David Schwartz 12/14/2010meetdschwartzmba.com/.../uploads/2013/08/D_Schwartz_Michigan_… · 3.6...

David Schwartz

12/14/2010

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Table of Contents

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6

2.0 PROMOTIONS OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS 7

2.1 COMMUNICATIONS MARKET ANALYSIS 7 2.1.1 Competitive Analysis 8 2.1.2 Opportunity Analysis 10 2.1.3 Customer Analysis 11 2.1.4 Market Segmentation 13 2.1.5 Target Market Analysis 14 2.1.6 Positioning and Differentiation 15

2.2 MODIFIED SWOT ANALYSIS 16

3.0 CORPORATE VISION, STAKEHOLDERS, AND OBJECTIVES 17

3.1 VISION 17 3.2 STAKEHOLDERS 17 3.3 OVERARCHING CORPORATE OBJECTIVES 17 3.4 HIGH-LEVEL CORPORATE STRATEGIES 18 3.5 CORPORATE IMAGE STRATEGY 19

3.5.1 Enhanced Corporate Image Strategy 19 3.6 BRAND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY & IMC THEMED APPROACH 20

3.6.1 Overall Themed Approach 21 3.6.2 Brand Logo 21

3.7 BRAND POSITIONING STRATEGY 21 3.8 DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY 22 3.9 PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES 22 3.10 INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIES 22 3.11 MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES: REGULATORY, ETHICAL, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OR PR CONSIDERATIONS 23

4.0 INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT 23

4.1 COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES 24 4.2 COMMUNICATION BUDGET 24

4.2.1 Budget Breakdown 25 4.3 AGENCY SELECTION 25

4.3.1 Identify and Prioritize Corporate Goals 26 4.3.2 Develop Agency Selection Criteria 26

4.4 INTERNET WEB SITE 26

5.0 CREATIVE STRATEGY STATEMENT AND THE CREATIVE BRIEF 27

5.1 CREATIVE STRATEGY STATEMENT 27 5.2 CREATIVE BRIEF 27

6.0 ADVERTISING 30

6.1 MEDIA CONSUMPTION 30 6.2 ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES 31 6.3 ADVERTISING STRATEGIES 31 6.4 BUDGET 32 6.5 GEOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS 33

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6.6 MEDIA MIX / TACTICS 33 6.6.1 Cable Television 34 6.6.2 Radio 34 6.6.3 Newspapers 35

6.7 MEDIA SCHEDULE 35 6.8 MEDIA FLOW CHART (CABLE TV, RADIO, AND NEWSPAPER ONLY) 36 6.9 CREATIVE 36 6.10 MEASUREMENT 36

6.10.1 Pre-Campaign Success Metrics 36 6.10.2 Post-Campaign Success Metrics 37

7.0 TRADITIONAL SUPPORT MEDIA: OUT-OF-HOME (OOH) 38

7.1 OOH OBJECTIVES 38 7.2 OOH STRATEGIES 38 7.3 OOH TACTICS 39 7.4 OOH BUDGET, GEOGRAPHY, AND MIX 39 7.5 MEDIA FLOW CHART 39 7.6 CREATIVE 40 7.7 OOH MEASUREMENTS 40

8.0 INTERNET MARKETING 41

8.1 INTERNET MARKETING OBJECTIVES 41 8.2 INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIES 42 8.3 INTERNET MARKETING TACTICS 42 8.4 ENHANCED INTERNET MARKETING MODEL 43 8.5 INTERNET MARKETING GEOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS 44 8.5 INTERNET MARKETING MIX AND BUDGET 44 8.6 SCHEDULE 45 8.7 MEASUREMENT 45

9.0 DIRECT MARKETING 45

9.1 DIRECT MARKETING OBJECTIVES 46 9.2 DIRECT MARKETING STRATEGIES 46 9.3 DIRECT MARKETING TACTICS 47 9.4 DIRECT MARKETING BUDGET 47 9.5 DIRECT MARKETING GEOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS 48 9.6 SCHEDULE 48 9.7 CREATIVE 49 9.8 MEASUREMENT 49

10.0 PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR) 50

10.1 PUBLIC RELATIONS OBJECTIVES 50 10.2 PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES 50 10.3 PUBLIC RELATIONS TACTICS 50 10.4 PUBLIC RELATIONS BUDGET AND MIX 51 10.5 SCHEDULE 51 10.6 MEASUREMENT 51

11.0 CHANNEL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 52

11.1 TOURISM MARKETING FRAMEWORK AND TRADE PARTNERS 52 11.2 CREATIVE BRIEF (TRADE PARTNERS) 52

12.0 COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING (RADIO) 53

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12.1 COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES 53 12.2 COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING STRATEGIES 53 12.3 ADVERTISING TACTICS 54 12.4 BUDGET 54 12.5 GEOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS 54 12.6 CREATIVE 54 12.7 MEDIA SCHEDULE AND FLOWCHART 55 12.8 MEASUREMENTS 55

13.0 COOPERATIVE INTERNET MARKETING 56

13.1 COOPERATIVE INTERNET MARKETING OBJECTIVES 56 13.2 COOPERATIVE INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIES 57 13.3 COOPERATIVE INTERNET MARKETING TACTICS 57 13.4 COOPERATIVE INTERNET MARKETING BUDGET 57 13.5 GEOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS 57 13.6 CREATIVE 58 13.7 SCHEDULE / FLOWCHART 58 13.8 MEASUREMENTS 58

14.0 TRADE-ORIENTED PROMOTIONS 59

14.1 TRADE PROMOTION OBJECTIVE 59 14.2 TRADE PROMOTION STRATEGY 59 14.3 TRADE-PROMOTION TOOLS 59 14.4 GEOGRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS 60 14.5 TRADE-ORIENTED PROMOTIONS BUDGET AND MIX 60 14.6 CREATIVE 61 14.7 SCHEDULE 61 14.8 MEASUREMENT 61

15.0 CAMPAIGN SUPPORT / MISCELLANEOUS 62

15.1 PERSONAL SELLING 62 15.2 PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR) 62 15.3 TRADE PUBLICATION ADVERTISING 62 15.4 SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMS 62 15.5 DATABASE PROGRAMS 62 15.5 SALES PROMOTIONS 62

16.0 EVALUATION PLAN 63

16.1 MEASUREMENT METHODOLOGY AND APPLICATION OF FINDINGS 63 16.11 Concept and Creative Strategy 63 16.12 Consumer - Objectives One Thru Three 64 16.13 Consumer - Objective Four 65 16.14 Consumer - Objective Five 66 16.15 Trade Partner - Objectives One and Two 67 16.16 Trade Partner - Objectives Three and Four 67

APPENDIX A – TOP COMPETITORS, SLOGANS, AND TYPICAL MESSAGE POINTS 1

APPENDIX B – COMPETITIVE COMMUNICATIONS 2

APPENDIX C – COMPETITOR DESTINATIONS AND ACTIVITIES 3

APPENDIX D – IMC OPPORTUNITIES – Q & A 4

APPENDIX E – MI PROSPECTIVE TRAVELER INQUIRIES BY CHANNEL 5

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APPENDIX F – CLARITAS PRIZM PRODUCT OVERVIEW 6

APPENDIX G – VISITS BY STATE TO MICHIGAN.ORG 7

APPENDIX H – MICHIGAN’S DESTINATIONS AND ACTIVITIES 8

APPENDIX I – CREATIVE STRATEGY STATEMENT 9

APPENDIX J – MICHIGAN’S VISITATIONS BY QUARTER 11

APPENDIX K – U.S. MEDIA CONSUMPTION STATISTICS 12

APPENDIX L – TOURISM MARKETING FRAMEWORK 13

APPENDIX M – CREATIVE BRIEF (TRADE PARTNERS) 14

REFERENCES 16

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1.0 Executive Summary Travel Michigan has an opportunity to achieve an unprecedented level of leisure travel to Michigan in

2011, but grasping the opportunity will not be easy. Consumers have a myriad of travel choices, and

prospective travelers desire to travel to out of the ordinary travel destinations that are unique,

beautiful, and authentic. Fortunately, Michigan offers this rare combination of travel attributes, but

many travelers in the region are still unaware of Michigan’s extraordinary travel destinations. The 2011

IMC campaign will ensure that prospective travelers are not only made aware of what Michigan has to

offer; they will also be motivated to enjoy a variety of extended vacations in Michigan at various times

throughout the year.

This IMC campaign will continue to establish Michigan as one of America’s top vacation destinations,

based on the state’s unique and highly desirable combination of destinations and activities that are

designed to fulfill the traveler’s most important lifestyle needs and wants. The campaign will address

the needs and wants of the target audience by demonstrating how Michigan’s destinations and activities

are designed to help them improve the quality of their life. Ultimately, Michigan will be recognized as

the state that is uniquely “made for life.”

A highly integrated set of marketing communication vehicles will be used to reach the target audience.

The campaign’s primary communication vehicles are advertising, direct and interactive marketing, public

relations, trade channel marketing, and new media. In addition, a new social media platform has been

created for the campaign, and it is designed to create a significant amount of buzz and brand interaction

for Travel Michigan. There are a number of innovative channel marketing strategies and tactics that are

designed to create buzz and brand interaction as well.

The campaign’s marketing outlets will professionally communicate the new “Made for Life” theme. The

theme will help showcase Michigan as a premier travel destination that is designed to deliver unique

lifestyle-focused travel experiences. In addition, the “Made for Life” campaign theme will be used to

build a new base of travelers as well as to motivate existing travelers to return to Michigan in the near

future. This year’s IMC plan will deliver more effective advertising and promotion for significantly less

cost than last year’s campaign, and it will do so with innovative IMC strategies and tactics that will

deeply resonate with prospective travelers for years to come.

The budget for the 2011 “Made for Life” campaign is $5.4 million. The campaign is designed to achieve

a minimum return on investment (ROI) of $12 million during the first year (this is a conservative

estimate). The “Made for Life” campaign strategies and tactics are designed to increase brand equity

over the short-term and the long-term, and the campaign’s innovative approach to social media will

surely deliver strong financial results well after 2011.

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2.0 Promotions Opportunity Analysis

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 2009 was the most difficult

year for U.S. travel and tourism industries since 9/11. Compared to 2008, U.S.

travel and tourism industries generated $100 billion less output and the

industry jettisoned approximately 392,000 tourism related jobs. The U.S.

travel and tourism industries are experiencing a relatively strong turnaround

in 2010, but the growth is mainly due to an increase in international tourism spending.

Michigan’s travel and tourism industries are also beginning to experience a turnaround. Dan McCole,

Michigan State University’s tourism analyst, presented a positive industry forecast at the Pure Michigan

Governor’s Conference in May of this year. According to McCole (2010), Michigan’s tourism spending is

expected to improve by 3 percent to 4 percent during 2010. McCole has attributed a significant portion

of the state’s tourism growth to the Pure Michigan campaign, which he believes has done a good job

communicating the state’s broad range of high value tourism options.

Travelers are becoming more confident about their financial future, and this will certainly translate into

additional tourism related opportunities for Michigan as well as the state’s competitors. The Pure

Michigan campaign has been extremely successful since its launch in 2006, but due to the extraordinary

economic conditions currently facing the state of Michigan, the state has slashed the tourism marketing

communications budget from $30 million in 2009 to $5.4 million in 2010. The budget cut has created an

opportunity to refresh the Pure Michigan campaign with a more cost effective campaign. An in-depth

promotion opportunity analysis (POA) will be conducted to determine what new promotional

opportunities exist for Travel Michigan. In addition, the POA will be used to identify the characteristics

of each target audience so that precise advertising and marketing communications messages can be

developed. Ultimately, the analysis will be used to develop a refreshed IMC campaign to help stimulate

a predetermined level of incremental leisure travel to Michigan.

2.1 Communications Market Analysis

A communication market analysis was conducted with two overarching goals in mind. The first

goal is to better understand the strengths and weaknesses associated with Travel Michigan’s

marketing communications. The second goal is to obtain a better understanding of the

opportunities and threats that are present in the firm’s external environment. The analysis

examined the following seven areas:

• Competition

• IMC Opportunities

• Target Audience

• Market Segmentation

• Target Market(s)

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• Positioning

• Differentiation

2.1.1 Competitive Analysis

For the purposes of the POA, a primary “competitor” is defined as a state in the Midwest, the

state of Florida, or province in Canada (specifically Ontario) that creates regional or national

market demand for its leisure tourism services. Secondary competitors are states outside of the

geographic locations provided above.

What states provide the most visitors to Michigan? According to a tourism report from

Michigan State University, the average percent of Michigan’s leisure person days (limited to the

top 5 competitive states) during 2000 – 2004 was as follows:

Figure 1.0 – Percent of MI’s Leisure Person Days by State.

Source: Michigan Tourism Facts by the University of Michigan

eTurboNews.com (2010), a global travel news source, has provided more current statistics on

Michigan’s travelers. According to a recent eTurboNews.com article entitled “Pure Michigan

Tourism Campaign Killed,” the Pure Michigan campaign’s main focus was to “attract more out-

of-state visitors because state tourism officials realized they could no longer rely solely on

Michiganians, who account for 70 percent of the state's travel volume.” This is very important

information since it provides direction for the new campaign, which will need to pull visitors

from competitive states in order to address the risk of relying too heavily on Michiganians for

the state’s tourism revenues.

Ontario, Canada provides a significant source of competition as well as tourism revenue to

Michigan. CIC Research Inc. (2008) offers the following tourism related insights:

• In 2007, over 2.7 million visits were made between the State of Michigan and Canada.

Canadians visited Michigan 1.4 million times, spending $284 million. Michiganders made

1.3 million visits to Canada, and spent $467 million.

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• There were 9.2 million overnight visitors to the Detroit Metropolitan Area, with Canadians

accounting for approximately 3%, and 6.5 million day visitors to Metro Detroit, with

Canadians accounting for 7%.

Rationales

• The five states were selected as top competitors because they provide the highest level of

“person days” for Michigan’s tourism industry.

• Approximately 80% of Michigan’s “person days” are from travelers that live in Michigan and

the remaining five competitive states.

• Michigan’s tourism industry would greatly suffer if their current and / or future traveler base

from the five competitor states decided to spend their travel dollars in their home state or

other travel destinations versus Michigan.

• Ontario, Canada provides a substantial amount of tourism related revenue to Michigan, and

Michiganders have a high affinity for Canadian travel.

• Travel Michigan has already conducted a significant amount of brand building related

advertising in the locations listed above. The current campaign budget has been

significantly reduced, and it is reasonable to believe that it will be more cost effective to

penetrate existing markets than to create new market demand in secondary locations.

Competitor’s Marketing Communications:

A thorough examination of the competitor’s marketing communications was

performed in order to better understand how each competitor was attempting to generate

market demand for their tourism related offerings. The following competitive communications

analysis was conducted:

• A snapshot of each competitor’s current brand logo, campaign slogan, and typical

message points is located in Appendix A.

• A variety of links to advertisements, promotional materials, tourism websites, and

public relations information is located in Appendix B.

The following is a brief list of key takeaways from the competitive communications analysis:

• Overall, the competitive travel communications were not overly engaging or original.

