National State Tourism Directors Mercury Awards > Printed Collateral Materials

2017 Montana Print Campaign

About This Entry:

Lack of awareness was uncovered as an important issue and opportunity to capitalize on a pent up potential audience when the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development (MOTBD) fielded a recent brand study.
Increasing awareness was a gateway for increased visitation. While many of Montana's actual strengths - access to outdoor adventure, nature and beautiful landscapes - were top desires, few who were surveyed knew that Montana offered these.

To raise awareness, inspirational advertising was a large factor for MOTBD. Print placements were a perfect place to introduce visitors to Montana, grow awareness and secure our place in the consideration set of potential travelers.

The creative featured the best of ‘Big Sky’ country, with awe-inspiring views from across the state. To educate and inform, drop pins were used in the creative to point out the exact locations of each photograph. We used talent that our markets could relate to and headlines that offered further insights. Lastly, the copy allowed for a deep-dive into even more information. Each element of the print advertising added up to paint a full picture of Montana and inform travelers of all the state has to offer, of which they may be unaware.

Additionally, two Warm season target audiences were developed from the brand study; educated traveler: College graduate (or more), Household Income of $75,000 (or more), 1 (or more) personal trip(s) in the last year; and family: Attended college (or more), Household income of $75,000 (or more), Married with kids, Age 25-54.

The Winter season presented another obstacle. Are those two targets taking cold-weather trips during the winter? After further research, a third audience was developed - the Winter Enthusiast:
- It encompasses 4.6 percent of the U.S. population that participate in winter activities (downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding and/or snowmobiling in the past 12 months). They tend to have a higher household income and 79 percent took a domestic trip, longer than one day, in the past 12 months. We focused on the Winter Enthusiast due to their likelihood to travel for cold-weather activities, compared to warm, during the winter season.

Campaign Strategy:

We had different objectives for the Warm season versus the Winter one. As we perfected the print campaign, we kept these goals in mind. As noted above though, one overarching goal for each season was awareness.

The print ads began with impactful, awe-inspiring, beautiful shots of Montana. The photos featured locations across the state. Warm season featured top activities that were identified during the brand study, including hiking, scenic drives, water activities and more. Winter imagery focused on ski shots. We also utilized Montana photographers to keep the authentic nature of Visit Montana.

To aid in the awareness, we included a map of the state with a pinpoint and location descriptor. Not only did this asset inform potential visitors of general locations across the state, but it helped drive the image of Montana into their mind. It also gave them a starting point for their search.

Speaking of search - we utilized a search bar to harken back to the digital world - where most consumers begin their trip planning. Visit Montana and Hoffman York, the Agency of Record, collaborated on headlines to pull the reader in. They were clever and engaging. Warm season headlines ranged from "how to spoil yourself ... in unspoiled places" to "do wishes really come true?" and winter headlines included "endless adventure without endless lines" and "no lines but the ones I carve." The headlines led readers into the ad and hinted at some of the brand opportunities that Visit Montana wanted to capitalize on, and the body copy brought those to the forefront.

It was in the body copy that we took on the audience’s lack of awareness and appealed to their desires. Readers learned: "Montana is accessible. It's not hard to get there. It has modern amenities. It's safe and offers adventure by day, and comfortable accommodations by night." We also used this space to drive readers to VISITMT.COM to learn more and start planning their trip.

We wanted to inspire, inform and raise awareness. Through estimated impressions and partnering with Destination Analysts for regular campaign studies, we tracked awareness and brand perception.

Results:

While traditional advertising can be challenging to track, this print campaign accounted for an estimated 15.8 million impressions. The media mix for the Warm season included four magazines that indexed highly among our targets and the Winter season magazines targeted our ski/snowboard demographic. The publications were Real Simple, Runner’s World, Family Fun, Wall Street Journal Magazine, SKI and Powder. SKI and Powder readers are passionate about winter, cold-weather trips, making them the perfect target for Montana’s ski advertising.

We also saw a 38 percent increase in organic traffic to VISITMT.COM, which indicates that mediums outside of digital are driving interest in Montana.

As noted, Montana partnered with Destination Analysts to field seasonal surveys to gauge advertising effectiveness. Although these findings are from an overarching campaign, there is still strong correlations to the success of the print advertising. The FY17 Warm report included the following insights. We found that 39.1 percent of Educated Travelers and 49.7 percent of Family Travelers recalled Montana’s print ads. Aided recall rose to 18.9 percent post-campaign, from 8.4 percent pre-campaign. We also saw 42.9 percent of Family Travelers and 34.2 percent of Educated Travelers “will travel to Montana” in the next 18 months. There were 92.4 percent of Educated Travelers and 92.1 percent of Family Travelers that visited Montana noted that the trip was influenced by recalled ads. We also found that 51 percent of Educated Travelers and 65.5 percent of Family Travelers, when aided, recalled one or more of Montana’s ads.

We will review the winter survey findings in the beginning of June. We are planning to see positive results yet again!

The budget between the two seasons, including creative agency time and ad costs, was $645,000.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

Montana presented a simple but effective concept that was well executed. The use of the strong photography was eye-catching, and the pin drops made it informative and gave it a modern feel. The vision to start with the blue sky and then gradually show the different parts of Montana is an interesting and effective strategic approach, as is the goal to make the state, which is remote to many people, more accessible. The spirit of the message comes across clearly in the imagery and words. The creative was original, and the concept seemed to resonate with their target audience.