertising: Television

"This Is Me." TV Campaign

About This Entry:

The Maine Office of Tourism (MOT) aims to drive visitation to the state of Maine through a robust marketing program strategically positioned on the human value of originality. As the Maine brand continues to gain momentum and visitation increases year-over-over, MOT is challenged with creating consumer craving for the Maine lifestyle rather than just the “things-to-do” often highlighted by destinations.

The state and the lifestyle that it promises is so special, Maine has become a shining beacon of originality for those from away. Focus group research shows that consumers feel Mainers have “life figured out” and live “life the way it should be.”

Which is why MOT produced a new TV campaign around the Maine lifestyle and ethos. The “This is me.” campaign launched in 2017 to inspire potential visitors that they too could experience the freedom and authenticity that Mainers live out every day. This effort continues to position Maine as a lifestyle brand making use of inspirational storytelling.

Our main objectives are to elevate Maine as a genuine and authentic lifestyle brand, promoting unique aspects of the state, increase total and first-time visitation YoY and increase direct tourism expenditures in Maine YoY. We also aim to increase traffic to VisitMaine.com, build brand awareness in key markets, and build brand affinity with the three priority consumer segments.

An audience profile was created using Mediamark Research Inc. data to target consumers with the highest potential for traveling to Maine. It found that adults aged 25-54 with a household income of $100,000 or more and have or expressed interest in visiting Maine were our highest potential customers. It was also found that these potential consumers value curiosity, value being in tune with nature and value creativity.

Maine Office of Tourism also executed an audience segmentation study, which identified three priority consumer segments within the above parameters – Genuine Originals, Balanced Achievers, Social Sophisticates. These segments represent the likeliest to visit Maine and spend the most in-destination. Media and creative are further tailored to reach these segments in the most relevant context.

Campaign Strategy:

MOT executed a large-scale production in state to capture the unique stories and perspectives of Mainers pursuing their daily lives. The goal of the campaign was to inspire those from away to experience the simpler and enchanting Maine lifestyle. The “This is me.” TV campaign featured a variety of Mainers – from a windjammer captain, to an island innkeeper, to an urban rock climber – who live out the brand value each day.

The “This is me.” TV series strategically featured Mainer’s in their natural environments to showcase the state’s way of life and authenticity of its people and their pursuits. The series included three executions – the “This is me.” spot, a montage of Mainers exclaiming, “this is me” to convey a community of originals, and "Island Life" and "Serendipity", which dive deeper into a singular story. Each subject contributes a different personal perspective, as viewers are introduced to Maine’s landscape, rich culture and unique way of life.

The spots intentionally do not call out “visit Maine” or speak to the “things-to-do.” Rather, the campaign uses the strength of the stories and lifestyle to elicit the desire to experience Maine for oneself.

The “This is me.” TV series was designed to address consumers’ mindsets during the Discovery stage of the vacation-planning life cycle. Conceptually, the creative aimed to inspire the travel dream; as such the call-to-action was simply the URL of MOT’s lifestyle publication.

Stylistically, widescreen cinematic-quality was established by filming with an anamorphic lens and allowing the visuals and sound design to convey the story and emotion.

The TV series ran in key spot markets of Baltimore, Charlotte, Hartford, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. as a primary touch-point of the overarching “This is me.” integrated media campaign. Other high-impact media, such as out-of-home and national print were utilized to reach consumers while still in an exploratory mindset, making Maine a top-of-mind destination. These mediums drove to the digital magazine published on VisitMaine.com. Action-driving media types, such as display and social were used to reach consumers further down the funnel and drove to the planning section of the website.

Results:

The “This is me.” campaign was successful in delivering on key planning objectives. The 2017 Annual Visitation Survey indicates that overall 2017 tourism-related visitation grew to 36.7 million, 2.5 percent increase YoY. First-time visitation grew to 5.3 million, 2.5 percent increase YoY. We also found that combined restaurant and lodging direct expenditures grew to $3.36 billion.

The Summer 2017 Paid & Earned Media efforts resulted in 691.7 million impressions across paid channels, 5.37 billion impressions in editorial coverage and 32 million website sessions, 21.6 percent increase YoY.

The 2017 Advertising Effectiveness Survey indicates strong performance of the “This is me.” campaign against Maine Office of Tourisms priority consumer segments who uphold the brand value of originality. Visual-aided recall of the Summer 2017 “This is me.” campaign increased seven percent compared to 2016 campaign. As intended per the strategy, respondents identified the most common message of the work to be; be yourself, do what you like and rediscover yourself.
The priority segments are significantly more likely to feel positive towards the campaign, compared to non-priority segments. Sixty-two percent of the priority segments said the “This is me.” campaign made them want to visit Maine. Seven in ten travelers who recall the “This is me.” ads (visually-aided) were compelled to take further action because of seeing the ads, a 47 percent increase YoY to 70 percent. In fact, 35 percent indicate that the ads convinced them to consider taking a trip. And another 42 percent indicated that the ads confirmed their decision to visit, compared to 29 percent the year prior. For every dollar spent in advertising leisure travel in Maine returns $22 in overall visitor spending to the state.

The estimated production budget was $750,000.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

Maine did a great job conveying emotional connections and the destination. Viewers are drawn in by the images and particularly the videos. The children in the videos are heartwarming, and the locals are authentic. The videos are marvelous, and the judges commented that they would have liked to see how this campaign translated into other channels.