A Montana Tourism print ad

Last time, I talked about a Kerala Tourism ad campaign, which, though well executed, could have been executed better. This time, let me talk about a campaign that looks brilliantly executed, with the only caveat being that it was launched at the beginning of August and the campaign is selling Montana as a destination. Now if you are going to market Montana's wonderful autumn colours, it is a bit too late at the beginning of August to sell autumn. I would have suggested Montana to start selling two months earlier in spite of any natural disasters they may have had, for people nowadays book early, even those who are in the neighbouring states.

Let us look at one of the print ads from the campaign.

The campaign punch line "Go find out" is really great, inviting the audience directly to jump into the adventure for themselves. The campaign markets Montana as an outdoors destination very effectively: in this particular ad, it is flyfishing that is being shown. Flyfishing surrounded by beautiful autumn colors on a pristine-looking river. I believe the ad would be even more effective if the sky were to be shown less and the river more, but keeping the boat and its people still at the same relative position rather than bringing them closer to the centre. The boat and boat people colours are all shades of blue mostly, contrasting with the yellow-orange autumn surrounding them. This is a good compromise between red-orange shades and something like a marine green: the former would not market the autumn colours so well, and the latter would make the models very inconspicuous. The ad comes complete with Montana's map and some info legend: this is important, as Montana, though a well-known destination among travel enthusiasts, is not something right on the mind in general, not especially for anyone who might not be living in the region. The font used to spell out Montana itself in all-caps is also a simple, sans serif font, again highlighting the pristineness of nature. Finally, let us again look at the boat people. The flyfisher is a young girl, a guy is paddling, and another girl is sitting by the motor. While the first two are looking in the direction of the fishing, the other girl is looking towards the first girl, presumably talking. The two girls seem to be friends, and the guy a friend or a guide. The ad thus establishes Montana to also be fun and safe, that two girls have come there to enjoy time, fish and be in the nature.

All in all, a brilliant ad, part of a brilliant campaign, though the ad could feel a bit less cluttered if the river element were more and the sky less.