• Most of the competitors ask prospective travelers to “visit,” “experience,” or “discover”

their destinations. Very little elaboration is offered, so it is difficult to form associations.

• Ohio’s slogan is “Too Much Fun for Just One Day,” which is apparently designed to solve

the state’s challenge of keeping travelers interested for more than one day. The state’s

slogan and the respective marketing communications offer little to bolster brand image.

• A number of Michigan’s competitors continue to focus their marketing communications

on generic adventure stories. This approach is dated and overused.

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• Overall, the competition’s new media / social media strategies and tactics were fairly

generic. It appears that the main strategy for social media is to simply find as many

prospective travelers to “like” the state’s Facebook page, view pics and videos, and read

the state’s tourism blog. It is difficult to tell the effectiveness of the strategies.

• State residents tend to provide highly positive feedback about their travels through their

home state (on social media sites etc.). Travelers tend to post positive information

about their travel experiences in the competitive states as well. In general, posts are

positive.

• The analysis clearly showed the strengths of the Pure Michigan campaign, and it

exposed a fair amount of weaknesses in the competitor’s strategies and tactics.

2.1.2 Opportunity Analysis

A comprehensive opportunity analysis was conducted to identify new IMC opportunities for

Travel Michigan. The opportunity analysis was conducted in two stages. The first stage analyzed

“what” was being promoted via the various marketing communications. This analysis focused

on the actual offerings, which is each state’s destinations and activities.

The second stage of the analysis focused on finding answers to five pivotal IMC opportunity

related questions. The information needed to answer the five questions will be used to help

uncover new IMC opportunities for Michigan.

A general snapshot of each competitor’s current offerings is provided in

Appendix C. The top three key takeaways from the first stage of the

analysis are as follows:

• Competitors share a large number of comparable destinations and

activities, and each competitor tends to have a number of

differentiated offerings. The differentiated offerings tend to drive

a disproportionate amount of tourism to the destination (e.g. Chicago’s nightlife for

Illinois).

• The perceived quality and / or uncommon aspects of a destination are critically important

to prospective travelers. While each of the competitive destinations offers “biking,” there

are preferred biking trails and so forth.

• It is uncommon for Michigan’s competitors to use strategic brand management

techniques to build strong brand images or brand associations for their entire state or

providence. This appeared to be a critical success factor for the Pure Michigan campaign.

Michigan’s activities and destinations are directly associated with the “Pure Michigan”

brand, and this approach helped create a powerful brand image for the entire state of

Michigan not just a given activity or destination).

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Clow, K. and Baack, D. (2007) offer five questions to ask to help uncover key IMC related

opportunities. The IMC question and answer table in Appendix D completes the second phase

of the opportunity analysis.

The top three key takeaways from the second stage of the analysis are as follows:

• In general, the competition tends to simply ask prospective travelers to “visit,”

“experience,” or “discover” their destinations. This approach doesn’t effectively create

strong brand associations for the various destinations. Travel Michigan has an

opportunity to take advantage of the poor brand building strategies and tactics used by

the competition by continuing to penetrate competitive markets with communications

about the repositioned MI brand. The competition’s communication approach is far

behind the current IMC approach used by Travel Michigan.

• There are a number of opportunities to build relationships with travelers using a slightly

different marketing approach. For example, given the state of Michigan’s tourism budget,

word of mouth marketing strategies and tactics (e.g. social networking) should receive

greater emphasis in the marketing communications plan. If the new budget number

holds, it will dictate this approach.

• As expected, there are some marketing opportunities that are not being pursued. For

example, Travel Michigan should seriously consider pioneering a new social media

platform for the refreshed IMC campaign. There is a tremendous opportunity to create

additional connections, and conversations, and community with Michigan’s travelers. The

standard social media sites are limited and they can only take MI so far.

2.1.3 Customer Analysis

Travel Michigan has fairly extensive primary and secondary research data on the target

audience. Given the constraints surrounding the refreshed campaign, only freely available

secondary research data will be used to complete the customer analysis.

Demographics: Travel Michigan’s advertisements wisely direct prospective consumers to

Michigan.org. It is reasonable to believe that the Internet traffic on Michigan.org is

representative of the demographics that Travel Michigan used to develop their ideal audience

profiles. Websites such as Quantcast.com freely provide demographic profiles for various

Internet properties such as Michigan.org. Unfortunately, demographic profiles were not

available for a given region or designated marketing area. In addition, variables such as

occupation are not freely available. Knowing the limitations of the approach, the following is a

demographic profile of Michigan.org from Quantcast.com:

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Figure 2.0 – US Demographic Profile of Michigan.org

Source: Quantcast.com

Travel Michigan originally used Nielson’s Claritas Prizm for their market segmentation,

demographics, psychographics, and behavior studies. The demographic information provided

by Claritas is much more extensive and meaningful than the small sample of data presented

above.

Psychographics and Behavior Profiles: An extensive set of psychographic and behavior profiles

have already been developed for Travel Michigan by McCann and D.K. Shifflet and Associates.

Given the success of the campaign (and the budget cuts), it seems reasonable to continue using

the psychographic profiles that were previously created for Travel Michigan

(http://www.travelmichigannews.org). The profiles provide critical lifestyle information related

to travel and so forth. Additional information will be provided on this subject in an upcoming

section of the POA.

Additional Customer Analysis: An extensive customer analysis is not possible due to the

limitations associated with using freely available secondary research information. This is

unfortunate because there are still a large number of unanswered questions regarding the

prospective traveler’s decision making process. Thankfully, Travel Michigan provides a small

amount of free secondary research on this topic.

A white paper on the TravelMichiganNews.org site entitled “Conversion Studies” provides some

useful traveler related insights. The information in the white paper is a bit dated since the

report was created in 2003, but the report still offers useful information on how a prospective

traveler moves through the destination marketing organization’s pipeline. The information isn’t

ideal because it is from the destination marketer’s perspective, but it is helpful because it

provides bits and pieces of the prospective traveler’s decision making process. The following is a

brief list of insights from the report:

• There are three possible opportunities for traveler influence – (1) prior to leaving on their

travels, (2) enroute to their destinations, (3) after arriving at their destination.

Demographic Indicators:

• 59% female / 41% male

• 37% 35 – 49 years of age

• 87% Caucasian

• 67% No kids

• 33% Has kids

• 35% > $100K HH Income

• 30% $60 - $100K

• 43% College educated

• 40% No College

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• A significant percentage of the Travel Michigan research study sample had already

decided to travel to a destination prior to receiving their travel related marketing

communications.

• Travel Michigan’s website is a critically important communication tool (see Appendix E).

• The travel decision process is basically an “information search” that is influenced by many

factors.

• Findings indicate that fall and summer inquirers were more likely to be inquiring for

immediate travel, while winter inquirers were more likely to be planning for future spring

or summer travel when inquiring.

Rationales for Selecting the Ideal Audience Profiles:

• Travel Michigan, in conjunction with McCann and D.K. Shifflet and Associates, has

developed solid demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral profiles for

the target audiences. One “ideal” demographic profile wasn’t selected due to the

stratified targeting approach that has been selected for the campaign (Prizm).

• The preexisting customer analysis will be used for the project based on the success of

the campaign and the reduction of the campaign budget. The information is readily

available, and some of the information and analysis can be found at

TravelMichiganNews.org.

• Nielson’s Claritas Prizm product was used to conduct the demographic, lifestyle, and

behavioral analysis. Based on the previous campaign’s relatively high ROI, it seems

realistic to believe that the appropriate customer / audience profiles are being used for

the campaigns.

2.1.4 Market Segmentation

Based on the information listed in the Customer Analysis section of this paper, the following

market segmentation approach will be used for Travel Michigan:

Demographic Segments: The demographic segments will be based on the preexisting Claritas

Prizm information. The freely available limited version of the demographic segments (from

Quantcast.com) is located in the Customer Analysis section of this paper.

Psychographics and Behavior Segments: The psychographic / behavioral segmentation

approach the third party providers used for the previous campaign will also be used for the new

campaign. The approach should be considered a best practice, and a sample of the work is

provided below in order to demonstrate the process. In addition, Appendix F provides an

overview of the Claritas Prizm product. The information for the potential traveler

psychographics was sourced from TravelMichiganNews.org.

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Sample Travel Michigan Psychographic Information for “Chicago” (HHs with No Kids)

Claritas Prizm provided the analysis that led Travel Michigan to consider the

following clusters as the best opportunities:

• Home Sweet Home: High index (119) and average penetration (4.2%)

• Money & Brains: High index (112) and high penetration (6.7%)

• American Dreams: High index (106) and average penetration (4.7%)

• Young Digerati: Average index (101) and average penetration (4.4%)

“Domestic Duos” were not selected due to its S3 classification and its average % penetration.

Claritas Prizm Profiles for Chicago (no kids)

Geography: Appendix G provides a map of Michigan.org’s “visits by state” from prospective

travelers. The map only provides general traffic analysis at the state level, but it supports the

selection of the geographic locations listed in the Competitive Analysis section of the paper.

2.1.5 Target Market Analysis

Target Markets: The following designated marketing areas have been selected as target markets

for the new campaign based on their desirable demographic, psychographic, and behavior

profiles: (1) Chicago, IL, (2) Green Bay & Milwaukee, WI, (3) Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus,

Toledo, & Cincinnati, OH, (4) Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend, IN, (5) Windsor /

Southern Ontario, Canada. Note: Florida was not added to the list due to a variety of factors

such as low person days, geographic proximity, travel costs, and budget cuts.

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The targeting efforts will focus on (1) current travelers to MI (mainly located in MI), (2) travelers

that reside in competitive states / provinces that don’t regularly travel to MI (3) travelers that

haven’t been to MI but are likely to do so.

2.1.6 Positioning and Differentiation

Based on the freely available secondary research, the state of Michigan was historically thought

of as an above average and relatively rural Midwest state. Travel Michigan has worked diligently

to reposition Michigan as one of America’s most desirable destinations. The analysis below is

designed to help solidify Michigan’s new position that was established from the Pure Michigan

campaign.

Points of Parity: Appendix H lists the general travel destinations and activities that are found on

Michigan.org. From a high level “points of parity” perspective, Michigan’s list of destinations

and activities is very similar to the competitive list of destinations and activities found in

Appendix C. For example, all of Michigan’s competitors offer golfing, shopping, and fishing and

so forth. In reality, there are a myriad of differences between each travel destination. In order

to simplify the analysis, the points of parity analysis will need to stay at a very high level. Since

detailed information isn’t freely available, the points of parity for Michigan are going to simply

be the majority of the competitor’s destinations and activities.

Points of Difference: The Pure Michigan campaign did an excellent job of creatively visualizing

some of Michigan’s most compelling points of difference. The following is a brief list of some of

Michigan’s most desirable points of difference:

• The world’s longest freshwater coastline

• Arguably unmatched natural beauty

• Motown’s Hitsville USA building

• Mackinac Island

• Greenfield Village

• Diego Rivera Murals

• Northern Coastline

• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

• Michigan Lighthouses

• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

• Isle Royale National Park

• The Henry Ford

• Tahquamenon Falls State Park

• Soo Locks

• Frederik Meijer Gardens

• Au Sable River

• Porcupine Mountains (The Porkies)

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The list can go on and on. In addition to the above, there are number of unique “experiences”

that can only happen in Michigan (e.g. sunrise over Mackinac bridge etc.). The points of

difference are only relevant from a marketing perspective if they are able to satisfy the needs

and wants of prospective travelers. Based on the response to the Pure Michigan campaign,

Michigan’s points of difference are relevant and desirable to travelers in the target markets.

The Previous Campaign’s Selling Idea: The brand strategists from the Pure Michigan campaign

successfully repositioned Michigan by creating unique, strong, and favorable brand associations

for Michigan’s points of difference. Michigan’s repositioned brand image currently presents

Michigan as a highly desirable authentic, unspoiled, and untamed travel destination.

2.2 Modified SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis has been developed for the project. The analysis was modified to mainly focus

on marketing communications related items (versus marketing management items).

Figure 3.0 – Modified SWOT Analysis

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3.0 Corporate Vision, Stakeholders, and Objectives

3.1 Vision

Travel Michigan has recently created an extremely challenging vision for the refreshed Michigan

brand, and the vision is as follows: “That Michigan be recognized as one

of America’s top vacation destinations.” Every objective, strategy, and

tactic in the new campaign will directly support Travel Michigan’s vision

for the state of Michigan.

3.2 Stakeholders

There are a number of important stakeholders for the refreshed campaign, and they are as

follows:

• The target audience identified in the POA

• Travel Michigan’s employees

• Channel partners

• The media

• Travel and tourism related communities

• Michigan’s state government

• Tax payers / MI residents

3.3 Overarching Corporate Objectives

Travel Michigan’s corporate objectives will have some overlap with the organization’s IMC

objectives because the agency is responsible for generating tourism demand for the state of the

Michigan. The corporate objectives will address the needs associated with the organization’s

business plan versus the marketing / IMC plan.

Travel Michigan hasn’t released their specific business / marketing objectives to the public, but

they have provided some overarching objectives in the business case that was sent to Eastern

Michigan University (EMU). In addition, Travel Michigan has discussed their high level objectives

with the press (e.g. campaign profitability, return on investment information, and their desire to

use the growth in tourism and travel to help fuel employment and tax revenue in Michigan).

The following is a brief list of Travel Michigan’s overarching objectives:

• Contribution to Michigan’s communities: Tourism is Michigan’s second largest industry,

and Travel Michigan’s would like to help add at least 100 new jobs to Michigan’s travel

and tourism industry during the campaign period (2010 / 2011)

• Revenue growth / profitability: On average, achieve a 10% increase in traveler spend per

trip.

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• Contributions to Michigan’s tax revenues: Provide a minimum of $2.23 million in

incremental state taxes for every $1 million spent on advertising and promotion during

the campaign period (2011)

• Contribution to Michigan’s travelers: Ensure that a high value and satisfying travel

experience is provided to travelers in order to achieve a high level of traveler loyalty to

Michigan (surveys will be used to measure customer satisfaction, value, and loyalty

throughout the campaign period (2011)

• Return on Investment (ROI): Achieve an ROI ratio between 2:1 to 5:1 on all advertising and

promotional efforts during the campaign period (2011)

3.4 High-Level Corporate Strategies

Travel Michigan’s main strategic focus is on generating incremental market

demand from the out of state competitors. As mentioned previously,

approximately 70% of Michigan’s travelers are from Michigan, and this places

Michigan’s tax revenue at risk because Michigan’s population is declining and

the state is experiencing a relatively high level of unemployment. The primary

corporate strategies are going to target increasing the amount of tourism and

travel revenue from the target markets listed in the POA (Section 2.0). The

secondary strategies will focus on reducing costs (due to the budget cuts).

