Still Pure Michigan

Feb. 15, 2015

Iconic Campaign To Shift Focus From Up North To Cities

David West believes the next step for Michigan’s hugely successful Pure Michigan campaign is to move the spotlight from the familiar Lake Michigan sunsets and northern woods to the energy of the state’s urban areas.

In a Q&A with Northern Express, Vice President of Travel for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, West, said he believes the iconic campaign needs to evolve as it enters its 10th year.

The East Lansing native assumed brand leadership of Pure Michigan on Dec. 1, following a 15- year career teaching at Temple University’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Philadelphia and serving as vice president of marketing for the Pocono Mountains Visitor Bureau.

Northern Express: What’s the future of Pure Michigan?

David West: It looks bright. I’ve been on tour; I’ve been around the state and there is an absolute synergy with the campaign amongst the stakeholders – convention and visitors bureaus, hoteliers, restaurateurs. I have seen legislators from both sides of the aisle. The love for Pure Michigan is really quite remarkable.

Express: What’s your definition of Pure Michigan?

West: I like to think that Pure Michigan is not only about the environment, but it’s the spirit and vibe of the state. I think the latter is what we’re going to be expanding on in the future, which is to say that we’re going to bring a more urban experience to the Pure Michigan campaign, so that we definitely want to highlight the vibe of the cities, the characters. What does it feel like to be part of the scene? So, you look at Grand Rapids and the craft beer. You look at Detroit and the music and the auto industry and the rebirth. You look at Ann Arbor and East Lansing and Lansing with the mega universities and all the energy that’s around there. The same could be said about Kalamazoo. So that’s the future. That’s what it means. So, to me, it’s about the environment that we’ve worked so hard to preserve, but it’s also about the vibe and energy, the spirit of the cities.

Express: So you believe there’s been too much emphasis on natural beauty and the campaign should get away from the picturesque scenes of northern Michigan?

West: I wouldn’t say the words "˜too much emphasis.’ I would say that you have to start somewhere and there’s no doubt that the sizzle in Pure Michigan is what we have that visitors want to experience – the lakes and the beaches and the outdoors. I think if you look at Chicago, which is our primary market, you look at Toronto, [the natural beauty] is why people come to Michigan, to have a connection with the environment. And I think it’s a great way to start. We’re just expanding it to the urban environment because it’s not that it’s worse or better – it’s different. And it’s a very cool scene that I think hasn’t been told yet. Have we proven that Michigan has fantastic forests and beaches and Agrotourism with wineries?

Yes. The answer is we’ve definitely made our case. Now it’s time to say, "˜Well, what about our cities?’

Express: Let’s take a recent Pure Michigan ad – say, the one celebrating the microbreweries. It focuses on Blackrocks in Marquette. How does one brewer get chosen over another to be in an ad?

West: To be honest, that commercial was designed before I got there. So I don’t really have an answer for that in terms of who got selected. The only thing in terms of a commercial mentioning – the marketing world – you kind of want to lead with some great character places. Again, it’s not to say that one microbrewery is better than the other. It’s to say that we look to make sure to spread the wealth across the state. And we look to really kind of iconic, character-building types of destinations. I would say that, for those out there that want to be partners, then we need to get to know you. That’s where you have the ownership, who takes an active role, understanding that, "˜Hey, we want to be part of this team. We want to be part of Pure Michigan.’ It’s a good problem to have when you have too many people who want to be partners with you.

Express: Last year the MEDC had to tell a haunted house operator near Grand Rapids not to incorporate Pure Michigan into its advertising. How big of a job is it to monitor how small businesses use the Pure Michigan brand? What determines if a business can use it?

West: We have a whole legal team that looks over a lot of the different qualifications. In the early days, from what I’m told, when we had certain partners come online that wanted to adopt the Pure Michigan logo, it was great. Back in 2006, you just wanted to get the ball rolling. Your budget wasn’t what it is today. You had people who say, "˜Hey, I want to be a part of this.’ And you say, "˜Great! This is helping us out.’ But today, this is a brand that has been very successfully built up and we want to make sure that we don’t hurt ourselves in any way by allowing that brand to be diminished, because it not only hurts the state, it could harm the partnerships that we have out there, as well. So, we monitor that very closely. Here’s the interesting thing – we usually know when someone has used it wrongly because there’s a lot of people watching on our behalf. So, when they do see this, and recognize it, they usually tell us. So, we have a lot of watchdogs out there who watch our back.

Express: Have you seen the Not So Pure Michigan video spoofs? What do you think? Which one is your favorite?

West: It drives the creative director at our ad agency crazy. Yeah, I’ve seen a few of them. They’re pretty funny. I don’t know if I have a favorite, and I can’t recall them all, but somebody did show me one in reference to the Michigan winters and how sometimes it could be a little tough on the consumer.

Express: When I looked up the Pure Michigan hashtag on Twitter, that was a popular joke repeated in different ways – something like "˜It’s minus 20 outside and I’m freezing my butt off. #puremichigan.’

West: I think that if your brand has come to be the subject matter of parody, it means you really have ascended to a level that people have paid attention to it. So, I think it’s a great sign. I saw a "Saturday Night Live" skit about the Lincoln commercial with Matthew McConaughey. They made fun of that and it just shows that it’s a powerful brand that people have paid attention to. For me, it’s a good sign that our marketing is really working because people are really paying attention and it has that cache that people want to make parodies of.

Pure Northern Michigan

Cities across northern Michigan have, and continue to, run their own campaigns partnered through Pure Michigan. Traverse City and Mackinac Island have run national campaigns. Petoskey, Charlevoix, Gaylord, Cadillac and Manistee have run campaigns targeted to specific markets.

Peter Fitzsimons, executive director of the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau, said that last year his bureau spent $55,000 – which was doubled by the state – for a spring through summer radio campaign in Chicago.

The campaign featured a Tim Allen-voiced ad about Petoskey tagged with the Pure Michigan line. They also spent $200,000 on a visual campaign – billboards around the city and posters inside transit stations.

Fitzsimons believes the money was well spent and the bureau plans to renew the campaign this year.

"When you’re in marketing, it’s hard to close the loop, as far as how effective it is in the final sale, as far as how many people came," Fitzsimmons said. "But you’re building brand as long as you participate in this."

Fitzsimons said he thinks Pure Michigan’s statewide campaign is smart to put more emphasis on cities after so many years of touting Up North natural beauty. He says residents of downstate cities must think of Pure Michigan: "What about us?" The object of Pure Michigan, after all, is to raise the image of the entire state.

"The image of Michigan outside of the state was not good for decades," Fitzsimons said. "Pure Michigan is about changing attitudes."