Brand Strategy

Montana Office of Tourism

The Montana Office of Tourism wanted a more strategic and holistic approach to better define its position as a world–class destination among Geotravelers and attract this core audience to the state.

To meet these objectives, MercuryCSC recommended:

• A research-based brand assessment and communications overhaul.
• Guidebooks, standards and internal roll-out to help constituent groups embrace the state's position.
• A two–tiered marketing strategy targeting first-time and repeat visitors that highlighted the state’s icons, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.

Based on this strategy and subsequent marketing campaigns developed by MercuryCSC, the Montana Office of Tourism achieved:

• Overwhelming buy-in from Montana's tourism constituency who now develop their own messages on–brand.
• Higher than national average rooms sold including highest in the mountain states region for 2009, despite economic conditions.
• Record-breaking visits to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Montana’s top attractions.

Video & TV

First Interstate Bank

First Interstate Bank is a family-owned bank grounded by a strong sense of place with more than 70 branches. However, its growth was leaving it vulnerable to the big national banks on one side and small town banks on the other. Thus, First Interstate asked Mercury to convey the emotion and local nature of the brand to its markets.

Making television the crux of the bank’s multi-media campaigns, Mercury developed a marketing strategy with origins in many of the same principles utilized in communicating with Geotravelers: telling your story frankly, localizing the message to the place and more deeply tying the brand to its authentic heritage.

Since working with Mercury, First Interstate has consistently been named one of the nation’s top banks for its asset size, successfully acquired and integrated 18 new branches in South Dakota and most recently concluded the first IPO in the banking industry since before the recession of 08-09. The power of the brand is credited for helping achieve many of First Interstate’s successes.

Additional Video Work

Interactive & Web

Montana Office of Tourism

Needing a "close-to-home" strategy during difficult economic conditions, the Montana Office of Tourism wanted to encourage Montanans to travel in-state in 2010, both to keep those travel dollars at home and develop a stronger culture of tourism.

MercuryCSC recommended creating an online community of Montana residents and brand advocates where they can share stories and experiences. Online and traditional advertising encouraged Montanans to tell their favorite Montana travel stories by posting photos or blogging on the social media site. Best stories would win a trip "Getting Lost" in Montana.

Uploaded photography became part of a larger library that Montana could use in other marketing executions. Additional campaign results to come as the campaign unfolds over the summer.

Additional Interactive Work

Traditional Media

Redington

Redington fly rods and apparel asked MercuryCSC to help re-launch
the brand after it struggled through ownership changes and product difficulties.

Utlizing the traditional media channels of the fly fishing industry and Redington’s target, MercuryCSC recommended appealing to anglers with utilitarian values by positioning Redington as the everyman’s brand.

After launching the campaigns, Redington experienced the following success:

• Sales doubled in just three years.
• More than 350 new dealers signed up to sell this previously scorned brand.
• The brand was introduced to the outdoor retail market, an entirely new area of potential growth to complement the low-growth fishing market.

Additional Traditional Work

Public Relations

Montana Office of Tourism

The Montana Office of Tourism had a public relations effort that was almost exclusively reactive to in-bound inquiries. MercuryCSC worked actively with the client to build a ground up program, developing their PR foundation and outreach capabilities. Combining a mix of traditional tactics with emergent digital and social media tools, Mercury increased both the quantity and quality of Montana’s publicity results.

One key element of the strategy was to target journalists whose media outlets most resonate with Montana’s core audience, the Geotraveler. Mercury’s PR Team crafted hard-edged pitches and hosted media on excursions that best demonstrate the state’s unique sense of place as well as Montana’s old west meets new west culture.

Additionally, Mercury concepted and built an online pressroom featuring journalistically inspired photos, video clips, frequently updated story ideas as well as a repository for in-the-know Montana travel nuggets. Media blitz outreach efforts were launched into key markets including New York, Colorado and southern California, where targeted story ideas were delivered to top-tiered journalists with a personal, Montana style. Collectively, the strategy has grown the domestic value of Montana PR to over $16 million in equivalent editorial exposure in 2009.