• Dedicate a larger portion of the budget to out of state IMC activities (target – diversification

and competitive strength)

• Generate incremental market demand for upscale properties and locations (target - ROI,

profitability, and contribution to MI communities)

• Increase marketing’s efficiency and effectiveness in order to minimize the effects from the

budget cut (target - profitability, ROI, and budget reduction)

• Increase the traveler’s length of stay by increasing the number of activities or destinations a

traveler experiences during their trip (target - tax revenues and contribution to MI

communities)

• Increase traveler spend during their stay (target - tax revenues and contribution to MI

communities)

• Continue to measure and monitor traveler satisfaction (target – MI’s traveler retention)

Rationales

There are three main reasons why the above strategies were selected for Travel Michigan. First,

increases in marketing efficiency and effectiveness are going to be needed given the budget cut.

Second, the feeder market strategies are going to be needed to reduce the current risk of missing

Michigan’s tax revenue targets. Finally, it is critical that Travel Michigan generates more revenue

per traveler in order to try and compensate for the reduction of the IMC budget.

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3.5 Corporate Image Strategy

One of Travel Michigan’s main corporate goals is to establish Michigan as the preferred travel

destination for travelers located in the various target markets. A solid corporate image strategy

was used to help Travel Michigan achieve this goal. The previous campaign’s corporate image

strategy was developed around the following three brand associations:

Figure 4 – Travel Michigan’s Previous Campaign’s Key Associations

3.5.1 Enhanced Corporate Image Strategy

Based on findings from the POA (Section 2.0), the corporate image strategy for the new

campaign will be enhanced as follows:

• Include secondary associations for Michigan’s key differentiated activities and

destinations

• Add emotional associations such as calm, peaceful, satisfying, fun, social

acceptance, and revitalizing

• Add cognitive associations such as high value, seasonal benefits (colors), smart

choice, and the unique aspects of the destinations and activities.

Rationale

The new associations were added to the existing brand associations to enhance

Michigan’s overall brand image. The additional emotional and cognitive associations are

important to the target market consumer, and they are directly linked to brand

resonance. The enhanced brand image will be designed to help create additional brand

engagement, attachment, and traveler loyalty.

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3.6 Brand Development Strategy & IMC Themed Approach

Clow, K. and Baack, D. (2007) state that two things can help a company create a stronger brand,

and they are as follows:

1. The name must be repeatedly promoted in advertisements

2. The brand name must be associated with its most prominent characteristic.

The Pure Michigan campaign has been running for nearly five years, and the campaign continues

to do a terrific job of repeatedly promoting the state’s brand name, unique destinations, and

desirable activities. In addition, the campaign has been able to build unique, strong, and

favorable brand associations that were used to establish Michigan as a premier Midwestern

travel destination. The words “Pure Michigan” have been used to describe a number of

Michigan’s differentiated offerings and they have also been used to describe some of the

desirable aspects of a Michigander’s lifestyle. This approach has successfully repositioned

Michigan’s brand, and the state has greatly benefited from Travel Michigan’s efforts.

The next step in the evolution of Michigan’s brand development is going to be to elevate

Michigan’s main brand association from an important attribute (pure) to a more abstract all-

inclusive benefit. The Pure Michigan campaign successfully added the word “pure” to

Michigan’s brand promise. The question is - what is the benefit of a U.S. state being “pure”

from the traveler’s viewpoint? One the one hand, “Pure Michigan” offers travelers the

opportunity to experience a variety of destinations and activities that are “unique to the state of

Michigan.” On the other hand, out of state travelers may just see “Pure Michigan” as a branded

travel destination that is mainly a “Michigan thing.” Ideally, Travel Michigan would want

prospective travelers to see Michigan as travel destination that is uniquely made for their

particular lifestyle needs and wants.

The brand development strategy for the refreshed IMC campaign is

going to be to associate Michigan with the ultimate benefit: life itself.

The Pure Michigan campaign successfully revealed one of Michigan’s

best kept secrets: that Michigan offers travelers an abundance of

natural beauty. The refreshed campaign is going to present

Michigan’s ultimate conceptual benefit, which is that Michigan is –

“Made for Life.” The Made for Life theme / tagline offers Travel

Michigan a unique opportunity to demonstrate to prospective

travelers that Michigan is designed to help improve the quality of their life. How? If a traveler

thoroughly enjoys an active lifestyle, then there is an opportunity to show the traveler how

Michigan is “made for an active life.” Using the above theme, there are endless opportunities to

establish a strong connection with prospective travelers.

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Rationales:

• The word “pure” (in the Pure Michigan brand) is an important brand attribute.

However, there is an opportunity to further develop Michigan’s brand around key

benefits.

• The “Made for Life” theme was selected because it provides Travel Michigan with the

ultimate benefit for travelers: life itself. This can be a peaceful life, an active life, and so

forth.

• Pure Michigan can be perceived as a “Michigan thing.” It’s important that prospective

travelers see Michigan as travel destination that was uniquely made for their particular

lifestyle needs and wants.

3.6.1 Overall Themed Approach

The overall themed approach for the “Made for Life” campaign is going to be both rational

and emotional. The theme will be oriented toward value, fun, and excitement. In addition,

it will match the media, the target market, and the primary IMC message for this campaign.

3.6.2 Brand Logo

A modified brand logo has been designed for the new campaign.

Figure 5.0 – Refreshed Brand Logo / “Made for Life” theme

3.7 Brand Positioning Strategy

The brand positioning strategy for the Made for Life campaign will be to use experiential

positioning (use / application for product brands) to create a favorable position in the

prospective traveler’s mind. This positioning strategy will help exploit the prospective traveler’s

desire to fulfill their particular lifestyle oriented yearnings. For example, a true outdoorsman

will tend to have an intense desire for outdoor adventure. Using this positioning strategy,

various differentiated travel destinations in Michigan will be positioned to uniquely satisfy the

traveler’s intense lifestyle desires. In other words, Michigan’s differentiated offerings will

uniquely quench the prospective traveler’s thirst for a particular travel experience. Travelers

won’t just want to go hiking; they will want to hike in Tahquamenon Falls State Park because it

will uniquely address a particular lifestyle need or want.

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Rationales

The experiential / usage brand positioning strategy was selected for the following reasons:

• The approach will help connect the traveler’s unique lifestyle desires with offerings

that are only available in Michigan

• The strategy can be directly supported with best practice IMC tactics

• The strategy is lifestyle focused, and lifestyle needs and wants are critically

important to travelers

3.8 Distribution Strategy

Travel Michigan currently has a complete and successful distribution / channel partner strategy

in place at this time. Michigan’s travel services related channels and infrastructure do not have

to be modified for the new campaign to be successful. The Internet marketing section of this

document (Section 3.10) will discuss how the Internet will be used as Travel Michigan’s primary

channel.

3.9 Public Relations Strategies

The “Made for Life” campaign will leverage the following PR strategies to accomplish the

corporate objectives listed previously:

• Influence positive attitudes about Michigan’s travel destinations and activities so that

prospective travelers will have a greater willingness to consider Michigan as a travel

destination

• Stimulate ongoing coverage of newsworthy travel and tourism related stories on Michigan

• Obtain ongoing publicity for key seasonal activities and events during the campaign period

• Construct an online community of Michigan travel supporters that regularly communicate

and connect

• Creatively capitalize on Web 2.0 related PR opportunities

Travel Michigan’s public relations (PR) efforts will be managed by third party personnel. The

external PR firm will have the following responsibilities:

• Monitor internal publics

• Monitor external publics

• PR events

• PR sponsorship programs

• Publicity

3.10 Internet Marketing Strategies

Travel Michigan has already formulated and executed a significant number of effective Internet

marketing strategies. The organization’s website already incorporates a number of best

practices (Web 2.0, usability, etc.) and the site currently has a Google page rank of 6 out of 10,

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which is a relatively high mark for a tourism website (Google’s pagerank is an indication of a

site’s relevance and importance). The goal for the “Made for Life” campaign is to complement

the Internet marketing strategies that used for the Pure Michigan campaign. The following is a

brief list of Internet marketing strategies for the “Made for Life campaign:

• Incremental traveler acquisition: The strategy will be to simply refine the current

acquisition strategies. The refined strategy will be to enhance the current site’s

capability to deliver new prospects on a continuous basis through slight modifications to

the current online marketing techniques (such as SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing,

aggregators, page enhancements and different landing pages).

• Prospective traveler conversion: Based on the current site’s features and functionality,

the following strategies will be incorporated to help Travel Michigan achieve their

corporate objectives:

o Integrate a new social media platform that allows users an opportunity to

showcase their Michigan travels in a new and intriguing way. The new social

media platform will be designed to help improve traveler conversions

o Provide more in-depth content and insider insights

o Integration of interactive tools to stimulate travel decisions

• Traveler growth and growth: The main strategy for this section is to introduce more

participation through customer communities. The current participation levels have

room for improvement.

The “Made for Life” theme, messages, and branding elements will be incorporated into the

existing website layouts. This will help reduce the transition time, and it will complement the

previous campaign’s Internet marketing approach. The new Internet marketing strategies will

be seamlessly incorporated into the campaign.

3.11 Miscellaneous Issues: Regulatory, Ethical, Social Responsibility or PR Considerations

An analysis was conducted to determine if Travel Michigan will be at risk of missing the

campaign’s objectives due to miscellaneous issues or challenges. At the time this document was

written, there weren’t any openly available pressing miscellaneous issues that had a high

probability of impeding the campaign’s success. News alerts will be monitored throughout the

campaign.

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4.0 Integrated Marketing Communications Management

The Pure Michigan campaign achieved an impressive return on investment over the past five years.

The previous campaign motivated prospective travelers to rethink Michigan’s value proposition, to

get reenergized about traveling to Michigan, and to begin / continue to experience Michigan’s

destinations and activities. Given the 80+ percent reduction of Travel Michigan’s budget, it is

important that a highly cost effective IMC approach is used for the “Made for Life” campaign. The

main goal for the new IMC campaign is to successfully penetrate the DMA’s in the competitor’s

markets in order to achieve the campaign’s ROI target (with a significantly smaller IMC budget).

4.1 Communication Objectives

The communication objectives are designed to support Travel Michigan’s need to move

prospective travelers from brand awareness to action. In addition, the campaign’s financial

objectives have been included. As expected, the communication objectives have been

significantly reduced due to the budget cut. This being said, the targeted objectives were not

reduced by the same percentage as the budget. There will be an all-out effort to obtain the

highest level of campaign efficiency and effectiveness possible, and this should reduce some of

the challenges associated with the budget cut.

1. Achieve a 10% increase in brand awareness (recognition and recall) with target consumers

in key out of state DMAs by the end of the campaign period (2011). The focus will be on

targeted destinations and activities.

2. Generate positive attitudes about Michigan’s travel destinations and activities with 7% of

target consumers by April 1, 2011.

3. Create interest in Michigan’s destination and activity brands amongst 5% of the target

audience by April 1, 2011.

4. Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic (Michigan.org), Web 2.0

utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and eMarketing tools (newsletter, banner ads, SEM) by

Dec. 31, 2011.

5. Influence enough incremental travel to Michigan to meet or exceed the current IMC

campaign’s return on investment of $2.23 for every dollar spent on marketing

communications during the 2011 calendar year (The tax revenue target is $12.35 million).

4.2 Communication Budget

Travel Michigan has been given a maximum budget of $5.4 million for the “Made for Life”

campaign launch. The budget may increase in the future, but there is no guarantee that this will

occur. For now, the campaign’s objectives and tasks will be based on the current budget of $5.4

million.

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4.2.1 Budget Breakdown

The overarching goal of the “Made for Life” campaign is to attract leisure travelers to

Michigan. Therefore, the entire campaign budget will be spent on achieving this objective.

The budget for each IMC channel will be discussed in detail at a future point in this

document. Following is a graph of the allocated media expenses per IMC channel and the

percentage of the budget that is allocated to each medium / category.

Figure 6.0 – Total IMC Campaign Budget

The $5.4 million “Made for Life” IMC campaign budget will be distributed as follows:

• Objectives 1 - 3: $1.35 million

• Objective 4: $1.62 million

• Objective 5: $1.35 million

In addition to the above objectives, the channel marketing communications objectives will

consume 20% of the budget ($1.08 million). The channel marketing communication

objectives are located in Section 14.1.

4.3 Agency Selection

Travel Michigan has a close working relationship with their current agency, but due to the

budget cut, a new agency may be selected for the “Made for Life” campaign. The following two

steps will be accomplished prior to screening initial candidates:

Total IMC Campaign Budget: $5,400,000

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4.3.1 Identify and Prioritize Corporate Goals

The top three prioritized goals are as follows:

• Work in a collaborative way with Travel Michigan, and create an environment with

high mutual respect.

• Develop creative ideas that are fresh, original, and appropriate.

• Establish firm budgetary constraints based on the corporation’s objectives and do

not depart from them.

4.3.2 Develop Agency Selection Criteria

The following selection criteria will be used to select an agency:

• The size of the agency

• Relevant experience

• Conflicts of interest

• Creative reputation and capabilities

• Production capabilities

• Media purchasing capabilities

• Other services available

• Client retention rates

• Personal chemistry

4.4 Internet Web site

The Internet Web site is discussed in detail in Section 8.0.

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5.0 Creative Strategy Statement and the Creative Brief

5.1 Creative Strategy Statement

A Creative Strategy Statement was produced to provide the creative team with an important

snapshot of the communication objectives, the primary and secondary target audience, the

competition’s recent communications, Michigan’s key features and primary benefit, and the

campaign’s promotions mix. The Creative Strategy Statement is located in Appendix I.

5.2 Creative Brief

The Creative Brief found below will provide the creative team with a blueprint to create

effective marketing communications for Travel Michigan.

Target Audience Profile Demographics:

• Gender:

Primary: Female, Secondary: Male

• Primary Age Group: 35 – 49

• Secondary Age Group: 50+

• Education: College Graduate

• HH Income: $60k+

• Race:

Mainly Caucasian, and African American and Hispanic

• Children:

Primary: No, Secondary Yes

Psychographics and Behavioristics:

Psychographic profiles were created for each DMA by McCann

and D.K. Shifflet and Associates. The profiles will be used for this

project, and they are located at

http://www.travelmichigannews.org.

Geographics:

Michigan’s Top 5 DMAs: (1) Detroit, (2) Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-

Battle Creek, (3) Flint-Saginaw-Bay City (4) Lansing, (5) Traverse

City-Cadillac

Key Feeder Markets: (1) Chicago, IL, (2) Green Bay & Milwaukee,

WI, (3) Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, & Cincinnati, OH, (4)

Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend, IN, (5) Windsor /

Southern Ontario, Canada

Communication

Objectives (Campaign vs. Single Ad)

• Achieve a 10% increase in brand awareness of MI’s targeted

destinations and activities with target consumers in key out of state

DMAs by the end of the campaign period (2010 / 11).

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• Generate positive attitudes about Michigan’s travel destinations

and activities with 7% of target consumers by April 1, 2011.

• Create interest in Michigan’s destinations and activities amongst 5%

of the target audience by April 1, 2011.

• Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic

(Michigan.org), Web 2.0 utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and

eMarketing tools (newsletter, banner ads, SEM) by Dec. 31, 2011.

• Influence enough incremental travel to Michigan to meet or exceed

the current IMC campaign’s return on investment of $2.23 for every

dollar spent on marketing communications during the 2010 / 2011

calendar year (Tax revenue target is $12.35 M).

