“There’s no substitute for a great Minnesota vacation.” That’s the message of new television ads from Explore Minnesota Tourism currently running on stations in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Sioux Falls, Fargo, Grand Forks, Thunder Bay and Winnipeg, as well as on stations across Minnesota. The playful spots encourage consumers to get away for a while, portraying employees in their office pretending they’re on a real vacation. Explore Minnesota ads will also run during Twins baseball broadcasts in Minnesota and Brewers broadcasts in Wisconsin throughout the season.
Explore Minnesota Tourism, the state’s tourism promotion office, also ran TV ads in Chicago this spring in partnership with Southwest Airlines, announcing the launch of the company’s service between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul and inviting Chicagoans to explore the Twin Cities area. This April, a promotional brochure about Minnesota was inserted into newspapers in 16 metropolitan areas in nine states, from Dallas to Detroit.
Explore Minnesota ads also appear in the spring editions of several magazines, including Midwest Living, the Redbook Travel Guide and O, The Oprah Magazine. There is ongoing advertising for Minnesota on several travel-related Web sites. All of the advertising drives consumers to the state’s travel Web site, exploreminnesota.com. Beginning this spring, new Minnesota license plates promote the Web site, as well; so far, more than 100,000 new plates have been produced with exploreminnesota.com on them. Visitors to the Explore Minnesota Web site can sign up for the “I’d Rather Be on Vacation” Sweepstakes, with 11 Minnesota travel packages as prizes, running through May 31.
