Destinations Council Destiny Awards > Branding and Integrated Marketing Campaign: Destination Marketing Budget $1 Million to $2.5 Million

Closer Than You Think

About This Entry:

A rapidly growing suburb of Indianapolis, Hamilton County is home to four distinct cities (Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville and Westfield) and four smaller towns. Traditionally, Hamilton County Tourism (HCT) advertised the suburban destination as a family-friendly weekend getaway during the summer months to neighboring markets like Cincinnati (OH), Louisville (KY), Champaign-Urbana (IL) and Fort Wayne (IN). But the opening of Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield forced the marketing team to reevaluate our marketing strategy.

Grand Park is a 400-acre sports complex featuring 26 baseball and softball diamonds, 31 multipurpose fields for soccer, football, rugby, field hockey and lacrosse and two indoor facilities to accommodate year-round play. Open since 2014, Grand Park hosts multiple tournaments each weekend during the traditional “tourism season” summer months of April through September. As a result of this youth sports tourism boom, hotel rooms sold out each weekend in Hamilton County. While putting “heads in beds” is every DMOs goal, this created a marketing problem: how do we continue to promote Hamilton County as a leisure travel destination when we have no availability during the months we traditionally advertise?

Enter the 2018 “Closer Than You Think” campaign, a layered marketing approach consisting of TV, radio, print and social media advertising exclusively in the Chicago market during shoulder seasons. Advertisements ran during a spring flight and a fall flight. Our strategy was to blitz the Chicago market, a key drive destination just three hours northwest, with a key message that Hamilton County is an ideal place for a quick weekend getaway during the spring and fall. Armed with visitor profile research from Strategic Marketing & Research Insights (SMARInsights), the campaign targeted highly educated women with families ages 30+ (radio targeting) and ages 35-64 (television targeting).

Campaign Strategy:

We worked with long-time creative partner Three Sixty Group to secure media placements in Chicago television and radio stations and print publications. The placements included Chicago Magazine, WBBM 780 AM, WUSN 99.5, WBBM 96.3, WXRT 93.1, Comcast Spotlight and Chicago Interconnect.

Beginning in late 2017, HCT asked staff, stakeholders and partners to identify the key attractions and businesses that make our destination unique. From an advocacy standpoint and as a county DMO, it was important to gain buy-in from mayors and municipal leadership so that new creative aligned with each city’s brand. From there, the team captured photography, videography and drone footage simultaneously at 28 locations. This creative served as the core for the “Closer Than You Think” campaign. No matter the platform, the look and feel of the visuals matched to create a cohesive experience for the consumer. The print ad format featured a custom script font with a key phrase ending in “closer than you think,” like “Show-stopping performances are closer than you think.”

The campaign would be evaluated on cohesiveness, advertising effectiveness and cost efficiencies.

Results:

Phase I ran in the spring from February to June with a total investment of $177,705 in TV, print and radio. Creative featured the Center for the Performing Arts, Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, Union Brewing Company along the Monon Trail and “Restaurant Row,” a foodie destination on Park Street in Westfield’s Midland Cultural District. According to research findings from SMARInsights, Phase I creative reached 860,000 aware households for $0.21 cost per aware household, influencing 77,000 trips to Hamilton County. ROI was $338 in visitor spending for every $1 spent on advertising.

Phase II ran in the fall from July to September with a total investment of $166,719 in TV, print and radio. Creative featured “Restaurant Row” in Westfield, Strawtown Koteewi Park, Stuckey Farm Market, Conner Prairie, the Monon Trail and the Historic Noblesville Square. A second study conducted by SMARInsights reports Phase II creative reached 902,000 aware households for $0.18 cost per aware household, influencing 87,000 trips to Hamilton County. ROI was $372 in visitor spending for every $1 spent on advertising, meaning the Phase II creative resulted in a higher ROI for a smaller investment. This was the most successful promotion to date for Hamilton County Tourism.

HCT spent $0.18 to reach a target household with the 2018 fall advertising, marking a more efficient media buy than 2018 spring advertising ($0.21) and the industry benchmark ($0.51).

In addition to traditional marketing efforts, HCT had a layered approach to Chicago that included public relations efforts such as deskside visits with journalists and social media promotions targeting Chicago residents. These efforts complemented each other to create maximum impact in a key market for Hamilton County.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

Judges felt that Hamilton County's campaign is excellent in general. It has a clear objective, aiming to blitz the Chicago market with a key message that it is an ideal place for a quick weekend getaway during the spring and fall seasons. Judges loved how they were determined to go "outside" the normal and find a new market for shoulder seasons to impact their tourism positively! They had a very explicit identification of the problem and great vision and strategy to overcome it, and at the same time, create new opportunities. Thinking outside the box was innovative in that it opened up new potential business that previously hadn't been addressed or researched. It was a clearly defined methodology which provided specific details on where and who they would target, and who they would work with to accomplish their goals. The campaign evaluated the overall outcome with quantifiable results achieved in terms of number of ware households, cost per aware household, the number of trips, and ROI.