Top Features and

Benefits

1a. Feature: Numerous highly desirable and unique destinations

1b. Benefit: Plenty of unique experiences for travelers to enjoy

2a. Feature: Untouched natural settings

2b. Benefit: Offers the target market the ability to quench their thirst for

discovery, adventure, and exploration

3a. Feature: Numerous unique lifestyle-focused activities

3b. Benefit: Exclusive and desirable travel experiences to enjoy based on

the traveler’s particular lifestyle needs and wants

Positioning Points of Parity:

1. The destinations offer comparable activities such as biking, golf

and boating.

2. The destinations offer similar points of interest such as

museums, wineries, and zoos.

3. The destinations offer travelers the ability to explore, discover,

and experience their comparable offerings.

Points of Difference:

1. There are a number of unique “experiences” that can only

occur in Michigan (e.g. sunrise over Mackinac Bridge etc.).

2. MI has a unique combination of desirable destinations,

untouched natural settings, and lifestyle-focused activities.

3. MI has unique offerings that are not available anywhere else

(e.g. the world’s longest freshwater coastline).

The competitive destinations’ communications mainly focus on generic

travel messages about “visiting,” “experiencing,” or “discovering” their

destinations. Travel Michigan has created a very strong and favorable

brand image for Michigan, and this should continue to be leveraged.

Key Consumer Benefit Big Idea: “Made for Life”

The creative solution for Travel Michigan will be a big idea that will help

enhance Pure Michigan’s strong brand position. The “Made for Life”

theme offers Travel Michigan a unique opportunity to demonstrate to

prospective travelers that MI is designed to help improve the quality of

their life (If a traveler thoroughly enjoys an active lifestyle, then there is

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an opportunity to show the traveler how MI is “made for an active life”).

Using the above theme, there are endless opportunities for travelers to

establish a strong and lasting relationship and connection with MI.

Creative Strategy Think / Feel / Do Creative Strategy Approach

The following message strategies will be used to achieve the objectives:

Response Message Objective Message Strategy

Cognitive Awareness / Understanding Credibility

Emotional Brand Image / Desire Lifestyle

Do Visit & Tell Others Interactive

Since the overarching objective is to obtain deeper market penetration

in the competitor’s DMAs, the campaign’s initial message strategies will

focus on credibility and desired lifestyle associations. Once the

strategies are executed, an interactive message strategy will be used to

create two-way communications with prospective travelers.

The campaign will use a blend of emotional and rational appeals to

persuade prospective travelers. The emotional appeals will attract

attention by establishing a strong connection between the traveler’s

self-image and the destination’s brand image. The rational appeals will

focus on the value and quality of MI’s unique destinations and activities.

The message appeals will attract traveler attention and influence the

need to visit MI by addressing highly desirable lifestyle needs and wants.

Tone Michigan’s brand personality has the following traits:

• Down-to-Earth

• Charming

• Outdoorsy

• Family-Oriented

• Exciting

• Original

Given the target market’s profile and the brand’s personality, the tone

for the campaign will mainly be emotional and it will be visually enticing

in nature. The tone will be friendly and inviting, but it will also have a

sense of excitement. Overall, the spirit of the refreshed campaign will

be based on quality of life, fun, and excitement. The tone will be used

to tie the appeal and the approach together.

Support Statement MI has a unique combination of desirable destinations, untouched

natural settings, and lifestyle-focused activities. The benefit is a

distinctive value-priced travel experience that closely aligns with the

traveler’s unique lifestyle needs and wants. This directly supports the

“Made for Life” theme.

Tagine “Made for Life”

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6.0 Advertising

Over the past five years, Travel Michigan has spent approximately $80 million on building and

maintaining the Pure Michigan brand. A significant portion of the expenditure was on broadcast

media, which was used to generate brand awareness and to solidify Michigan’s refreshed brand

image in the marketplace. In addition, magazine and newspaper advertising has been used, to a

much lesser degree, to communicate with the target audience. Travel Michigan has successfully

leveraged the numerous benefits of advertising to achieve high regional brand awareness and a

truly desirable brand image in the marketplace. Given Travel Michigan’s budget cuts, the

advertising portion of the “Made for Life” campaign is going to be scaled down and the focus will

shift to generating awareness, associations, and excitement about the most meaningful and

complementary elements of the “Made for Life” theme.

Advertising will show prospective travelers that Michigan is a unique and highly desirable travel

destination that is “designed” to improve the quality of their life. All advertisements will showcase

Travel Michigan’s new complementary “Made for Life” campaign

theme. The advertisements, like the campaign message, will

continue to speak to the hearts and minds of the primary and

secondary target audiences.

The advertising campaign will only run at strategic timeslots

during the year, and the exposure pattern will be specifically

designed to take advantage of the seasonality associated with

leisure visitations to Michigan. The percentage of Michigan’s

leisure person-days (by quarter) is located in Appendix J. Michigan’s visitations are highest in the

summer months (40%) and lowest during January thru March (13%).

A budget of $1.1 million, which is 20% of the total budget, will be divided as follows: local spot cable

television in select feeder markets (60%), radio (30%), and print (10%). The local cable television

spots will be limited to 15 seconds due to the reduced budget, and they will only be executed in

select DMAs. In addition, advertising across all media will run in a flighting manner due to the

limited advertising budget. Finally, all advertising vehicles will point prospective travelers to

Michigan.org to obtain further travel related information.

6.1 Media Consumption

U.S. media consumption statistics were evaluated prior to developing the advertising portion of

the campaign. Appendix K provides a snapshot of the average time media consumers spent per

day with major media types.

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6.2 Advertising Objectives

Advertising will be used to help achieve the following campaign objectives:

• Build top-of-mind awareness of the “Made for Life” campaign theme/message among an

additional 10% of the primary target consumers by the end of the campaign period (Dec.

31, 2011)

• Further enhance and complement Pure Michigan’s existing brand image by establishing

additional brand associations around quality of life, fun, and excitement by Dec. 31, 2011.

• During spring of 2011 , reach 25% of the primary target audience of adults ages 35 – 49 an

average of three times.

• During summer of 2011, reach 35% of the primary target audience an average of five

times.

• During fall and winter of 2011, reach 20% of the primary target audience at least once a

month.

• Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic (Michigan.org), Web 2.0

utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and eMarketing tools (newsletter, banner ads, SEM)

by December 31, 2011.

Rationale: The media objectives were developed using the following rationales:

• The awareness objective was limited to an additional 10% due to current level of

awareness in the feeder markets and the budget constraints.

• Seasonal emphasis is appropriate given Michigan’s tourism trends (Appendix J).

• The regionally focused objectives align with management’s strategic plan for the 12

month period.

• Michigan.org and the associated Web 2.0 properties are critical to the campaign’s success,

and the website acts as a hub for the majority of Michigan’s tourism activities.

6.3 Advertising Strategies

The following advertising strategies are recommended for the “Made for Life” campaign:

• Use local spot cable television as the primary medium to create awareness.

• Only 13% of Michigan’s visitations occur during the first quarter of the year (Appendix J).

During this period, the strategy will be to conserve the advertising budget and execute the

majority of the communications through more cost effective channels. Web 2.0, e-mail,

and other readily available channels will be leveraged. Broadcast media (TV and radio)

will only be lightly used during the first quarter.

• During the second quarter, roughly 26% of Michigan’s visitations occur. During this

period, broadcast media and print advertising will increase in order to energize key DMAs

for spring travel. A significant increase in TRPs will occur in early June for summer travel.

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• Roughly 40% of Michigan’s visitations occur in the third quarter. During this period, all

available advertising media will be used to maximize summer travel. Specific destinations

and activities will showcase how Michigan is uniquely “Made for Life.” A significant

amount of TRPs will occur in late August and early September to promote the fall color

tours and so forth. In addition to the above, the last month of the second quarter will be

used to generate market demand for the third quarter (media schedule is located in

Section 6.8).

• During the fourth quarter, approximately 20% of Michigan’s visitations occur. Spot cable

advertising will be used to generate awareness and demand for winter destinations and

activities.

• Advertising (across all media) will run in a flighting manner to conserve the limited budget.

• All advertising will be designed to drive traffic to Michigan.org throughout the year.

Rationale: The media strategy was developed using the following rationales:

• The media mix aligns with the major media consumption habits of U.S. consumers

(Appendix K).

• The media budget was allocated according to Michigan’s visitations in order to achieve

the highest possible effectiveness from the campaign.

• Spot cable advertising and radio were selected due to their relatively low costs, coverage,

and targeting capabilities.

6.4 Budget

The “Made for Life” campaign budget is $5.4 million. Of that total, 20 percent, or $1.08 million,

will be used for advertising. The budget will be split among spot cable television, radio, and

newspaper. Newspaper advertising will be used sparingly. The budget will be allocated as

follows:

• Local spot cable television: $648,000 (60 percent of advertising budget)

• Radio: $324,000 (30 percent of advertising budget)

• Newspaper: $108,000 (10 percent of advertising budget)

Figure 7.0 is a bar chart of the traditional advertising budget allocations including production

costs.

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Figure 7.0 – Traditional Advertising Allocation Including Production Costs

6.5 Geographic Considerations

Radio will be used to keep Michiganders informed of various tourism related activities

throughout the year. The communications will be limited to Michigan’s top 5 DMAs, which are

as follows:

Michigan’s Top 5 DMAs: (1) Detroit, (2) Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, (3) Flint-Saginaw-

Bay City (4) Lansing, (5) Traverse City-Cadillac

The feeder marketers will receive entire advertising mix, and they are as follows:

Key Feeder Markets: (1) Chicago, IL, (2) Green Bay & Milwaukee, WI, (3) Cleveland, Dayton,

Columbus, Toledo, & Cincinnati, OH, (4) Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend, IN, (5)

Windsor / Southern Ontario, Canada

The “Made for Life” theme is designed to touch the hearts and minds of prospective travelers in

each of the above markets. Travelers from Windsor, Canada will received the same thematic

messages as American travelers, but there will be minor modifications to the messages to make

sure that they resonate with the Canadian marketplace.

6.6 Media Mix / Tactics

The following factors were taken into consideration prior to selecting the traditional advertising

mix for the “Made for Life” campaign:

• Demographics, psychographics, behavioristics, and geographics

• Reach and frequency

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• Media consumption

• Media efficiency

• Budget constraints

The target audience research will be coupled with ratings information to obtain high efficiency

media buys. In addition co-op advertising will be used to help maximize the budget. This

approach will be discussed in detail in the Trade Section of the final paper (N/A at this time).

6.6.1 Cable Television

Cable television will have an important yet limited role in the “Made for Life” campaign.

The previous campaign has already created a desirable brand image for Michigan, and

there is a solid foundation of brand awareness in the target markets. Moving forward,

brief destination and activity focused commercials (15 second spots) will be used to

persuade prospective travelers to plan a trip to specific destinations shown on

Michigan.org. The ads will be highly lifestyle focused, and they will leverage television’s

strengths related to pervasiveness, cost-efficiency, and impact.

The “Made for Life” placements will be purchased from cable networks, and they will

match the target consumer’s demographics, interests, and geographic locations. The

content on cable channels such as the Travel Channel, the Golf Channel, and HGTV will

align nicely with the “Made for Life” campaign theme. The placements will be optimized

to align with specific feeder markets, audience profiles, and existing market penetration.

6.6.2 Radio

Radio advertising is a low-cost and efficient way to reach prospective travelers. The

target audience consumes approximately 1.5 hours of radio per day, and radio brings

the following advantages to the campaign:

• Ability to reach the target audience through specialized programs

• Ability to reach the target audience during their morning and evening

commutes

• Relatively low cost

• Provides nearly ideal support for the reach and frequency needs of the

campaign

Local radio spots will be placed in all DMAs, and the ads will be executed during the

morning drive time (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and again in the evening (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) when

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listenership is the highest. The reach, frequency, and geographic locations of the radio

portion of the campaign will align with the objectives stated previously, and the

advertising spots will be purchased through local stations in the DMAs. Finally, online

radio advertising is included in the radio budget (.50/.50 mix of online and offline radio).

6.6.3 Newspapers

Newspaper advertising will offer a strong supporting role in the campaign, and

newspapers are a cost effective medium to reach the target audience. The target

audience spends approximately 3 hours a week consuming newspaper content

(Appendix K) and newspapers brings the following important elements to the campaign:

• They will be used to reach local and metro markets

• Readers tend to be individuals with higher educational levels

• They offer geographic flexibility

• They offer the ability to leverage online / offline advertising

• They offer lifestyle centered content (sports, travel, etc.) that aligns with the

“Made for Life theme.

• They are an efficient medium when the copy / content of the ads is strong

All newspaper advertisements will direct readers back to the Michigan.org website and

will support the “Made for Life” theme. Newspapers offer the ability to provide

additional content that cannot be included in short radio and television spots.

Newspaper ads will be used to complement other media placements and to reinforce

the campaign’s core messages. Online newspaper advertising is included in the

newspaper budget.

6.7 Media Schedule

As mentioned previously in Section 6.0, Michigan’s visitations are highest in the summer months

(40%) and lowest during January thru March (13%). In consideration of the limited budget and

the TRPs that are needed during the late spring, summer and late fall months; a modified

flighting schedule will be used to execute the media buys. The schedule is designed to influence

incremental travel to Michigan at the most desirable times during each quarter, and the TRPs

are proportional to quarterly visitations. Section 6.8 features a Media Flow Chart that further

details the schedule.

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6.8 Media Flow Chart (Cable TV, Radio, and Newspaper Only)

The following is a copy of the media flow chart for Section 6.0 only:

Figure 8.0 - Media Flow Chart (Section 6.0 Only)

6.9 Creative

The Creative Brief, located in Section 5.2, provides the creative direction and focus for the

“Made for Life” campaign. The following strategy statement summarizes the creative direction

for the campaign:

The purpose of the Pure Michigan “Made for Life” message is to connect emotionally with

consumers and convince them that they will benefit from traveling to Michigan because the

destinations and activities will provide them with a wide variety of unique experiences that will

deeply impact the quality of their life.

The message executions will focus on how Michigan’s unique experiences can improve the

quality of the prospective traveler’s life. The message story formats will be “lifestyle,” “inherent

drama,” and “testimonial endorsements.” Michigan’s approach to brand storytelling will be to

invite audience members to review the “evidence” presented to them in the advertisements so

that they can make a travel decision based on what they see with their own eyes. The visuals

will be highly engaging and the communications will touch the head and the heart.

