Regional Trends - Tourism

A story in The St. Ignace News' series bringing our readers fresh perspectives on the top issues facing the Straits area and the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

"You have to give them emotional reasons" to buy.

That's the advice of Sarah Klavas, speaking of drawing travelers to Wisconsin. Ms. Klavas is the newly appointed brand manager for the entire state, and it will be her job to bring a new marketing strategy to the travel industry and state agencies in Wisconsin in the coming year.

"Just like any other product in corporate America . . . our product is no different," she said, because selling it successfully will depend on an appeal to emotion.

The way Ms. Klavas and others in the Department of Tourism will sell Wisconsin travel will be through a new strategy called a branding iniative. Since 2007, the department has been polling the public, the travel industry, communities, and state agencies to determine what makes Wisconsin unique and what appeals most to its tourists. From that information, it has developed the state's distinctive "brand," which will be used to develop advertising, printed materials, and slogans across Wisconsin. That work is underway now and will continue in the coming year.

Originality is the most distinctive attribute of Wisconsin people and the state itself, according to Ms. Klavas and her department's research. That's the key word in the state's new brand: "Because of the passionate nature of the state's people to create fun, express themselves in original ways, and feel more comfortable doing it here than anywhere else, in Wisconsin, originality rules."

"It refers to both the fun kind of originality that makes life worth living and the serious kind that gives business a competitive edge," Ms. Klavas said.

The idea pays tribute to Wisconsin as a place where the people are fiercely proud, passionate, and loyal, and where the culture fuels creativity and embraces originality, according to the state's Web site. It puts a spotlight on the Wisconsin style of hospitality and the people who deliver it.

Television, print, and radio advertisements will now be developed, and all of them will focus on some aspect of the originality idea, Ms. Klavas said. New slogans will replace the state's formerly used taglines, "America's Dairyland" and "Life's So Good."

"A slogan is a way to communicate attributes of the brand," she explained.

Her department calls branding "by its very nature, the art of sacrifice - landing on that one compelling, emotional reason that visitors should choose Wisconsin over other vacation options."

"If we dilute the brand platform, we will always be playing second fiddle to the competition," the tourism department explains to the industry on its Web site, noting, "Once visitors are here, they will discover all the great activities, attractions, lodging options, restaurants, and events offered at the local level and communicated through local marketing efforts."

The Department of Tourism, headed by Secretary Kelli Trumble, called in the help of outside agencies, including a research firm and a brand agency that Ms. Klavas calls "one of the best in the country" to come up with the new strategy.

"We also developed a brand expert committee of the best and brightest minds of private sector and public sector businesses," she said, "to get both a business and a tourism perspective" because business and the travel industry must work hand in hand.

People involved on the committee represented many facets of the state, including the Milk Marketing Board, an architecture firm, Native American tourism, the Harley- Davidson company, and an art museum.

Planners then listened to the opinions and ideas of people in the tourism industry, the public, and state government. Research focus groups were held in three states, in the cities of Chicago, Minneapolis, and Wausau, to gather public opinion, and a mass e-mail survey went out to all in the travel industry. From 150 survey recipients in the industry, the poll generated 450 unique responses. Visitors bureaus, tourism associations, and snowmobile groups were invited to meetings to voice their opinions.

Specific survey questions were tailored to each group. For example, welcome center managers were asked to provide common questions they hear from travelers.

Now that the research has resulted in developing the brand itself, unveiled by Governor Jim Doyle in 2008, a series of campaigns has recently begun to advertise that message to people who may want to visit Wisconsin.

Advertisements will feature "Wisconsin originals," people and products that are unique to the state. A fall campaign, the first in the series, featured musicians The BoDeans and the family-owned Wisconsin beer manufacturer Leinenkugel. The winter campaign, underway now, includes Olympic gold medal speed skater Bonnie Blair and Fern Caulker of the Ko- Thi Dance Company, speaking about the original aspects of winter in Wisconsin.

Other "Wisconsin originals" that could be used in upcoming campaigns are Harry Houdini, Liberace, Georgia O'Keefe, Les Paul, the Ringling Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ole Evinrude, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Tying in to the state's long-held reputation as "Dairyland," makers of distinctive cheeses could also be featured.

"Wisconsin originals could be famous people, or even infamous, or not as well known, as long as there's an element of the brand strategy. That's also how it can filter down to the local level, by unearthing people and places that are 'originals' in their own town," Ms. Klavas said.

Communities that want to participate but need funding help can apply for money from the state tourism department through the longstanding JEM (Joint Effort Marketing) grant program, which Ms. Klavas calls "very successful." Wisconsin set aside $1.14 million last year for the program and reaped $18 million in travel spending for local economies as a direct result, the governor's office reported.

"We're looking to help them buy ads or do public relations to get people to visit," Ms. Klavas said of the grant program. "If they can show us they can do that with our money, they're appropriate for funding."

Wisconsin's governor also hosts an annual conference for tourism, which attracts about 1,000 industry members. It has continued for 20 years and is one of the largest in the nation, Ms. Klavas said. At this year's upcoming Governor's Conference for Tourism in LaCrosse in March, "we'll have an opportunity to dive deeper into the brand strategy" for people in the industry, Ms. Klavas said.

"That's the beauty of the tourism industry in Wisconsin," she said; "we all work together."

In 2009, "my job will be working with the tourism industry and other state agencies to look at ways for us to plug into this brand strategy," she said, mentioning the departments of Commerce, Agriculture, and Natural Resources as likely early partners in rolling out the concept. "It has to first be applied to tourism."

Ms. Klavas, who spent 14 years as director of marketing and communication for the Department of Tourism, was appointed the state's brand manager just four months ago, in September. She works in Madison.

Planners looked to other states that use branding successfully, and according to the department, some of the best are Oregon ("We Love Dreamers"), New York ("I Love New York"), Virginia ("Virginia is for Lovers"), Wyoming ("Wyoming. Forever West"), and Texas ("Texas. It's Like a Whole Other Country"). These are effective, the Wisconsin tourism planners believe, because they use clear imagery and emotional appeal.

Ms. Klavas also speaks highly of her neighboring state's ongoing "Pure Michigan" campaign, which features images that build an emotional appeal of the connection between people and the lakes, rivers, and natural sites in Michigan.

"The Pure Michigan campaign is an excellent example of how powerful tourism marketing can be," she said.