by Cathy Ritter, former Deputy Director, Illinois Department of Commerce & Community Affairs, Bureau of Tourism

(Delivered at the Distinguished Lecture Series, Manfred Steinfeld School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Roosevelt University. All rights reserved. Any use without the permission of the author is prohibited.)

'd like to take this opportunity today to share with you the thinking behind our new statewide tourism campaign -- and where we hope it will lead us in the future. For starters, you should understand that as a division of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, our state Bureau of Tourism shares that agency's core mission of economic development. Our number 1 goal is to increase the economic impact of the very vital industry of tourism in Illinois. As a state, we've been on track with that goal over the past decade and a half. For the past several years, Illinois has ranked fifth in the nation for total number of dollars spent on travel and tourism. Chicago is No. 5 among cities for visitorship. Since 1985, the first year numbers were kept, our state has increased the total number of dollars spent on travel and tourism, year after year. At the same time, we have exceeded the national average for growth, year after year.

A few months ago, we learned that our state recorded a banner year for tourism, with travel-related spending totaling more than $22 billion during 1999 -- achieving an average growth rate of 6.4 percent across each of the past three years. To put that number in perspective, let me point out that the Illinois tourism industry's annual revenues are roughly equivalent to the annual revenues of these major Illinois companies -- Allstate, Sara Lee and Caterpillar.

We also learned that our state also is racking up new records for travel by overseas visitors. The latest stats from the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that the number of overseas visitors climbed 16 percent over the past two years, now accounting for an annual impact of $1.65 billion to our state. With that growth, Illinois held on to its ranking as the sixth most popular state among overseas visitors and Chicago kept its status as the ninth most popular city in the U.S. We are eclipsed only by the coastal and gaming destinations of California, Florida, New York, the Hawaiian Islands and Nevada. As an inland destination, we're at the head of the pack.

As a Midwest destination, Chicago shoulders everyone else aside -- whether the travelers hail from the U.S. or overseas. It is without question the gateway for international travelers into our state; about 96 percent of all overseas visitors to Illinois come to Chicago first. And let me assure you these are high-stakes numbers. Billions and billions of dollars worth of expenditures turn each year on travel decisions -- whether for business or for pleasure. Every time anyone travels, they leave dollars in their wake -- whether for lodging, food, entertainment, transportation, souvenirs or assorted services. And, as a state, we are determined to do all we can to make certain that Illinois businesses get their share of those dollars.

We drive these numbers each year primarily through a statewide marketing campaign that is based on ensuring the greatest return on investment possible. Each year, by law, 8 percent of all the income collected through the state share of the hotel-motel tax is invested in a domestic advertising campaign to drive tourism.

And now it's time for a test of your memory. Raise your hand if you remember any of these past tag lines:

• Illinois - Don't Miss It.
• Illinois - You Put Me in A Happy State.
• There's a Place Outside Chicago called Illinois.
• Illinois: A Million Miles from Monday.

Million Miles from Monday was our last campaign theme. It was a beautiful, but more importantly it was a highly strategic response to a key research finding. We found a key difference in the way that people traveled in Illinois. Some states, which shall remain nameless, tend to attract visitors for a week at a time. Not Illinois. Illinois tends to be a state that most travelers enjoy visiting two to four days at a time. The light bulb went off. Illinois was a getaway state ... the perfect getaway state, a place where busy families and couples could catch a break, relax and unwind and find time to reconnect with each other. This positioning was not only accurate, it was highly strategic because new research was spotlighting a new travel trend: More than half of all leisure travelers now are opting for extended weekends because they just don't have the time to take a whole week or two weeks off.

A brand-new Shell poll supports this finding even further. This poll found that the time crunch has become so intense that when given a choice between an extra day off from work every two weeks or an extra day's salary in the same time frame, nearly 60 percent say they would take the extra day off. The gap widens for working adults between ages 35 to 64 -- two thirds (67 percent) say they'd rather have the extra time.

As trend analyst Peter Yesawich says, time has become the new currency, and weekend getaways have become the travel opportunity of choice. We had a great deal of success with Million Miles from Monday. Just last fall, the U.S. Travel Industry Association of America recognized Illinois as operating the best tourism advertising campaign in the nation.