6.10 Measurement

Before the campaign begins, the following pre-campaign studies will be conducted to see where

Pure Michigan stands among target audience members:

6.10.1 Pre-Campaign Success Metrics

• Third-party research for baseline recognition, recall, favorability, likeability, and

preference

• Concept and copy testing

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• Attitude and opinion analysis (related to the items above)

• Emotional reaction tests

• Persuasion tests

The following post-campaign metrics will be used to track the campaign’s performance:

6.10.2 Post-Campaign Success Metrics

• Incremental increases in brand recognition, recall, favorability, likeability, and

preference

• Incremental travel to Michigan’s travel destinations

• Incremental increases in travel related search(MI), traffic to Michigan.org’s website,

social networking traffic, buzz, use of Web 2.0 applications, and user generated content

• Incremental increases in response to calls to action

• Media spend within budget

• Return on Investment

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7.0 Traditional Support Media: Out-of-Home (OoH) Out-of-Home advertising is an important component of the campaign’s media mix because the

target audience spends a considerable amount of time commuting / outside. In addition, the

outdoor advertising nicely aligns with the geographic location of

the campaign (especially during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the

year). The DMAs have busy public transportation systems, and

consumers are routinely shuffling around the city. The large

amount of foot traffic in and out of the urban areas of the DMAs

provides an excellent opportunity for targeted out-of-home

marketing. Lastly, outdoor advertising will complement the overall

campaign with a consistent look and feel that is needed to extend

the messages found in the media mix. A sample “Made for Life” OoH concept is shown to the right.

7.1 OoH Objectives

The Out-of-Home advertising objectives are as follows:

• Support the overall goal of achieving a 10% increase in brand awareness (during 2011)

• Solidify Michigan’s refreshed brand image in the DMAs (during 2011)

• Support the overall goal of achieving a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic

(Michigan.org), Web 2.0 utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and eMarketing tools (newsletter,

banner ads, SEM) by December 31, 2011.

7.2 OoH Strategies

The Out-of-Home advertising strategies are as follows:

• Target the audience demographically and geographically in strategic high-traffic urban

locations

• Create and reinforce existing brand awareness in key areas of the target market

• Utilize relatively affordable and efficient media to achieve the campaign’s objectives

Rationales: The OoH strategies were developed using the following rationales:

• OoH offers a compelling brand building environment for the “Made for Life” theme

• The outdoor creative work is designed to generate buzz, and this offers a much needed

multiplying effect for the campaign (see Section 7.9)

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• OoH touches prospective travelers who are not necessary searching for their next

vacation. This provides a “reminder” to the target audience that Michigan has highly

desirable travel destinations

7.3 OoH Tactics

The main tactics for the outdoor portion of the campaign will be to place outdoor ads in the form of

bulletin boards, panels and displays at strategic urban locations that align with the target

consumer’s commuting patterns. The target locations will be at shopping malls, on busy streets, and

so forth. Also, a handful of buses that operate in key urban areas will be partially wrapped (back of

bus) with “Pure Michigan” / “Made for Life” branded advertising information.

7.4 OoH Budget, Geography, and Mix

OoH is 5% of the total campaign budget, and the geography, mix, and costs are as follows:

Category Costs Total Costs DMAs Comments

Outdoor

Bulletin Boards $160,550 Chicago, IL

Windsor, Canada

4 month total, 2 DMAs

Specialty Backlit

Mall Displays

$19,800 Cincinnati, OH

Green Bay, WI

Windsor, Canada

3 malls in 3 DMAs (2 times)

Sky Murals (or

Dioramas)

$51,000 Chicago, IL

Indianapolis, IN

Cleveland, OH

3 malls in 2 DMAs (2 times)

Back of Bus Wrap $13,500 Chicago, IL

Indianapolis, IN

5 busses in 2 DMAs (3 times)

Mobile Billboards $35,000 Chicago, IL 3 months (summer)

Total $279,850

Figure 9.0 – Table of OoH Budget, Geography, and Mix

7.5 Media Flow Chart

The following is a copy of the media flow chart for Sections 6.0 and 7.0 only:

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Figure 10.0 – Media Flow Chart with OoH Added

7.6 Creative

The OoH creative executions will visually carry the “Made for Life” theme. The visuals will

consistently provide an example of how Michigan’s unique experiences are “designed” to meet

or exceed the traveler’s lifestyle needs and wants. As mentioned previously, the best way to

convince prospective travelers to experience Michigan is to present them with the evidence.

Michigan’s natural beauty does the heavy lifting for the OoH tactics, and very little copy is

needed to get the selling idea across.

7.7 OoH Measurements

Before the OoH campaign begins, the following pre-campaign studies will be conducted to see

where Pure Michigan stands among target audience members:


preference

• Concept testing




The following post-campaign metrics will be used to track the OoH campaign’s performance:

• Incremental increases in brand recognition and recall




• Incremental increases in response to calls to action.



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8.0 Internet Marketing

Travel Michigan has already incorporated numerous mainstream new

media tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), search engine

marketing (SEM), web optimized PR, email marketing, YouTube, Flickr,

links, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and RSS. The existing tactics have helped

create a tremendous amount of site traffic to Michigan.org. In addition,

Travel Michigan’s Web 2.0 approach has created a great deal of

community and connections to the Pure Michigan brand. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine

how much incremental tax revenue can be attributed to Travel Michigan’s use of social media.

The above can be considered Phase I of the Internet Marketing portion of the campaign. Phase II of

the Internet Marketing campaign will focus on optimizing the existing Internet Marketing tactics

from Phase I and the introduction of a new social media platform that will help generate

excitement, buzz, and incremental tax revenue for Travel Michigan.

8.1 Internet Marketing Objectives

The primary objective for Internet Marketing will be to support the following campaign

objectives:

• Help build top-of-mind awareness of the “Made for Life” campaign theme/message among

10% of the primary target consumers by the end of the campaign period (Dec. 31, 2011)

• Generate positive attitudes about Michigan’s travel destinations and activities with an

additional 7% of target consumers by April 1, 2011.

• Create interest in Michigan’s destinations and activities with an additional 5% of the target


• Further enhance and complement Pure Michigan’s existing brand image by establishing

additional brand associations around quality of life, fun, and excitement by Dec. 31, 2011.

• Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic (Michigan.org), Web 2.0

utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and eMarketing tools (newsletter, banner ads, SEM) by

December 31, 2011.

The secondary objective for Internet Marketing will be to support the following reach and

frequency objectives:

• During spring of 2011 , reach 25% of the primary target audience of adults ages 35 – 49 an

average of three times.

• During summer of 2011, reach 35% of the primary target audience an average of five times.


month.

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8.2 Internet Marketing Strategies

The Internet Marketing strategies are as follows:

• Optimize Travel Michigan’s existing Internet Marketing approach for greater effectiveness

and efficiency (e.g. keyword / search engine optimization, social media ROI, and so forth)

• Significantly increase social media’s role in generating tax revenue for Travel Michigan

• Continue the integration of Internet Marketing tools in order to improve marketing

efficiency and effectiveness

Rationales: The Internet Marketing strategies were developed using the following rationales:

• The budget cuts are a catalyst for marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Internet

Marketing is very expensive, and regular optimization is need to avoid wastage

• Social media is an important tool for travelers. Facebook and Twitter are generic tools,

and they do not provide a competitive advantage for Travel Michigan. An affordable

new platform will generate a long-term stream of prospective travelers to Michigan.org.

In addition, there is a potential to earn a tremendous residual from social media since

the platform will sustain itself once it is seeded.

8.3 Internet Marketing Tactics

The Internet Marketing tactics are as follows:

• Develop and execute a new social media platform and integration environment called Pure

Michigan “Travelchains.”

o A travelchain is a chain of travel experiences captured in print, video, or words. A travel

chain can be extended downward by having a friend, family member, and / or fellow

traveler add new content to the chain that is either destination or activity specific. For

example, if traveler enjoys a particular golf course in MI, they will either start a

travelchain for the golf course or they will join an existing travelchain on the same golf

course. The length of the chain provides a relative

measure of strength of the topic.

o Travelers can also horizontally connect to a travelchain.

A horizontal connection to a travelchain occurs when a

destination or activity is only one part of a traveler’s

vacation experience. For example, a traveler may have

only spent one afternoon at the golf course, and then

they headed to five other destinations during their

vacation. This traveler could create a horizontal

travelchain that simply cuts across the other vertical

travelchains. The length of a horizontal travelchain is an indication of the number of

destinations and activities a traveler experienced during their trip to MI.

o Travelers will have an opportunity to rate Michigan’s destinations and activities (similar

to Amazon’s ranking system)

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o Prospective travelers can consume content on the new social media site to help them

make important travel related decisions (hotels, destinations, activities)

o Travel Michigan will use Michigan.org as a hub for all of the travelchains. Each chain will

end with a link to Michigan.org so there is a seamless transition from travel planning to

actually booking a destination or activity (ROI).

• Increase keyword efficiency by incorporating new keyword optimization approaches such as

those found at KeywordDiscovery.com (http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/tools)

• Create new hyperlinks to relevant travel sites in order to increase site traffic. This will also

increase Google’s pagerank of Michigan.org (relative measure of importance)

• Incorporate new integration software and tools to streamline the discovery to booking

process (marketing efficiency and effectiveness)

• While the Travelchain project will not receive standalone advertising, the project will receive

complementary advertising during the “Made for Life” campaign. The direct marketing and

Internet marketing portion of the campaign will include information on Travelchains.

Ultimately, the strategy is to use buzz marketing to carry the Travelchain message.

8.4 Enhanced Internet Marketing Model

Figure 11.0 demonstrates Travel Michigan’s enhanced Internet Marketing model. The social

media portion of the model (in red) has been enhanced to include the travelchain concept. The

travelchain approach is designed to demonstrate the many ways that Michigan is “Made for

Life.” The content from the Travelchains will be picked up in the search engines, and it will drive

additional traffic to Michigan.org. In addition, the content will be used to stimulate demand for

Michigan’s numerous destinations and activities.

The new Internet Marketing model is fully integrated, and a closed-loop approach was designed

to increase utilization and decrease the cost per activity (CPA – e.g. making a reservation).

Figure 11.0 – Enhanced Internet Marketing Model

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8.5 Internet Marketing Geographic Considerations

Given the budget cuts, there will be a two-pronged approach to connecting with prospective

travelers from the feeder markets and the rest of the world.

Feeder Markets: Search engine marketing (SEM) will be optimized for the following feeder

markets: (1) Chicago, IL, (2) Green Bay & Milwaukee, WI, (3) Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus,

Toledo, & Cincinnati, OH, (4) Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend, IN, (5) Windsor /


Outside Feeder Markets: Search engine optimization (SEO) will continue to be used to attract

traffic to Michigan.org.

Currently, Travel Michigan is using SEM outside of the feeder markets. This approach may not

offer a strong ROI given the limited travel that occurs from areas outside of the feeder markets.

8.5 Internet Marketing Mix and Budget

The Internet / Interactive Marketing budget for the “Made for Life” campaign is $1.62 million

(30% of the total campaign budget). The budget allocation is divided between two main areas.

The first area is optimizing the existing Internet marketing tactics. The budget supports

optimizing and executing the following activities: search engine optimization (SEO), search

engine marketing (SEM), web optimized PR, email marketing, YouTube, Flickr, links, Facebook,

Twitter, Blogs, and RSS. The allocation for optimizing the activities above is $1.22 million.

The second area is developing and executing the travelchain social media environment and

integrating it into Travel Michigan’s existing infrastructure. The allocation for this activity is

$400,000.

Figure 12.0 – Internet Marketing Mix and Budget Allocation

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8.6 Schedule

The Internet Marketing tactics are scheduled as follows:

Figure 13.0 – Internet Marketing Activities Schedule

8.7 Measurement

Before the new Internet Marketing portion of the campaign begins, the following pre-campaign

studies will be conducted to see where Pure Michigan stands among target audience members:


preference

• Concept testing




The following post-campaign metrics will be used to track the OoH campaign’s performance:





• Incremental increases in response to calls to action.



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9.0 Direct Marketing

Direct marketing will have an important supporting role for the campaign, and it will be as follows:

a. Leverage direct mail to reach travelers in the feeder markets who match the ideal traveler

profile but haven’t registered on Michigan.org.

b. Use direct mail as a cost effective vehicle to communicate the various sales promotions

c. Leverage direct mail’s high conversion rate for Travel Michigan (Conversion Studies – 9:1 ROI)

9.1 Direct Marketing Objectives

The primary objective for Direct Marketing will be to support the following campaign objectives:

• Continue developing / growing Travel Michigan’s consumer database

• Motivate 10% of recipients to register on Michigan.org (necessary to be eligible for

various direct marketing related sales promotions) by the end of the campaign

• Support the campaign goal of creating interest in Michigan’s destinations and activities

amongst 5% of the target audience by April 1, 2011.

• Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic (Michigan.org) and Web 2.0

utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) by December 31, 2011.

• Influence enough incremental travel to Michigan to meet or exceed the current IMC


communications during the 2010 / 2011 calendar year (The tax revenue target is $12.35

million).

The secondary objective for Internet Marketing will be to support the following reach and

frequency objectives:

• During spring of 2011 , reach 25% of the primary target audience of adults ages 35 – 49

an average of three times.

• During summer of 2011, reach 35% of the primary target audience an average of five

times.


month.

9.2 Direct Marketing Strategies

The primary strategies for the Direct Marketing portion of the campaign are as follows:

• Use direct marketing to achieve greater penetration in the competitor’s DMAs

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• Use direct marketing to reach the prospective travelers that have not responded to the

other campaign mediums

• Continue to build a strong traveler and prospective traveler database to help Travel

Michigan maintain a lasting relationship with consumers

• Continue to build a strong traveler and prospective traveler database to support various

promotions and events

Rationales: The Direct Marketing strategies were developed using the following rationales:

• The budget limitations have forced a fragmented media plan. Direct marketing provides

an important “direct” channel to the consumer

• Direct marketing has achieved a 9:1 ROI for Travel Michigan (Conversion Studies)

• It is important to continue to grow Travel Michigan’s marketing database. Without the

database, it is very difficult to maintain a long-term relationship with the consumer

9.3 Direct Marketing Tactics

The primary tactics for the Direct Marketing portion of the campaign are as follows:

• Use high quality Pure Michigan / Made for Life oriented graphics and compelling copy to

motivate consumers to open and read the mailers. Familiarity with Pure Michigan (from

the previous campaign) will help the response rate.

• Use lifestyle focused sales promotions / offers that align with the target consumer’s

psychographic profiles

• Provide numerous opportunities to win prizes and gifts for registering on Michigan.org

• Provide generous discounts for first-time travelers to Michigan

• Ensure prospective travelers that their information will remain completely private

(privacy policy), and that they won’t receive spam once they register

• Provide teaser information about the travelchain social media environment

9.4 Direct Marketing Budget

The Direct Marketing budget is $702,000, which is 13% of the total campaign budget. The

budget breakdown is as follows:

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Figure 14.0 – Direct Marketing Budget Breakdown

9.5 Direct Marketing Geographic Considerations

The feeder marketers will receive the Direct Marketing portion of the campaign: (1) Chicago, IL, (2)

Green Bay & Milwaukee, WI, (3) Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, & Cincinnati, OH, (4)

Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend, IN, (5) Windsor / Southern Ontario, Canada

9.6 Schedule

The Direct Marketing schedule is as follows:

Figure 15.0 – Direct Mail and Promotions Schedule

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9.7 Creative

The Direct Marketing creative executions will also be designed to visually carry the “Made for

Life” theme. The visuals will consistently provide examples of how Michigan’s unique

experiences are “designed” to meet or exceed the traveler’s lifestyle needs and wants.

Michigan’s natural beauty will be used to grab the consumer’s attention, and very little copy will

be used to get the selling idea across.

