Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

From the “Why I tell clients advertising is often a complete waste of money” field file:

I admit I’m prejudiced, but the tourism ad campaign for New Mexico is - in my not-so-humble opinion - an example of how ad agencies are often creative at the expense of effectiveness. Would you want to visit my beautiful state if you saw an ad with these characters?

From Fox News (via Duke City Fix): Alien Ad Campaign Angers New Mexico Tourism Industry

For weeks now, a contentious debate has raged among tourism officials here over a new state-financed advertising campaign aimed at attracting vacationers. Instead of highlighting New Mexico’s picturesque desert landscapes, art galleries or centuries-old culture, the ads feature drooling, grotesque office workers from outer space chatting about their personal lives…

Dale Lockett, president of the state’s largest convention and visitors bureau in Albuquerque, addressed the issue at a statewide conference last month. At a keynote luncheon, Lockett told the creators of the ads, Santa Monica, Calif.-based M&C Saatchi, that their handiwork, while innovative, appeals to the wrong audience. Why, Lockett wondered, was the state targeting its centerpiece ad campaign to a younger crowd at the precise moment when the bulk of baby boomers nationwide are reaching the age when they have time and money to travel?

And here’s the flip side:

Creators and supporters of the campaign, which includes magazine print ads as well as the TV spots, got a boost last week when they learned the ads had won an Adrian Award honoring excellence in advertising and marketing.

The ads are the “envy of other tourism departments,” said Stephen McCall, group account director for M&C Saatchi, referring to the honor.

Uh-huh. As my inner church lady would say, isn’t that special…an Adrian award! (”What’s that?” asks 99.9% of the population.)

I’m a baby boomer and I love Sci-Fi…Aliens is one of my all-time favorite movies. I even went to see the last Alien versus Predator movie (A bad bug movie is better than none at all, and, trust me, that was a really, really, really bad one.) If all I knew about New Mexico was from M&C Saatchi’s work, I’d go someplace more fun and scenic - like the recycling dumps in Newark, New Jersey. The print ads are even worse - a slap-dash amateurish cut and paste job of alien images on top of New Mexico scenery (example here).

I’m all for edgy, creative thinking…but “thinking” should be involved. More thinking should have been done re: 1. What’s the target market(s)? (Different ages, different interests. indoors types, outdoors types, etc.) 2. How do we most effectively reach them?(Sure, the goofball alien snaggleheads may get their attention, but is it the right kind of attention?) 3. Where do they live? (It’s a trek if you’re coming from the east coast, so how about we focus on cities that have direct flights of no more than four hours?) 4. Why would they care?

Also, behind the scenes do some “black & white” marketing - how do we “package” the state in new ways that will bring more business? What about putting together state-wide self-guided tours with participation by various merchants, artists, museums, wineries and restaurants? We could have a wine-lovers tour, a sports tour, a history buff tour and so on. Do special promotions of these packages with - say - Southwest Airlines. There are many other things that could be done that would be a more effective use of the ad dollars, but I’m running out of space.

I wonder if anyone from M&C Saatchi has ever been to New Mexico. *Sigh* We’ve got a lot to work with here - dinosaurs, coyotes, roadrunners, lizards (that gecko seemed to work pretty well for Geico), cowboys, Native-Americans, Buffalo soldiers, buffalos, casinos, pueblos, wide-open spaces, intimate bistros, breath-taking scenery, world-famous artists (Georgia O’Keefe managed to do a lot with that scenery), undiscovered artists, tiny villages, big-town shopping, etc. etc. For some ideas, the Albuquerque tourist site, it’s a trip, would be an excellent place for Saatchi to start. They should also visit Duke City Fix for some local perspective on why we’re so passionate about Albuquerque (and New Mexico.) That personal touch, doncha know?

This alien campaign might make more sense if it was on the heels of a big movie like Alien, Aliens or Independence Day, But all those are old movies. As for aliens and New Mexico? Been there, done that…years ago..and down Roswell way, not across the entire state.

(One way the state tourism department is measuring this campaign is web site traffic. Be interesting to know what that is…since all five times I tried to go there, I gave up…taking way, way too long to load.)

Last but not least, I’ve got the distinct feeling that we New Mexicans have been taken as rubes by them big-city slicker fellers…“We’re extremely proud of this campaign,” said Huw Griffith, CEO of M&C Saatchi LA. “It’s yet another example of our brutally simple thinking and creative hard sell.” Brutally simple? Creative hard sell? Oh puhlease. Mr. Griffith, some of us laid-back New Mexicans have worked in big cities, big companies…and dealt with this kind of slick hoo-ha before.

Related Post: The Problem with Marketing Creativity