Everyone is going to be Smitten in the Mitten

In 2006 the Michigan legislature started funding for a new ad campaign for our states travel industry. These advertisements narrated by local celebrities like Tim Allen were made with three marketing objectives: deliver an emotional message to a national audience to increase awareness of Michigan as a destination, increase traffic to the web portal michigan.org, and increase travel to the state.

As Michiganders we all know how beautiful our state is. We know that our states beauty is unique with our giant lakes, winding rivers, cascading waterfalls and beautiful rocky shorelines. But not everyone knows that, especially people from other states. These advertisements dont just let people know what they can do when they travel to our state, they try and show people what it feels like to visit Michigan. These efforts have really paid off, this campaign has generated 7.2 million new visits.

To wrap things up, these ads are great. Seeing them on TV or even hearing the ads on the radio sparks a good feeling emotion in all of us. We can all relate to these feelings because we have all been to a lot, if not all the places they talk about in these short ads. It is also nice to see Michigan showcased as something more than our declining economy and shaky auto companies. And now the rest of the nation can enjoy what we all enjoy everyday.