9.8 Measurement

Before the new Direct Marketing portion of the campaign begins, the following pre-campaign

studies will be conducted to see where Pure Michigan stands among target audience members:

• Concept testing




The following post-campaign metrics will be used to track the DM campaign’s performance:

• Response rate / incremental increases in response to calls to action.







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10.0 Public Relations (PR)

Public relations will be used to influence public opinion about Michigan’s refreshed brand. Travel

Michigan has effectively used PR over the years, and the goal of this portion of the plan is to

successfully leverage the existing PR foundation that is in place to continue building momentum in

the marketplace.

10.1 Public Relations Objectives

• Produce approximately $3 million in earned media by December 31, 2011

• Produce 20 high impact news releases by December 31, 2011

• Bring at least 20 journalists from the region to Michigan’s destinations to conduct research

for travel stories by December 31, 2011

• Achieve at least 40 placements that highlight Michigan’s tourism industry and Travel

Michigan’s cause marketing program by December 31, 2011

• Generate $1Million for an important cause in Michigan by December 31, 2011

10.2 Public Relations Strategies

• Determine the most appropriate “Made for Life” themed stories and news releases

• Determine how cause marketing related stories can extend the “Made for Life” theme to

important Michigan focused causes

• Maintain the current focus on media outlets that have high circulation and / or reach

• Determine the impact of stories that highlight package deals, travel trends, and lifestyle

focused getaways

• Support a meaningful cause in Michigan to make a difference in the community, which

further supports the “Made for Life” theme

10.3 Public Relations Tactics

• Pitch relevant “Made for Life” stories to help promote Pure Michigan’s key selling points

• Pitch relevant stories with high value package deals, travel trends, and lifestyle focused

getaways

• Execute public relations programs that integrate the refreshed brand, paid search, and PR to

maximize media value and bookings

• Send Travel Michigan’s monthly eNewsletter to journalists

• If deemed appropriate, start working with the Make a Wish Foundation in Michigan to

extend the “Made for Life” theme to areas outside of travel. A matching donation program

can be developed to provide “1 Million reasons” why Pure Michigan is “Made for Life.” This

will cost Travel Michigan $321,000, but the exposure, engagement, and action will have a

very strong ROI for MI.

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10.4 Public Relations Budget and Mix

The sales promotion budget is $378,000, which represents 7% of the total campaign budget.

The Public Relations mix and budget allocation is shown in Figure 10.0 below.

Figure 16.0 – PR Budget Allocation

10.5 Schedule

The PR activities are scheduled as follows:

Figure 17.0 – PR Activities Schedule

10.6 Measurement

The following post-campaign metrics will be used to track the PR campaign’s performance:

• Amount of earned media achievement / exposure

• Number of times the news releases / stories were downloaded or read

• Michigan.org website traffic generated due to hyperlinks in the stories

• Share of positive online discussions on highly relevant sites

• The level of story engagement (i.e. the amount of interaction with the content)

• Incremental registrations

• Incremental eNewsletter downloads

• Ability to generate $1M for the Make a Wish Foundation in Michigan

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11.0 Channel Marketing Communications

Michigan’s tourism industry is interdependent, dynamic, and fairly complex. In spite of the

challenges associated with the inherent complexity of the state’s tourism distribution model, Travel

Michigan has managed to do an excellent job of developing and executing effective channel

marketing communications. The channel marketing communications for the “Made for Life”

campaign will be designed to complement Travel Michigan’s successful approach to developing

meaningful and stimulating communications to engage the state’s channel partners.

Travel Michigan’s 80%+ budget reduction has forced a number of channel marketing programs to be

cut from the campaign in 2011. This being said, the channel marketing portion of the “Made for

Life” campaign remains vitally important to the project. One of the key

objectives for the 2011 campaign is to significantly reduce costs by leveraging

interactive marketing / new media whenever possible. The overarching objective

of the channel marketing portion of the campaign will be to try and achieve the

campaign’s tax revenue targets with a significantly smaller investment in channel

marketing communications.

11.1 Tourism Marketing Framework and Trade Partners

Appendix L provides the tourism marketing framework that will be used for this section of the

IMC campaign. The previous sections of this document focused on the “Marketing Demand”

portion of the framework. The following tourism distribution related categories will be

addressed in this section of the IMC campaign:

• Travel Organizers (travel e-mediaries, agents, etc.)

• Destination Organizations (tourist offices, DMOs, etc.)

• Product Supply Organizations (attractions, etc.)

• Transportation Infrastructure Organizations (air, etc.)

11.2 Creative Brief (Trade Partners)

A creative brief was developed for the channel marketing communications portion of the campaign,

and it is located in Appendix M. The theme for the travel channel portion of the campaign is as

follows:

The theme for the channel marketing campaign will revolve around a series of communications that

identify and demonstrate how trade partner businesses will benefit from partnering with Travel

Michigan. The overarching theme is “We’re Better Together,” and the communications will use

testimonials, examples, and proof statements to drive the message home.

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12.0 Cooperative Advertising (Radio)

In the previous campaign, Travel Michigan offered the travel partners a 1:1 co-op

match for radio advertising. The selling idea was that travel partners could essentially

obtain twice the media budget for partnering with Travel Michigan. This approach

allowed Travel Michigan to control various elements of the communications, and it

provided strong value to the channel partners.

Given the budget cuts, Travel Michigan will not be able to fund the program in exactly

the same manner it did in the previous years. In the past, the co-op portion of the radio advertising

budget was in addition to the consumer portion of the campaign. For 2011, the co-op program will

be modified as follows:

• The co-op program will be used to help subsidize Travel Michigan’s budget cuts.

• The match related agreements will the trade partners will be made prior to the start of the

campaign, and the matching funds will be used to reduce the programing that Travel

Michigan would have carried independently (at full cost / without matching).

• Travel Michigan will maintain the consumer radio budget with no additional cost for the

trade partner portion of the campaign.

This approach will extend Travel Michigan’s ability to generate awareness and interest while also

providing value for the travel partners.

12.1 Cooperative Advertising Objectives

• Primary: Develop and execute effective channel marketing communications that will help

Travel Michigan obtain an additional $150,000 in radio advertising from the channel

partners without having to raise the existing budget (Section 6.4).

• Primary: Bring on 10 new trade partner / co-op advertisers by the end of the year (2011).

• Secondary / Internal: Increase TRPs by 33% in the existing consumer media schedule for

greater reach and frequency.

• Secondary / Internal: Achieve an additional 5% increase in Internet traffic and pass through

traffic to the DMO’s websites.

12.2 Cooperative Advertising Strategies

• Target the top travel organizers, destination organizations, product supply organizations,

and transportation organizations.

• Incorporate a new “featured destination” strategy to help drive incremental business.

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• Reduce the amount of radio programing that does not fall under the co-marketing umbrella.

• Obtain greater frequency and reach to drive desired behavior in the marketplace.

• Prioritize DMOs that offer lifestyle focused activities that align with the target consumer.

12.3 Advertising Tactics

Prospective channel partners will receive compelling e-newsletters, email marketing materials,

and calls from representatives that will explain the numerous benefits of cooperative radio

advertising (to be discussed in Section 14.0). The radio advertising tactics for the campaign will

be the same as the previous radio tactics (Section 6.6.2).

In addition, a new “featured destination” tactic will provide additional awareness, interest, and

action for the trade partners. Cooperative radio advertising will be responsible for driving the

majority of awareness and interest, and cooperative Internet marketing will provide the

platform to generate revenues. This topic is discussed in further detail in Section 13.

12.4 Budget

The cooperative radio advertising program will not need additional funding. The

communication tools (email, e-newsletters, etc.) are essentially a no cost communications

solution. In addition, the goal is to keep the radio advertising budget flat while increasing the

total pool of funds. The budget will stay at the previous level provided in Section 6.4.


The geographic locations for the trade partners will mirror the previous

campaign’s target locations and they are as follows:

• The program’s key markets are Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Saginaw/Bay City,

Battle Creek/Kalamazoo and Traverse City.

• The program’s key awareness markets are Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati,

Milwaukee, Dayton, Columbus, St. Louis, MO and Southern Ontario.

• The program’s feeder markets are Toledo, Green Bay/Appleton, South Bend and Fort

Wayne.

12.6 Creative

The creative objective and strategies for acquiring the incremental advertising funds and the

additional trade partners are provided in Appendix M (the radio advertising will continue to

follow the creative provided in Section 5.0).

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12.7 Media Schedule and Flowchart

The media schedule will follow the information in Section 6.7, and the new media flowchart

(only the Radio TRPs have been adjusted based on the 33% increase in funds) is as follows:

Figure 18.0 - Media Flow Chart (only radio advertising has been adjusted upward)

12.8 Measurements

The success of the channel partner radio program will be measured as follows:

• Primary: Achieve of the financial target (increasing the radio advertising budget by

$150,000).

• Primary: Achieve the target for adding 10 addition trade partners by the end of 2011.

• Primary: Trade partner satisfaction and retention level meets or exceeds targets.

• Secondary: Achieve a 5% increase in website traffic.

The approach to measuring the radio advertising campaign mirrors the previous approach

located in Section 6.10.

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13.0 Cooperative Internet Marketing

The cornerstone of Travel Michigan’s channel marketing offering continues to be their approach to

cooperative Internet marketing. Currently, Travel Michigan offers a

variety of incentives to trade partners such as a pay-per-click (PPC)

advertising match, free website search optimization, and various free

marketing services. Travel Michigan’s marketing expertise is extremely

valuable to the trade partners, and the additional incentives provide the

necessary stimulus to help drive and maintain successful partnership

relationships.

A closed-loop channel marketing approach was developed to take Travel Michigan’s cooperative

Internet marketing approach to the next level. Rather than offering a variety of somewhat

independent Internet marketing services to the channel partners, a new approach has been

designed to offer additional bundled services to drive incremental traffic to the trade partner’s

websites and ultimately to their destinations.

The offering, incentive, and workflow for the closed-loop channel marketing portion of the

campaign are as follows:

• Trade partners will have an opportunity work with Travel Michigan to have their destination

become a “featured destination” or “featured activity” at key travel times during the year.

• Trade partners will have an opportunity to leverage cooperative advertising (on radio and

on various trade partners’ Internet sites such as Southwest Airlines, Expedia.com, etc.) to

generate demand.

• Trade partners will have an option to work with Travel Michigan to bundle their promotions

with other trade partners to generate greater demand (e.g. lifestyle focused getaway

themes, fly-play-stay weekends, girls’ weekend out, and so forth).

• The communications will direct travelers to Michigan.org, and Travel Michigan will provide

the infrastructure, materials, and user experience needed to drive sales.

• User generated content will be used to help drive purchasing decisions (Web 2.0,

Travelchains, etc.).

• The closed-loop approach will be search engine optimized so there are greater odds that

travelers will see the related information on their search engine results page (SERP).

• Search engine marketing will be available to help promote the lifestyle themed getaways.

• Travel Michigan will have the opportunity to provide additional incentives, promotions, and

offers as they deem necessary to achieve their strategic plan.

13.1 Cooperative Internet Marketing Objectives

• Establish 24 new agreements for “featured destination(s)” and “featured activity (ies).”

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• Generate $5.0 million in incremental tax revenue.

• Maintain existing trade partner relationships without having to provide cooperation

marketing dollars.

• Begin generating incremental tax revenues by January 2011.

13.2 Cooperative Internet Marketing Strategies

• Target the top travel organizers, destination organizations, product supply organizations,

and transportation organizations.

• Package the various trade partner offerings around highly relevant lifestyle themes, key

destinations, price tiers, and target audience demographics and geographics

• Coordinate group trade partnerships that align with the promotion packages

• Leverage the new “We’re Better Together” theme to promote the offerings to trade

partners.

• Provide value added services to stimulate trial and adoption.

13.3 Cooperative Internet Marketing Tactics

• Send out high quality email marketing communications to top travel organizations.

• Establish and communicate an incentive program to prospective trade partners.

• Offer special pricing to the first 10 trade partner agreements.

• Provide free training and marketing dashboards to the participants.

• Offer sales contests that provide participants an opportunity to win special pricing, free

website optimization, and first choice for promotion time slots.

• Showcase two featured destinations / activities a month beginning in January 2011.

• Promote the featured destinations / activities on all relevant trade partner sites and on

Michigan.org • Travel Michigan will create an exclusive partnership web page(s) for each partnership which

will include direct links to participating partners’ web sites.

• Each participating partner will need to display the Pure Michigan logo and/or partnership

logo on their web site home page with a direct link to michigan.org.

• Travel Michigan will utilize its social media platforms—Twitter, Facebook, FLickr, You Tube

and the Pure Michigan Connect blog—to promote the partnerships.

13.4 Cooperative Internet Marketing Budget

The cooperative Internet Marketing program will not need additional funding. The only funds

needed for the program will be to conduct the trade promotions, and this will be detailed in a

future section of this document.


The geographic locations for the trade partners will mirror the previous campaign’s target

locations and they are as follows:

58






Wayne.

13.6 Creative

The creative objective and strategies for acquiring the additional trade partners are provided in

Appendix M.

13.7 Schedule / Flowchart

The schedule for the featured destination Internet marketing portion of the trade partner

portion of the campaign is as follows:

Figure 19.0 – Co-op Internet Marketing “Featured Destination” Schedule

13.8 Measurements

The success of the channel partner Internet marketing program will be measured as follows:

• Establish 24 new trade partner agreements.

• Generate $5.0 million in incremental tax revenue

• Secondary: Achieve an additional 5% increase in website traffic.

The approach to measuring Internet marketing tactics mirrors the previous approach located in

Section 8.7.

59

14.0 Trade-Oriented Promotions

Trade-promotions will be used to motivate trade partners to participate in the various marketing

channel programs and to provide an incentive for prospective trade partners to begin a relationship

with Travel Michigan. Various incentive tactics have already been briefly discussed in Sections 12

and 13. The information in this section will solidify how Travel Michigan will elicit support for the

new channel marketing programs during 2011.

14.1 Trade Promotion Objective

The overarching objective is to stimulate promotional

support from the channel members. Themed and / or

lifestyle focused getaway packages can be highly valuable to

consumers, but they often difficult to promote and execute.

Travel Michigan has the marketing expertise necessary to

successfully execute the programs mentioned previously, and

now all they need to do is provide the proper level of

incentives to motivate prospective trade partners to pool their resources together. If executed

properly, there is an opportunity to raise a significant amount of tax revenue for the state.

14.2 Trade Promotion Strategy

The consumer-oriented promotional strategies and programs were designed to “pull” travel

related services through the travel distribution system. The trade promotion strategy will use

marketing communications to motivate the trade partners to participate in Travel Michigan’s

2011 marketing programs (push strategy).

14.3 Trade-Promotion Tools

• Co-op Advertising: Co-op advertising will be used to stimulate participation in the programs

and to generate additional market demand.

• Trade Partner Contests: Quarterly contests will be available to participating trade partners.

Contest winners will receive special pricing, free website optimization, and first choice for

promotion timeslots.

• Free Services: Marketing dashboards, website design workshops, and other value-added

services will be used as promotional tools.

