State ad campaign brings in $6.9 million

The Montana Office of Tourism recently won an award for an ad campaign it ran this winter that is credited with bringing $6.9 million to the state using a $25,000 investment.

MTOT won a Travel Weekly Silver Magellan Award in the Travel Destinations category. Travel Weekly is the industry’s leading news source, and it receives Magellan Award entries from top organizations and professionals around the world.

“This award is a great achievement and another reminder of Montana’s position as a travel industry leader with a high standard of excellence,” Montana Department of Commerce director Meg O’Leary said.

Using location-based technology, MTOT’s campaign delivered ads with winter photos to mobile devices. The ads were precisely targeted to winter recreationists identified by their current or past location, such as ski areas and shops.

The technology enabled MTOT to measure the ad campaign’s success by tracking the number of people who received the ads and then actually traveled to Montana. MTOT estimates its $25,000 campaign brought $6.9 million into the state — a return of $276 for every $1 spent.

MTOT is the first destination marketing organization to do this kind of mobile targeting. The campaign was prepared in conjunction with several of MTOT’s marketing partners, including PlaceIQ, Spark SMG and Bozeman-based MercuryCSC.

MTOT has received numerous awards for its advertising work, including a Gold Magellan Award in 2011. Its mission is to strengthen Montana’s economy by promoting the state as a vacation destination and film location. In 2013, Montana hosted 11 million visitors who added more than $3.6 billion to the state’s economy.