Pure Michigan Honored with Seven 2024 HSMAI Adrian Awards for Outstanding Travel Marketing
Contact:
Nick Nerbonne
517.230.2599
[email protected]
Best of Category, Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades celebrate the brand’s fresh approach to inspiring travel to and around Michigan
LANSING, Mich. – Feb. 19, 2025 – Celebrated travel brand Pure Michigan continues its award-winning legacy with the addition of seven Adrian Award honors from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI). The Adrian Awards, now in its 68th year, are the largest and most prestigious competition in global travel marketing. The 2024 "Wish You Were Here," theme celebrates the transformative power of travel marketing and highlights campaigns that inspire memorable guest experiences and a desire to travel beyond just the destination itself.
“Travel has the ability to shape lives and bring people together and we’re honored to have our most recent campaign work demonstrating how Michigan is a welcoming destination with fresh experiences for all recognized,” said Kelly Wolgamott, Vice President of Pure Michigan. “Last year was monumental for Michigan between hosting a record-breaking NFL Draft to expanding our Keep It Fresh programming and we look forward to continuing to inspire travelers as the Pure Michigan brand gears up to celebrate 20 years.”
Pure Michigan received 2024 HSMAI Adrian Awards for the following entries:
Keep It Fresh (Gold, Best of Category Award)
Advertising Brand Campaign
Launched with the goal to welcome and inspire visitors through fresh travel perspectives, the continuation of the “Keep It Fresh” brand campaign exceeded digital and social media benchmarks, reaching maximum exposure and return on investment, and successfully reinvigorating the brand. Most importantly, consumers saw the state in a new light and were exposed to the perspectives and voices of the Michiganders that ultimately inspired them to explore Michigan.
When Travel Goes Social: Making Michigan’s Largest Travel Brand Personal (Gold, Best of Category)
Digital, Social Media Campaign
Michigan, with its 3,288 miles of coastline and two expansive peninsulas, is a massive state with hundreds of small communities with unique experiences ripe for travelers. Pure Michigan launched the “Four in 34” series to capture the distinct character of the state’s diverse destinations through a replicable social series with a templatable format that was quick to execute. Each video highlighted one city, featured four attractions, and summarized it all in thirty-four seconds. The video style was perfect for Instagram Reels and TikTok, giving viewers exactly what they’re looking for: unknown destinations and hidden gems in a short, snackable format. This concept resonated well with prospective travelers as it provided both trip inspiration and a sample itinerary and helped the brand crack the code on showing off more of the state.
Let Fresh Speak Its Truth (Gold)
Digital,Video - Multiple Channels
When Pure Michigan launched the "Keep It Fresh" campaign in 2023, a fresh voice was added to the mix with Detroit-born poet laureate and musician jessica Care moore. Pure Michigan rolled out the “Let Fresh Speak Its Truth” video and audio campaigns in the summer and fall of 2023 and the winter of 2024. Each video was inspired by the breathtaking beauty of Michigan’s summer, fall and winter seasons and centered around jessica’s original spoken word poems.The campaign aimed to amplify the different experiences travelers can have in Michigan while still retaining the emotional core of the brand. The "Let Fresh Speak Its Truth" series served as a powerful and authentic testament to Michigan's enduring allure – inviting travelers to embark on their own journeys of discovery and self-expression guided by a fresh point of view and creative spirit.
Sam’s Selects (Silver)
Integrated Campaign, Brand Business to Consumer
The “Sam's Selects” campaign launched in the weeks leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft and featured a long-form video, short-form cutdowns and a campaign website that leveraged paid media, organic social and PR to maximize impact across all channels. This campaign also included strategic media placements with ESPN and Barstool Sports, and earned coverage with travel, business and entertainment media.
Crafting a New Narrative for Detroit through the NFL Draft (Bronze)
Public Relations/Communication, PR Consumer Campaign
Pure Michigan knew the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to contemporize the city’s reputation, shift outdated perceptions, and welcome visitors and potential residents. It was also an opportunity to highlight the people of Detroit and the positive personalities and local business owners that have always made the city a hotbed for culture, art and community. By partnering with Emmy-Award winning actor and Michigan native Sam Richardson and NFL legend Barry Sanders, Pure Michigan developed a consumer PR campaign that reflected the true spirit of the city and its people and showcased what makes Detroit both an epic sports town and an ideal place to live, work, and play.
Engaging the Passionate Pure Michigan Community for Timely Seasonal Content (Bronze)
Digital, Creators, Multimedia, Video and Short-Form
Short-form content on TikTok continues to captivate audiences’ attention and become an increasingly important resource. In fact, 60% of TikTok users have been inspired to visit a new destination after seeing a video about it on the platform. In order to appeal to prospective travelers on TikTok, Pure Michigan adapted a new strategy to address the platform’s unique conventions. Equipped with the knowledge that Michigan’s fall and holiday seasons offer stunning visuals and nostalgia to warm the heart of any traveler, the brand engaged a network of enthusiastic in-state content creators for a seasonal social program to develop videos well suited for the channel. Content was compelling and diverse in perspective and location and didn’t require expansive production needs or lengthy lead times, meaning videos were reactive to trends and seasonal conditions and appealed to prospective travelers.
Leveraging Video and Content Marketing to Inspire Travel to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (Bronze)
Digital, Video - Single Entry
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula's vast tracts of undeveloped land, 300+ waterfalls, 1,700 miles of Great Lakes coastline, tight-knit communities and resilient residents combine to create a truly unique place. It was Pure Michigan’s challenge to capture the essence and spirit of this region alongside its obvious beauty by highlighting Marquette business owner and photographer Bugsy Sailor’s 4.5 year-long quest to capture 1,000 sunrises. In July 2023, Pure Michigan joined Bugsy for three sunrises, creating a full-length short film and shorter cuts for social sharing that not only showcased the spectacular setting and abundant natural resources of the area, but also told an important story about the people of the Upper Peninsula. One that highlights the deep connection with nature that many Yoopers feel, as well as the wealth of inspiration the Upper Peninsula offers visitors and residents alike.
Pure Michigan engages agency partners to help elevate the Pure Michigan brand, including FINN Partners to oversee tourism public relations and social media and MMGY to lead travel marketing and advertising efforts.
Since 2013, the Pure Michigan campaign has been recognized with 36 Adrian Awards. To stay up-to-date on the latest Michigan travel news, sign up for Pure Michigan’s e-newsletter, visit Michigan.org and follow @puremichigan across social media.
About Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is committed to growing business for hotels and their partners and is the industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals and their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue through programs such as the Marketing Strategy Conference, Adrian Awards, and HSMAI ROC. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is a membership organization comprising more than 5,000 members worldwide, with 40 chapters in the Americas Region. Connect with HSMAI at hsmai.org, HSMAI Facebook, HSMAI Instagram, HSMAI Twitter/X, and HSMAI YouTube.
About Michigan Economic Development Corporation
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is the state’s marketing arm and lead advocate for business development, job awareness and community development with the focus on growing Michigan’s economy. For more information on the MEDC and our initiatives, visit www.MichiganBusiness.org. For Pure Michigan® tourism information, your trip begins at www.michigan.org. Join the conversation on: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and X (formerly Twitter).