The Fresh Ways to Michigan campaign extends Michigan’s reputation as a top travel destination in new directions, showcasing how the Great Lakes State is also the Road Trip State. The campaign’s promise dovetails with Pure Michigan’s 2023 message to “Keep It Fresh” and inspires travelers to take advantage of the duality of experiences Michigan offers travelers. From the rich arts and culture showcased in Michigan cities to the 3,288 miles of shoreline and the 4.6 million acres of state-managed land dedicated to outdoor adventure, Michigan offers endless ways for travelers to keep it fresh while exploring the state.
The new digital-led campaign brought a fresh chapter to Dotdash Meredith Travel’s 30-plus-year partnership with the state. After collaborating on the industry-leading Pure Michigan travel guides, DDMT brings decades of content excellence (DDMT publishes almost 1 million copies of Pure Michigan guides across three issues annually) to an innovative multi-platform experience.
Leveraging audience loyalty and brand recognition, Dotdash Meredith Travel created a branded destination rooted in MidwestLiving.com with six bespoke itineraries built to inspire travelers of every type. Each itinerary layers expert recommendations for adventure, food, accommodations, performances and visual arts. With each curation, Michigan’s magnetic cities and towns encourage travelers to stay awhile and find their perfect mix of land and water, cities and serenity–and engage further with personalized trip planning on michigan.org.
With abundant natural resources and renowned cultural centers, Michigan appeals to a wide range of travelers–more than 125 million individuals each year. To help these visitors connect with the version of Michigan that most resonates with them, we crafted six diverse itineraries that take them from the orchards, beaches and culinary treasures of the Lower Peninsula to the woods, natural wonders and rugged adventures of the Upper Peninsula.
The Fresh Ways to Michigan destination site, hosted on MidwestLiving.com May 15 to July 31, 2023, showcased themed road trips and served as the centerpiece for the campaign.
Content extensions for Fresh Ways to Michigan leveraged additional brands in the Dotdash Meredith family, Southern Living and Travel + Leisure. Two custom print pieces were placed in Southern Living June/July 2023 and Travel + Leisure June 2023 (combined geo-targeted distribution of 600k), strategically placing Michigan inspiration directly in the hands of these incredibly loyal audiences. Each piece included a high-impact unit, featuring perforated pocket-size versions of itineraries. Inserts were geo-targeted to subscribers in specified markets.
Readers enthusiastically responded to the innovative content delivered within the Fresh Ways to Michigan destination and exceeded benchmarks for all components of the program! Nearly 113,000 users spent an average of 256 seconds, which is 2.5x the Dotdash Meredith benchmark of 101 seconds for destination sites.
Not only did users spend a significant amount of time on the destination, but they also engaged with the content at an incredibly high level, clicking an average of 6.6 links per user. The content engagement rate on the destination site was 36.4%, which is 5x the Dotdash Meredith benchmark of 7.2%.
The site was the fifth-highest performing destination site in terms of engagement time across all sponsored content created and published by Dotdash Meredith in 2023. The campaign bested dozens of destination sites with dynamic sponsored content, outperforming numerous nationally known food and consumer product brands.
