MADISON, Wis. (April 4, 2022) – Today, Travel Wisconsin launched its 2022 summer campaign, “Here’s to Those Who Wisconsin.” The new campaign highlights Wisconsin’s spirited and celebratory nature, encouraging travelers to experience shared moments of joy in a way that is unique to Wisconsin. The ads feature real families and real friends discovering the unexpected in Wisconsin and showcasing the welcoming personality of our state.
Building on the momentum of the 2021 advertising campaign, the 2022 campaign launched in the same 12 markets with a bigger spend and deeper reach than in any previous campaign in Travel Wisconsin’s history. In-state markets include Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and Wausau while out-of-state markets include Chicago, Minneapolis, Cedar Rapids, Duluth, Rochester, Davenport, Des Moines and Rockford.
“2022 is expected to be a huge year for tourism’s recovery and Travel Wisconsin is ready to help people enjoy quality time with friends and family while making lasting memories,” said Tourism Secretary-designee Anne Sayers. “We’re making historic investments, but most importantly we’re using data to help make sure our dollars are working hardest for us as we engage more travelers in the Wisconsin brand. This data helped confirm our most strategic target advertising markets and informed decisions to expand investments in the Minneapolis and Chicago markets, which currently provide the greatest return on our investment and have the most untapped potential.”
The advertising markets were selected based on the highest value of visit using Wisconsin’s proprietary Propensity to Visit Model. This model incorporates several in-depth data sets from leading market research experts Longwoods International and Tourism Economics as well as visitation intelligence company Arrivalist, including demographic attributes, geographic attributes, prior travel behavior, psychographic measures related to travel and personal values from consumers nationwide.
While final 2021 economic impact data won’t be available until June, early data shows a 123 percent arrival lift in our target markets for 2021. Arrival lift measures incremental trips that would not have happened if people weren’t exposed to Travel Wisconsin advertising. In 2019, Wisconsin tourism’s best year on record, arrival lift was 85.4 percent.
Additionally, the 2022 campaign is supported by groundbreaking neuroscience research to observe the attentional, emotional and cognitive responses of travelers towards the summer TV commercial.
“This research has allowed us to understand how motivating the ad is, if audiences are processing the information and whether the ad is emotionally engaging,” said Chief Marketing Officer Shane Brossard. “We’re so excited to have this extra layer of insight to truly see that our ads will resonate with travelers and it’s a testament to our commitment to data-driven strategy to help us make the biggest impact.”
The 2022 summer advertising campaign runs April 4 – July 23 and includes digital advertising, online video, TV, connected TV, radio, online radio, social media, paid search and billboards.
View a full overview of the summer campaign here and download the high-definition summer TV commercial here.