60

• Price Discounts

• Bundled Services at Reduced Pricing


The geographic locations for the trade partners will mirror the previous campaign’s target

locations and they are as follows:






Wayne.

14.5 Trade-Oriented Promotions Budget and Mix

The budget is $1.08 Million, which represents 20% of the total campaign budget. The trade-

oriented promotion mix and budget allocation is shown in Figure 3.0 below.

Figure 20.0 – Trade-Oriented Promotion Mix and Allocation

61

14.6 Creative

The creative objective and strategies for acquiring the additional trade partners are provided in

Appendix M.

14.7 Schedule

Please refer to the schedule in Section 9.6 in the Direct Marketing section for the schedule.

14.8 Measurement

Please refer to Sections 12.8 and 13.8 for the key measurements.

62

15.0 Campaign Support / Miscellaneous

There are six additional important campaign related topics for consideration and they are as follows:

• Personal Selling (Trade Partners)

• Public Relations (Trade Partners)

• Trade Publication Advertising

• Sponsorship Programs

• Database Programs

• Sales Promotions

15.1 Personal Selling

While the trade partner portion of the campaign will not have dedicated sales personnel, there will

be program representatives in place to provide consultation to prospective trade partners. An 800

number is provided on all promotional material and on Michigan.org (Contact Us link). In addition,

program representatives will call on prospective trade partners to offer their services.

15.2 Public Relations (PR)

The following is Travel Michigan’s position on PR activities for trade partners:

Travel Michigan will provide public relations opportunities for partnerships, including but not limited

to, press releases, radio, print and television interviews, including in-market media blitz

opportunities. Visuals representing the key messages unique to Michigan will be vital to effectively

pitch a broadcast interview. Partnership representatives may be called upon to represent and

promote the entire partnership during a media blitz. Travel Michigan will try to anticipate any

possible PR opportunities, however, please note that unforeseeable last minute opportunities do

happen.

15.3 Trade Publication Advertising

Trade publication advertising will not be used in the 2011 campaign due to the relatively low ROI

and the increasing costs of the medium.

15.4 Sponsorship Programs

Sponsorship programs will not be used for the 2011 campaign due to the budget reduction.

15.5 Database Programs

Travel Michigan has a robust customer database, and the “Made for Life” campaign will use the

existing customer database to store leads, to provide contact information for direct mail and email

portions of the project, and to push reports to the marketing leadership team.

15.5 Sales Promotions Consumer-oriented sales promotions will not be used in the “Made for Life” campaign. Instead,

trade-promotions will be used to motivate trade partners to participate in the various marketing

channel programs and to provide an incentive for prospective trade partners to begin a relationship

with Travel Michigan.

63

16.0 Evaluation Plan

Each of the “Made for Life” campaign objectives will be measured and evaluated at appropriate

times throughout the campaign. The following is a brief summary of the campaign objectives for the

consumer and trade partner portions of the campaign:

Primary Consumer–Oriented Campaign Objectives:

1. Achieve a 10% increase in brand awareness (recognition and recall) with target consumers

in key out of state DMAs by December 31, 2010.

2. Generate positive attitudes about Michigan’s travel destinations and activities with an

additional 7% of target consumers by April 1, 2011.

3. Create interest in Michigan’s destination and activity brands with an additional 5% of the

target audience by April 1, 2011.

4. Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic (Michigan.org), Web 2.0

utilization (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and eMarketing tools utilization (newsletter downloads,

banner ads click throughs, SEM click throughs) by Dec. 31, 2011.

5. Influence enough incremental travel to Michigan to meet or exceed the current IMC


communications during the 2010 / 2011 calendar year (the tax revenue target is $12.35

million).

Primary Trade–Oriented Campaign Objectives:

1. Develop and execute effective channel marketing communications that will help Travel

Michigan obtain an additional $150,000 in radio advertising from the channel partners

without having to raise the existing budget by December 31, 2011.

2. Bring on 10 new trade partners / co-op radio advertisers by December 31, 2011.

3. Establish 24 new agreements for “featured destination(s)” and “featured activity (ies) by

December 31, 2011.

4. Generate $5.0 million in incremental tax revenue by December 31, 2011.

16.1 Measurement Methodology and Application of Findings

16.11 Concept and Creative Strategy

The evaluation of the “Made for Life” campaign will begin with concept testing. A focus

group will be used to test the campaign’s positioning statements, copy, and illustrations.

The information gathered from the focus group sessions will be used to assess the initial

campaign ideas. Overall, the concept and creative strategy evaluation will help formalize

the initial concepts for the campaign launch.

64

16.12 Consumer - Objectives One Thru Three

Measurements:

The first three objectives are to increase brand awareness, positive attitudes, and interest

with the target audience by 10%, 7%, and 5% respectively. The campaign’s target audience

is located in key DMAs in MI, OH, WI, IL, IN, and Windsor, CAN. Pure Michigan’s new

complementary “Made for Life” theme has yet to be released, and the goal is to quickly

obtain some foundational awareness and interest in the DMAs in order to jumpstart the

brand building process.

Before the campaign launches, telephone and online surveys will be conducted with the

target audience. The survey results will establish a baseline level of awareness, attitudes,

and interest for the previous Pure Michigan campaign. The respondents for the survey will

be randomly selected, and the sample size will provide 90% confidence at a 5% margin of

error.

Additional telephone and online surveys will be conducted during each quarter of the

campaign to determine the effectiveness of each of the campaign’s mediums, the ability to

achieve the stated objectives in each of the geographic markets, and the efficiency of each

of the campaign’s mediums. The following message evaluation methods will be used to

assess the first three campaign objectives:

• Recall tests

• Recognition tests

• Attitude and opinion tests

• Persuasion analysis

Application of Findings

The research findings will be reviewed during each phase of the campaign. The following

variables will be analyzed to determine if they can be optimized during the campaign:

• Creative approach

• Geographic target locations

• Media selections

The “Made for Life” theme was designed to complement Pure Michigan’s brand image. The

new campaign’s measures of awareness, attitude, and interest will be regularly compared

with the previous campaign’s measures to determine the incremental change of each

metric.

65

16.13 Consumer - Objective Four

Measurements:

The following measures will be used for the Internet Marketing portion of the “Made for

Life” campaign:

• Internet Traffic: Google analytics will continue to be used to measure Internet traffic.

Travel Michigan has been tracking Internet traffic for years, so incremental traffic

analysis will be easy to conduct and analyze.

• Cost per Click (CPC) and Cost per Action (CPA): Digital advertising will be regularly

analyzed to determine if the campaign’s click through rate targets and ROI are being

achieved. CPA will be used to measure the cost of a given activity such as the cost per

reservation on Michigan.org.

• Web 2.0 Utilization: Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Blogs, and RSS feeds will be

measured to determine if the campaign’s utilization objectives are achieved.

• Travelchain Social Media Site: The Travelchain site will be analyzed for traffic and

hyperlink activity to Michigan.org.

• Newsletter downloads will continue to be measured against the download objective.

• Search engine marketing click throughs and CPA measures will continue to be

performed.

The minimum ROI target is $2.23 for every $1.00 spent on advertising and promotion.

Internet Marketing will be used to drive traffic and activity on Michigan.org, and all of the

digital tools and tactics will be continuously monitored during the campaign. Travel

Michigan is already using a marketing dashboard that will be modified for the “Made for

Life” campaign.


The results will be reviewed against the campaign’s ROI targets. The following variables will

be modified as needed during the campaign to ensure that the campaign targets are

achieved:


• Geographic targeting

• Budget allocation

• Search engine optimization techniques

• Keyword optimization

• Display ad placements

• Offers

66

16.14 Consumer - Objective Five

Measurements:

The “Made for Life” campaign has two main goals. The first is to achieve the awareness, favorability,

likeability, and preference objectives listed previously. While this will not have a direct ROI, it is a

necessary step in the demand creation process. The second is to obtain a direct response from

consumers in the form of incremental travel to Michigan. This activity will drive the ROI portion of

the campaign, and the measures are as follows:

• Incremental tax revenues for the state of Michigan

• A minimum return ratio of 2.23:1

A summary of campaign’s ROI analysis is provided in Figure 1.0 below.

Return on Investment Analysis

Campaign budget $5,400,000

Minimum return multiplier x 2.23

Minimum return target (incremental tax revenue) $12,042,000

Targeted Return on Investment % 223.0%

Figure 21.0 - Projected Return on Investment


The campaign results will be reviewed against the campaign’s ROI targets. The following

variables will be modified as needed during the campaign to ensure that the campaign

targets are achieved:


• Geographic targeting

• Budget allocation

• Search engine optimization techniques

• Keyword optimization

• Display ad placements

• Offers

67

16.15 Trade Partner - Objectives One and Two

Measurements:

The first two trade partner objectives are to obtain an additional $150,000 in radio

advertising from the channel partners and to bring on 10 new trade partners (co-op

radio advertisers) by December 31, 2011. The measurement will simply be the

incremental radio adverting dollars from the trade partners and the number of new

trade partners added during 2011.


If a shortfall exists in either dollars or new trade partners, the representatives from

Travel Michigan will be given a lucrative sales promotion to help achieve the objectives.

16.16 Trade Partner - Objectives Three and Four

Measurements:

The second two trade partner objectives are to obtain 24 new trade partner agreements

for “featured destination(s)” promotions and to generate $5.0 million in incremental tax

revenue by December 31, 2011. The measurement will simply be the incremental tax

revenue dollars generated and the number of new trade partners agreements achieved

during 2011.


If a shortfall exists in either tax revenue dollars or new trade partners agreements, the

representatives from Travel Michigan will be given a lucrative sales promotion to help

achieve the objectives.

As mentioned previously, the minimum ROI target is $2.23 for every $1.00 spent on for all

advertising and promotion. The trade partner programs will be held to the same minimum

level of return as the consumer programs.

APPENDIX

1

Appendix A – Top Competitors, Slogans, and Typical Message Points

Competitors / Logos Campaign Slogans Typical Message Points

Mile After Magnificent Mile

• Illinois is beautiful

• Adventure and discovery

• Activities for couples, friends, and family

• Visitors will be tantalized

• Exclusive night scene

• Shopping. Shopping. Shopping.

• 50 “only in Illinois” tourist attractions

• Culture, beauty, and natural wonders.

• Unique and desirable regional cuisine

Too Much Fun for Just One Day

• Diversity

• World-renowned festivals

• Authentic and unique travel opportunities

• First-class travel experience that is wallet-friendly

• Laid-back

• History and Heritage

• Too much fun for just one day

• Exploration

• Unique regional cuisine

Restart Your Engines

• Charming

• Historic

• Scenic

• Outdoors

• Laid-back

• Signature foods

• Total Escape

• Exploration

• Amazing architecture

F

Your Florida Side

Your Florida Side

• World-class beaches

• Sunshine

• Scenic

• Signature foods

• Exploration

• Adventure

• Vibrant imagery

• Unexpected scenery

• Romance

• Outdoors

• Relaxation

Wisconsin

Live Like You Mean It

• Exploration

• Fun for the entire family

• Diners and drives

• Scenic

• Getting in touch with nature

• Regional cuisine

• Arts and culture

• Big shopping in small towns

• Scenic

• Discovery

• Family fun

• Great outdoors

• Outdoor adventure

• Enchanting landscapes

• Unique and diverse range of travel experiences

• Playground for adults and kids

• Four seasons of adventure

• One of the world’s natural wonders

2

Appendix B – Competitive Communications

Category Information Links Key Takeaways

Tourism

Websites

• Illinois: http://www.enjoyillinois.com/home.aspx

• Ohio: http://consumer.discoverohio.com/

• Indiana: http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/

• Florida: http://www.visitflorida.com/

• Wisconsin: http://www.travelwisconsin.com/

• Ontario: http://www.ontariotravel.net

• Small amount of differentiation

• Provide convenience to

prospective travelers

• Promote key points of interest

• Provide regional information

• Focus on seasonal activities

• Are not very customer centric

Michigan vs.

Relevant

Competitive

Destinations,

Activities, and

Entertainment

• TravelMichigan.org:

http://www.travelmichigan.com/index.php?option=co

m_content&view=article&id=44&Itemid=27

• Travel and Tourism Sites for U.S. States and Territories:

• http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Travel_Tourism/Sta

te_Tourism.shtml

• Canadian Travel and Tourism Sites for Ontario:

• http://www.tourism.gov.on.ca/english/index.html

• Significant overlap in the type of

activities and destinations

(national parks, theme parks,

wineries etc.)

• Generic communications

• Communications mainly focus

on “what” not “why”

• Cookie-cutter approach

Pure Michigan

Ads • http://www.travelmichigannews.org/mtr/marketing/ad

s.asp#2009

• Used as a benchmark. Excellent

production and very touching

communications.

General

Competitive Ads,

Marketing

Materials, and

Positioning

Insights

• Illinois: http://www.enjoyillinois.com/thingstodo/video.aspx

• Ohio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SknjDCQWWRA

• Indiana: http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/about/advertisements.aspx

• Florida: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WQkjg0lSx8 • Wisconsin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ABNsfv6xQU • Illinois:

http://www.enjoyillinois.com/brochures/default.aspx • Ohio: http://glpdigitaleditions.com/publication/?i=31024 • Indiana:

http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/files/2010_Indiana_Travel_Guide.pdf

• Indiana: http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/tripplanner/trips.aspx

• Florida: http://www.visitflorida.com/guides/ • Wisconsin:

http://tourism.state.wi.us/maps_guides.aspx/DownloadGuides Ontario: http://vimeo.com/14617690

• Nothing overly exciting or

original

• Focus on general travel,

discovery, and adventure

• Lack the prospective consumer’s

perspective

• Heavy focus on tourism from

the local community versus out

of state travelers

• The communications are not

always integrated with other

channels such as the tourism

website

• The communications do not

tend to build strong, favorable,

and unique associations. They

are more focused on building

general awareness or on

reminding prospective travelers

to travel to the various

destinations

Typical Approach

to Social Media

• http://www.facebook.com/EnjoyIllinois#!/EnjoyIllinois?v=wall

• http://twitter.com/#!/enjoyillinois • http://www.flickr.com/groups/enjoyillinois • http://www.youtube.com/enjoyillinois

• Competitors are following a

fairly generic approach to social

media.

• It is difficult to determine the

competitor’s social media

strategy other than “find as

many followers as possible.”

