Here's what the new research on the NM True campaign shows
Does advertising work?
In the case of the New Mexico True tourism campaign, said Bill Siegel, the founder of research firm Longwoods International, New Mexico saw the largest boost in awareness and return on investment of any state he's measured this year. Siegel said that last week at the Destination Marketing Association International conference in Austin, Texas, he presented his findings about New Mexico and six other states' tourism campaigns.
"I called out New Mexico for having the biggest lift of any that we measured" at the conference, he told Business First. "The bigger aspect is the economic development one; the unintended consequences were improving New Mexico by 300 percent. That's huge."
The research was lauded by Gov. Susana Martinez's office Thursday in a press release.
Longwoods is a nearly 30-year-old Canadian firm that specializes in measuring the ROI of advertising campaigns for everything from packaged goods and cars to tourism.
"I think the impact on economic development has struck a chord," Siegel said. "I think the fact that the governor has gone ahead to announce this is exciting. I think that you're sitting on a gold mine. But, you have to act."
The state, he said, needs to capitalize on the new research that indicates seeing a New Mexico True ad has strong impact.
Much of the lift New Mexico is seeing compares to the lift Michigan saw when it launched its Pure Michigan campaign. That campaign, which featured ads narrated by comedian Tim Allen and pictures of anything that isn't the dingy side of Detroit, has long been held up as on of the nation's best campaigns by tourism professionals.
"I think the existing New Mexico campaign, which is in its infancy compared to Michigan, is on its way," Siegel said.
And, of course, Siegel said, the firm has measured some campaigns with little or no return on investment. One town in another Western state, he said, put out a campaign that simply flopped.
"They won a ton of awards for creative, and zero ROI. They used a local photographer with absolutely drop-dead photography. Well, it's beautiful, but there was no strategy," he said.
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