CW Campaign Asks Tourists to 'Be Part of the Story'

By Stuart Elliott, of the New York Times Wednesday, February 03, 2010

A campaign now under way is asking consumers to consider something revolutionary in this economy: spending money on leisure travel.

The campaign is for Colonial Williamsburg, the venerable attraction that recreates life in 18th-century Virginia.

 

 

The campaign, with a budget estimated at $6 million to $8 million, carries the theme “Be part of the story.”

The campaign is the first work from the new lead agency for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Birmingham, Mich., office of McCann Erickson Worldwide, part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies. The assignment had previously been handled by the Arlington, Va., office of Arnold Worldwide, a unit of Havas.

Why would a living history museum in Virginia forgo working with a home-state agency to hire one in the industrial Midwest? The primary appeal was the success of a campaign created by the McCann Erickson office, which promotes Michigan as a destination for winter sports, leaf-peeping in the fall and other leisure travel.

The “Pure Michigan” campaign, with commercials that feature of the voice of the comedian — and Michigan native — Tim Allen, has been widely deemed one of the most effective efforts of its kind these days in generating tourism dollars. The idea is that if McCann Erickson can sell Michigan as a place to visit, it might well have the Midas touch when it comes to leisure-travel marketing.

“We thought their Michigan advertisements were really terrific,” says Colin Campbell, president and chief executive of the foundation, based in what is called the historic area of Williamsburg.

McCann Erickson is handling the creative and media duties for the campaign. Three other agencies are also involved: Ypartnership in Orlando, Fla., a specialist in travel advertising, which is handling mobile marketing; Brains on Fire in Greenville, S.C., for social media; and Mfa Public Relations and Marketing in New York, which is handling a public relations initiative.

The new campaign replaces one from Arnold that carried the theme “History is just the beginning.” The previous ads were “designed to say, ‘There is so much to do in Williamsburg,’ ” Mr. Campbell says. “Whether it got that message across is another question.”

The rethinking of how Colonial Williamsburg is being pitched to potential visitors was undertaken because “simply put, times have changed,” Mr. Campbell says, citing “a recessionary atmosphere” with “a decline in discretionary spending.”

That led to a decline in admissions at Colonial Williamsburg, he adds, reversing a gain that had been achieved in the latter part of the 2000s.

To determine the new course for the foundation’s ads, research was undertaken to see what tourists are “looking for and concerned about regarding their vacation dollars,” Mr. Campbell, as well as to see “which media they rely on to make their decisions.”

What people revealed they are looking for is “engagement, interaction,” he adds, and Colonial Williamsburg was “essentially perceived to be passive — and passive is not we want to be or need to be.”

“With ‘Be part of the story,’ it’s clear there is an active role for the visitor,” Mr. Campbell says. “That proactive approach is the key change.”

For instance, in a television commercial, an announcer declares: “The people who walked these streets before us were just like you and me, with hopes, dreams, challenges. Today we do more than just walk the same streets. For a moment, we get to walk in their shoes, preparing us for what lies ahead down our next road.”

The spot begins with scenes of costumed employees of Colonial Williamsburg on Duke of Gloucester Street. Visitors are added to the picture in scenes that include employees dressed as soldiers; some visitors are firing guns, others are bowing, 18th-century style. “Be part of the story,” the announcer concludes.

That concept is echoed in a print advertisement showing a man in a tri-cornered hat driving a horse-drawn wagon and a boy rolling a hoop, which carries this headline: “250 Years Later, We’re Still Traveling the Same Roads.”

“We turn a corner and suddenly find ourselves in another place and time,” the text of the ad begins. “Not simply strolling down the streets of the people who lived in colonial America. But walking in their shoes.”

“Reliving their adventures, dramas, victories and defeats in ways that are as engaging as they are entertaining,” the text says. “Experiences that stay with us. And help guide us down new streets of our own.”

The ad ends by inviting readers to “Be part of the story” and visit a Web site.

A second television commercial starts with scenes of the doors of buildings in Colonial Williamsburg like the Williamsburg Inn, along with employees in costumes. “We go through them all the time,” the announcer says. “Doors that mark the day’s events, new beginnings, endings, routines.”

The doors reveal “the stories and dramas, the victories and challenges that help us go through new doors of our own,” the announcer continues, as scenes appear on screen of visitors speaking with the employees. This spot, too, ends with the announcer concluding, “Be part of the story.”

There is also a radio commercial that is focused on what the announcer calls “words that we use so casually today.”

They are “the same words,” he says, “that 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Va., helped change the course of history forever.”

Those words include “freedom,” “independence” and “revolution,” the announcer continues, adding: “Let’s make words like these come alive and perhaps inspire us to find words of our own that will make a difference in the world we live in.”

With “all the options for people to spend their vacation dollars,” says Charlie Metzger, executive vice president and director for client services at the McCann Erickson office, “it is, no question, competitive” — not to mention “a challenge” to draw attention to a single attraction.

The research for the campaign included convening focus groups as well as talking to people who visit Colonial Williamsburg and like to blog about their experiences, he adds, as well as discussions with employees.

“We did a lot of listening,” Mr. Metzger says, which elicited “a feeling that this is a unique place with something more there — a depth, a richness, an authenticity — that we frankly felt hadn’t been told in previous communications.”

“This is a vacation, a destination, where you’ve got to give a little bit to get something,” Mr. Metzger says. “And those who do get a huge amount out of it.”

So the intent of the campaign is “to let people know this is an interactive experience,” he adds.

Another reason for replacing “History is just the beginning,” Mr. Metzger says, is that it can come across as “apologetic.”

Although visitors can shop, play golf or be pampered at spas, “what makes Colonial Williamsburg so rich, so authentic, is the historic attractions,” he adds. “That is the driver.”

In addition to encouraging travelers to visit Colonial Williamsburg for the first time, Mr. Metzger says, the campaign seeks to “reach out to those who have been there previously.”

“Research told us the average visitor hadn’t been back in seven years,” he adds, so the ads will try to tap into “some latent equity” in those former guests and remind them “they should put us back in their consideration set.”

The campaign’s television and radio commercials and print ads are aimed at residents of the Eastern Seaboard, Mr. Metzger says, for whom Virginia is nearby and thus a lower-cost alternative to more far-flung destinations.

There are also online ads, which Mr. Campbell says will be more extensive than before, along with e-mail marketing, blogs, an iPhone application and the forays into social media.

Social media are “a wonderful way to make contact” with potential visitors, Mr. Campbell says, because “the best marketing is a great experience” that is conveyed through word of mouth.

Indeed, there was social media of a sort back in the 18th century: coffeehouses.