3

Appendix C – Competitor Destinations and Activities

Competitors Destinations and Activities

Illinois

Museums

Historic Sites

Architecture

Scenic Byways

Amusement & Water Parks

Zoos

Sightseeing

Theater

Wineries & Vineyards

Casinos

Music

Comedy

Eagle Watching

Parks & Gardens

Lakes & Beaches

Biking

Chicago

Antiques

Shopping Malls/Outlets

Main Streets

Illinois Artisans

Professional Sports

Golf

Racing

Collegiate and Amateur Sports

Ohio

Final Fridays on the Square

Cedar Point’s 2010

Bonnybrook Farms

Shorty North Gallery Hop

Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the

Vietnam Era

Columbus Blue Jackets

Pro Sports

National McKinley

Birthplace Museum

The Wilds

Shawshank Redemption Trail Tour

National Museum of the US Air Force

Toledo Museum of Art

Mansfield Playhouse

College Sports

Indiana

General Attractions

Outdoor Recreation

Restaurants

Shopping

Festivals and Events

Family Fun

Romantic Retreats

Family Fun

Romantic Retreats

Outdoor Recreation

Girlfriend Getaways

Arts and Culture

Casinos

Sports and Recreation

Florida

Beaches

Theme Parks

Family

Resorts

Parks

College Sports

Romance

Fishing

Dining

Outdoors and Nature

Walt Disney

Pro Sports

Wisconsin

Amusement Parks

Beaches

Casinos

Clubs / Taverns

Drive Ins

Fairs / Festivals

Science & Nature

College Sports

Shopping

Spas

Sports

Tours

Waterparks / Pools

Zoos

Pro Sports

Ontario,

Canada

Boat Rentals / Canoes & Kayaks

Cottage Rentals

Family Vacations

Festivals

Boat Rentals / Fishing Boats

Air Services / Flightseeing

Amenities / Golf Courses

Hotels / Motels

Manufacturing Companies

Marinas

Museum

Organized Camps

Outfitters

Restaurants/Cafes

Retail Outlets

Retreats

Shopping

Tours

College and Professional Sports

4

Appendix D – IMC Opportunities – Q & A

IMC Opportunity Questions Answers From Conducting Secondary Research

Are there customers that

the competition is ignoring

or not serving?

Yes. In general, the competition tends to simply ask

prospective travelers to “visit,” “experience,” or

“discover” their destinations. This communication

approach doesn’t necessarily address the needs and

wants from psychographic segments that are based on

particular activities and interests.

Which markets are heavily

saturated and have intense

competition?

The tourism industry as a whole is still rebounding from

the recession. The recession has helped create fierce

competition in key markets (reduced demand with the

same supply). Overall, markets are not as saturated as

they once were because the supply of tourists has been

reduced.

Are the benefits clearly

articulated to the various

customer market

segments?

There are many examples where benefits are not clearly

articulated to various customer segments. For example,

Ohio’s communications routinely tell travelers that Ohio

has “too much fun for just one day.” This is a generic

statement, and Ohio should consider revamping some of

their communications to better articulate the benefits

associated with various destinations or activities.

Are there opportunities to

build relationships with

customers using a slightly

different marketing

approach?

Yes. The tourism industry is still learning how to create

community, conversation, and connections with

prospective travelers (new media / social media is still in

its infancy in the tourism industry).

Are there opportunities

that are not being pursued?

Yes. Travel is an experiential activity, and there are a

myriad of opportunities associated with sharing travel

experiences in order to motivate prospective travelers

to visit a destination (word of mouth marketing)

5

Appendix E – MI Prospective Traveler Inquiries by Channel

Source: TravelMichiganNews.org

6

Appendix F – Claritas Prizm Product Overview

7

Appendix G – Visits by State to Michigan.org

Source: Quantcast.com

Key: The darker the color of red, the more traffic generated to Michigan.org.

8

Appendix H – Michigan’s Destinations and Activities

Destinations Listed On Michigan.org Activities Listed on Michigan.org

• Beaches

• Casinos

• Cities

• Culture & History

• Dining

• Driving Tours

• Green Travel

• Lighthouses

• National Parks

• Theme Parks

• Transportation

• Wineries

• Biking

• Camping

• Canoeing/Kayaking

• College Sports

• Equestrian

• Fishing

• Golf

• Movies

• Music Festivals

• Outdoor

• Pro Sports

• Trail Running

• Sailing

• Skiing

9

Appendix I – Creative Strategy Statement

1.0 Communication Objectives

• Achieve a 10% increase in brand awareness of MI’s targeted destinations and activities with

target consumers in key out of state DMAs by the end of the campaign period (2010 / 11).

• Generate positive attitudes about Michigan’s travel destinations and activities with an additional

7% of target consumers by April 1, 2011.

• Create interest in Michigan’s destination and activity brands with an additional 5% of the target


• Stimulate a 5% across-the-board increase in Internet traffic (Michigan.org), Web 2.0 utilization

(Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and eMarketing tools (newsletter, banner ads, SEM) by December 31,

2011.

• Influence enough incremental travel to Michigan to meet or exceed the current IMC campaign’s

return on investment of $2.23 for every dollar spent on marketing communications during the

2010 / 2011 calendar year (Tax revenue target is $12.35 M).

2.0 Creative Strategy Statement

a. Target Audience

Travel Michigan’s target audience profile is as follows:

Demographics

• Gender:

Primary: Female, Secondary: Male

• Primary Age Group: 35 – 49

• Secondary Age Group: 50+

• Education: College Graduate

• HH Income: $60k+

• Race:

Mainly Caucasian, and African American and Hispanic

• Children:

Primary: No, Secondary Yes

Psychographics and Behavioristics Profiles

An extensive set of psychographic and behavior profiles have been

developed for Travel Michigan by McCann and D.K. Shifflet and

Associates. Source: http://www.travelmichigannews.org

10

Geographics

Michigan’s Top 5 DMAs: (1) Detroit, (2) Grand Rapids-

Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, (3) Flint-Saginaw-Bay City (4) Lansing,

(5) Traverse City-Cadillac

Key Feeder Markets: (1) Chicago, IL, (2) Green Bay & Milwaukee,

WI, (3) Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, & Cincinnati, OH,

(4) Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend, IN, (5) Windsor /


b. Competition

Travel Michigan’s competitors’ (DMAs listed in the Geographic section above) communications

are mainly asking prospective travelers to “visit,” “experience,” or “discover” their destinations.

Only a limited amount of elaboration is offered, so it is difficult to form unique, strong, and / or

favorable associations.

Travel Michigan can continue to penetrate competitive markets by leveraging brand messages

about Pure Michigan’s unique and desirable “Made for Life” offerings.

c. Key Benefit

Michigan features a unique combination of desirable destinations, untouched natural settings,

and lifestyle-focused activities.

The key benefit is a distinctive value-priced travel experience that closely aligns with the

traveler’s unique lifestyle needs and wants.

d. Promotional Mix

• Advertising

• Direct Marketing

• Interactive / Internet Marketing

• Sales Promotion

• Public Relations

11

Appendix J – Michigan’s Visitations by Quarter Michigan Regions: Visitation by Quarter of the Year (2002)

(% of 2002 leisure person-days)

The third quarter of the year dominates in every region. Visitations range from a low of one-third

(Southeast) to a high of nearly one-half of all annual leisure person-days (Northwest and Northeast).

More specifically, at the state level, monthly shares of annual travel in the summer months are as

follows: June (13%), July (16%), and August (17%). These three months dominate monthly shares for

four regions. The only exception is the Southeast region, which receive 12% of leisure visitation in

December, third only to the 13% in both July and August.

Source: Michigan 2002 Travel Summary by D.K. Shifflet and Associates

12

Appendix K – U.S. Media Consumption Statistics

Average Time Spent Per Day with Major Media by Age Group

Age Group 18 – 34 35 – 64 65+

Total Hours 8.3 Hrs. 7.9 Hrs. 7.6 Hrs.

% TV 41.0% 52.0% 60.0%

% Radio 23.2% 20.7% 14.9%

% Internet 29.1% 18.6% 10.6%

% Newspapers 3.5% 5.7% 9.5%

% Magazines 2.9% 3.4% 5.0%

Total 100% 100% 100%

Figure 1.0 – Average Time Spent Per Day with Major Media by Age Group

Source: emarketer. From Demographic Profile of US Adult Consumers by Average Time Spent per Day with Major Media, January 2008.

Adults in the U.S. spend roughly half of their day consuming media, and they spend roughly

25% of their day viewing television programming. The following is a brief list of relevant

supporting information about television advertising:

• Around 40 percent of U.S. households now have at least one digital video recording device (Televisionbroadcast.com, 2010). While TV viewing is trending upward, commercial consumption is trending downward (due to zipping, zapping, multitasking, etc.).

• The cost of producing and showing a 15 second or 30 second spot varies significantly by audience size, time of day, frequency, network, and so forth. Local television advertising can be acquired at relatively reasonable prices.

• A 30-second time slot in a medium-sized market can be purchased for as little as $5 per 1,000 viewers (cheaptvspots.com).

• Americans are using TV and the Internet together approximately 35% more than a year ago (2009 versus 2008). Media multitasking is becoming a norm (Nielsen, 2010).

Travel Michigan’s target audience is between the age of 35 – 54, and the above information

provides a reference point for the average time this particular audience spends with the

major media. Currently, television, radio, and the Internet represent over 90% of the target

audience’s “major media” consumption.

13

Appendix L – Tourism Marketing Framework

Figure 1.0 – Tourism Marketing Framework

(Middleton, 2009)

14

Appendix M – Creative Brief (Trade Partners)

Advertising and promotion will be used to convince prospective trade partners that Travel Michigan’s

approach to co-marketing will provide them with better business results than they would be able to

obtain on their own. The following approaches will be used to accomplish the goal:

• Perception: Create recognition, recall, & interest around the benefits of partnering with Travel

Michigan (Travel Michigan’s ability to increase profitability, reduce costs and enhance

productivity)

• Persuasion: Create conviction and preference around the depth and breadth of Travel

Michigan’s marketing capabilities (which are an excellent driver for co-op marketing etc.)

• Behavior: Stimulate trial and trade partner retention.

Problem Advertising and Promotion Must Address

Advertising and promotion will be used to address the following challenges:

• Prospective trade partners may not be aware of Travel Michigan’s ability to help them generate

market.

• Prospective trade partners may not understand how to use co-marketing to generate more

revenue.

Who Are We Talking To (Target Audience)?

The target audiences for this campaign are the following channel partners:

• Travel Organizers (travel e-mediaries, agents, etc.)

• Destination Organizations (tourist offices, DMOs, etc.)

• Product Supply Organizations (attractions, etc.)

• Transportation Infrastructure Organizations (air, etc.)

What Do They Currently Think?

The prospective trade partners currently think that Travel Michigan is a credible organization that has

reenergized the Michigan brand, obtained a significant ROI on their marketing campaigns, and have won

industry awards.

What Would We Like Them to Think?

We want our target audience to be aware that Travel Michigan has a number of co-marketing solutions

that will help them increase profitability, reduce costs and enhance productivity. We want them to

associate the benefits of partnering with Travel Michigan with achieving the marketing and business

objectives they are trying to accomplish.

15

What Do We Want Them to Do?

We want them to respond to communications about partnering with Travel Michigan to help generate

market demand for their business.

What is the Single Most Pervasive Idea We Can Convey?

Travel Michigan offers effective co-marketing solutions that will help the trade partners increase

profitability, reduce costs and enhance productivity.

Why Should They Believe It?

We will start to develop a favorable connection with our audience by presenting Travel Michigan’s co-

marketing solutions in a clear and rational way. These favorable impressions will influence the trade

partners to partner with Travel Michigan.

Are There Any Creative Guidelines?

• All advertising should be focused on solving the customer’s marketing pains (demand creation,

etc.).

• Include direct response information (how they can contact the company)

• The Michigan.org web address and the Pure Michigan logo must be visible in all advertising.

• As part of each campaign element, trade partners will be exposed to strong messages about the

benefits of partnering with Travel Michigan.

• The creative message must be simple, clear, and rational

Campaign Theme

The overarching theme for the channel marketing campaign will revolve around a series of examples of

how trade partner businesses will benefit from partnering with Travel Michigan. The theme is “We’re

Better Together,” and the communications will use testimonials, examples, and proof statements to

drive the message home.

Creative Approach

The campaign should use light visuals with strong messages about the benefits of partnering with Travel

Michigan. We want the messages to be rational and authentic. They must provide the information

needed to provoke the target market to begin working with Travel Michigan.

Appeal

The main appeals for the advertising will be rational and value (related to co-marketing, etc.).

Tone

The campaign tone will be approachable, friendly, rewarding, and authentic.

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References

CIC Research Inc. (2008). The 2008 Detroit Metropolitan Area Tourism Market Profile and Economic

Impact Study. Downloaded on 11/4/2010 from

http://library.semcog.org/InmagicGenie/DocumentFolder/Economic%20Impact%20of%20the%20Bo

rder_web.pdf

CheapTVSpots.com (2010). Affordable TV Advertising for Entrepreneurs. Direct response ads, 800

number campaigns, plus branding and image commercials.

Clow, K. and Baack, D. (2007) Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications 3rd

Edition. New Jersey. Person Prentice Hall

Commerce.gov (2010). U.S. Commerce Department Announces Third Consecutive Month of Double-Digit

Growth in International Tourism Spending in the U.S. Downloaded on 11/3/2010 from

http://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2010/09/21/us-commerce-department-

announces-third-consecutive-month-double-digit

eMarketer.com (2008). Demographic Profile of US Adult Consumers by Average

Time Spent per Day with Major Media. Downloaded on 11/23/2010 from

http://www.audiencedevelopment.com/2008/media+consumption+age

eTurboNews.com (2010) Pure Michigan tourism campaign killed. Downloaded on 11/3/2010 from

http://www.eturbonews.com/18595/pure-michigan-tourism-campaign-killed

LaTimes.com (2010). No more skipping ads? Networks will look to video-on-demand to replace DVRs.

Downloaded on 11/23/2010 from

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/10/is-the-dvr-just-a-stop-

gap/comments/page/2/

Michigan State University News (2010). Michigan tourism industry expected to improve in2010.

Downloaded on 11/3/2010 from http://news.msu.edu/story/7829/&multi_media=3

Michigan State University (2004) Tourism Facts. Downloaded on 11/4/2010 from

http://www.msue.msu.edu/objects/content_revision/download.cfm/item_id.261283/workspace_id

.117274/leisure_days_source.pdf/

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Middleton, Victor (2009). Marketing in Travel and Tourism, Fourth Edition Oxford, UK Butterworth-

Heinemann

mLive.com (2010) Should lawmakers spend unexpected cash on Pure Michigan ads? State Senate

candidates Hildenbrand, LaGrand disagree. Downloaded on 11/11/2010 from

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-

rapids/index.ssf/2010/10/should_lawmakers_spend_unexpec.html

Nielsen.com (2010). Americans Using TV and Internet Together 35% More Than A Year Ago.

Downloaded on 11/23/2010 from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/three-screen-

report-q409/

Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (2009). U.S. Travel and Tourism Industries: A Year in Review.

Downloaded on 11/3/2010 from

http://www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/pdf/2009-year-in-review.pdf

Televisionbroadcasting.com (2010). DVR Penetration Reaches 40 Percent. Downloaded on 11/23/2010

from http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/107144

Travelmichigannews.org. (2008). Conversion Studies. Downloaded on 11/3/2010 from

http://www.travelmichigannews.org/mtr/pdf/Conversion_Study_WhitePaper.pdf

Travelmichigannews.org. (2008). Travel Michigan 2008 Claritas Selection - Out of State Market.

Downloaded on 11/3/2010 from http://www.travelmichigannews.org/cm/attach/ECBF5788-566A-

4459-96BE-638B93D790A6/2008%20Out%20of%20State%20Claritas%20Selection.pdf

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