case study: maryland department of tourism
Challenger Brand Issue: Increase tourism expenditures to Maryland amidst a bounty of “me too” destination marketing
The conventional wisdom in state destination marketing is to promote yourself by showing the variety of things to do and places to go. For the State of Maryland, this approach put them into a parity trap because the bordering commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia have the same vacation/getaway offerings.
Not only was Maryland fighting a parity product environment, they were being significantly outspent as much as 8 to 1 by competing states.
These factors caused Maryland’s tourism revenue to be flat for the period of 2001-2003.
We needed to change the status quo by moving Maryland from a rational-based marketing approach to one that would connect emotionally with travelers.
Insights
Several insightful nuggets surrounding the phenomena of consumer time starvation and vacation deprivation provided the foundation and inspiration for the Maryland Tourism campaign. Among the key insights, Americans are time starved but still don’t take their allotted vacation time (giving back nearly $20 billion in unused vacation time each year). Additionally, when vacation time is used, it’s often used to complete mundane household chores and errands instead of enjoying time off.
gkv recommended a strategy to position Maryland as a solution to time starvation and vacation deprivation rather than focus solely on Maryland’s destination attributes to lure leisure travelers. The differentiating strategy behind the campaign was to give consumers permission to use vacation time for vacationing instead of spending valuable time off doing chores.
Challenger Brand Behavior: Symbol of Re-evaluation
The advertising campaign asked consumers to view Maryland as an alternative to doing chores by suggesting that they “Seize the Day Off” by visiting Maryland for a quick visit or extended stay instead of working around the house. The campaign encouraged consumers to take back their hard earned vacation days instead of spending this valuable time drudging through mundane tasks.
The campaign used an integrated approach by targeting the most cost effective media vehicles with the specific focus of driving inquiries to the Maryland Tourism web site where prospective travelers could experience the state via the Internet and, ultimately, request a destination guide to plan a trip to Maryland.
Results
This campaign has been a huge success. Inquiries were up 8.1% annually; cost per lead dropped from $7.07 to $3.28; and the advertising rate of return has gone from 17 to 1 to 21 to 1 in three years.