Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Connecticut has a perception problem. Despite a decade of attempts to shift perception, Connecticut still has a reputation of being old, boring, traditional, and stuffy. To finally move the needle, it was time to dramatically change the state's visual identity with a bolder, younger, and edgier look, feel, and sound — and ultimately draw people to the state.
Find Your Vibe is a modern music-based campaign that comes to life with an original song with lyrics declaring that visitors can "find it here." The message? You can find your vibe in Connecticut, no matter how unique — from big adrenaline and unreal art to neon nightlife, glamping, foodie experiences and more. Creative includes all new footage, fast cuts, vibrant imagery, and is more youthful, energetic, diverse, and unexpected than ever before.
In addition to TV and digital video placements, we utilized video OOH in taxis and airplanes, kiosks all over Manhattan, as well as immersive OOH video experiences in major public transportation facilities including Boston's North Station and NYC's Columbus Circle subway station and Moynihan Train Hall, targeting Madison Square Garden's youthful, music-centric audiences. On social media, we packaged entirely new videos to target families, foodies, and LGBTQ+ markets. To target younger audiences, we advertised on both English and Spanish-speaking dating apps. And finally, we redesigned our entire website with new brand colors, new imagery, and channels focusing on more progressive topics like LGBTQ+, multicultural, live music, adrenaline, and more.
The campaign goal? To both positively change state perception and to drive tourism after Covid-19 recovery, maximizing drive market opportunities and overnight stays.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
The results were fantastic, and goals were more than met. With a budget 17% lower than the prior year, the new campaign—in just its first 3 months—generated:
• 2.9 million visits to the website, which was the CTA for the campaign, up 4% over the prior year (and we know 10% of that traffic visits the state within 4 weeks)
• over 90% new site traffic that had never been to CTvisit.com before
• over 50% increase in site traffic from NY and MA our two primary targets, but also massive increases in traffic from new fly-in targets including 70 times the traffic from Seattle, 38 times the traffic from Minneapolis, and 3 times as much traffic from Florida
• a dramatic increase in Occupancy. We only have 2 months of data so far: July is up 15% and August is up 13%, much, much larger gains than typical.
• the distinction of being the #1 state in nation for drive market overnight growth since the pandemic – CT is leading entire country
Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
The total budget / total actual cost was $1.2 million.
We cannot directly attribute the growth in overnights to the campaign, though we are confident there is a strong correlation. But we can attribute much of the site traffic, and we know 10% of that traffic visits the state within 4 weeks. Using very, very conservative numbers we calculate at least a $3 return on each $1 invested WITHIN 4 WEEKS!
Division
Integrated Campaign - Business to Consumer