1997

Longwoods International began a comprehensive travel research program for the Maine Office of Tourism. The program included annual tracking of day and overnight trips to Maine, image research, and advertising evaluation and impact assessment

The early work revealed that traveler spending on Maine trips was flat despite increased traveler volumes because the growth was attributable to low-value visits to friends and relatives. The higher-value vacation segment was underdeveloped and Maine’s regional market share within it was in decline.

1998

Notwithstanding this overall performance, Longwoods’ leading-edge Accountability Research Model demonstrated that the Office of Tourism’s 1997 program of advertising was effective in terms of generating incremental trips and tourism spending. In fact, without the advertising, Maine’s regional market share would have declined even further, and overnight visitation, particularly vacation trips, may have declined.

This learning was taken forward to the many stakeholder groups, including local industry, the Maine State Planning Office, politicians, and the media and made the case that:  i) continued advertising investment, ideally with increased budgets, would be necessary for Maine to stem the erosion of its market share and to ensure continued growth of one of its most important industries and ii) tourism is a net generator, not a cost to state taxpayers.

Maine’s then Governor King remarked at a press conference:  “Does it [our advertising] work and how do you know?  Well, it worked, and we know because we have the scientific basis and proven technique to know that it worked.”

1999

Other aspects of the research program showed that Maine’s eroding market share was due in part to low awareness levels and in part to an image that was not sufficiently differentiated from its regional competitors to give people sufficient reason to travel the extra distance to Maine.

Qualitative research was therefore undertaken to explore in-depth, and evaluate potential new branding themes and creative approaches to identify which would be most effective for Maine’s next summer campaign.

These findings resonated with the undifferentiated image of the state and also identified a number of key barriers to visiting Maine. These included that:  i) there was not much to do in Maine (eg. not many towns, few opportunities for shopping), ii) you have to be “outdoorsy” to enjoy the state, and iii) it was isolated and remote and not many people lived or went there.

The research program, including analytics based on Longwoods’ proprietary trip-type segmentation model, then culminated in formulating a strategy focused on itinerary-full touring vacations and development of “The Maine Attraction” campaign theme.

Accountability Research later confirmed positive response to the advertising in terms of both image and visitation and, moreover, the contribution to a rebound in Maine’s regional market share.

2000 and Beyond

Accountability Research continues to demonstrate robust annual returns on the state’s commitment to strategic brand development and ongoing monitoring to justify the state’s increased advertising budget.