But, any advertising theme, however apt, has a limited shelf life. And under the leadership of Governor Ryan and our director, Pam McDonough, our lead agency, the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, was taking a new direction. To strengthen and support our state economic development mission, Pam became convinced it was key to identify a theme line that worked across all of the diverse activities housed within DCCA -- not only tourism but small business, international business, business development, coal marketing, industrial training, community development and film. As successful as our Million Miles from Monday campaign was, if you think about it, its core message -- that Monday work days were something to escape or postpone -- that core message ran counter to the work ethic we at DCCA are all trying to promote. So, last fall, DCCA commenced the search for a new marketing approach that would express the new energy that Governor Ryan has injected into the state's economic development efforts, and at the same time, set ourselves from the competition.

The challenge we presented to all contenders was to identify a positioning for Illinois that would promote our state not only as a wonderful place to visit, but as a place to live, work or locate a business. It was a tough challenge. It's not easy to sum up the essence of a state in a just a handful of words in a way that is memorable and likable and accurate AND strategic.

We wanted just the right combination of words and ideas -- something that would stick in the psyche like I love NY or Virginia is for lovers. And, from a tourism perspective at least, here's what we were up against with our Midwest competitive set:

Michigan sells itself as a place to relax and evokes its greatest natural features with the tag line: Great Lakes, Great Times. Iowa, ever practical state, sells itself as a place where it's easy to make travel arrangements ... perhaps because there are lots of hotel rooms available. Iowa says "Come Be Our Guest." Minnesota says its the place to create memories, and its ads are postcards to the public. It says "Explore Minnesota: Take Home a Story." Wisconsin is taking it for granted that you're already going for a visit. They're telling us "Stay Just a Little Bit Longer." Missouri, capitalizing on its crystal clear rivers, says it's "Where the Rivers Run." Ohio, with "Discover Ohio," is all about summer adventures. Indiana, and this may sound familiar, is the weekend getaway state, where "The Welcome Mat's Always Out."

Here in Illinois, we wanted to send a message to make it clear we aren't just another Midwestern state. We're special . We're incredibly diverse. In the words of George Will, we're the state that extends as far north as Cape Cod and south of Richmond, Virginia. We have Chicago, a world-class city. We have Lincoln, a world-class hero. We have breathtaking scenery, magnificent architecture, one-of-a-kind events, all kinds of experiences that can be experienced ONLY if you come here.

We found our inspiration in one of our "core" attributes -- our "centrality," the fact that we are at the nation's crossroads -- in highways, rail, water routes and air, in population and as a center for distribution, for industrial development, for development of new science and technology. In short, Illinois is at the center ... just as it's at the center of exciting travel experiences.

We wanted to add a sense of immediacy ... a sense of "I want to be doing that ... and I want to do it now" ... to our message. We wanted to create new interest in people who were convinced they already knew everything there was to know about our state.

And the winning combination -- as I certainly hope you've heard, seen and read by now on radio, in newspaper and on TV-- was a theme line of just five words: Illinois. Right Here. Right Now.

But before we got too far down the road of this uncharted territory, we of course wanted to make sure that our target audience liked this idea as much as we did. We are, after all, state government. We're cautious. And we have to prove up at the end of the year and in legislative hearings whether travelers like our great ideas as much as we did.

So we took our fledgling Right Here, Right Now campaign to a series of focus groups made of our target audience. Some of them might not have liked the music. Some may have been a little put off by some of our initial ideas. But the tag line Right Here Right Now was a clear hit. Everybody got it on the first try.

Here's what we heard from Alexander L., a 40-year-old Carol Stream man. I think he's very smart, but you be the judge: "Since we are in Illinois, we're right in the middle of it, and it's high time we take advantage of the opportunities for travel in our state ...

"But you could also take it to mean that other people in different, other places, other than Illinois who have been thinking of coming here ought to do so.
"It's prodding them to come here. It's trying to give me a sense of urgency, okay? Because right here, right now. A sense of not missing the attractions that are available."

So with that thumbs up, we moved into our first "Right Here, Right Now" campaign, launching April 25. For 14 weeks, through the end of July, we are running television, radio, print and an interactive campaign to targeted travelers -- both families and couples -- throughout key markets in the Midwest -- Milwaukee, Madison, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Paducah, Indianapolis, South Bend and several markets in Illinois.

Now, I'm going to put myself on the spot. Is there anyone in this room who has not seen or heard a Right Here, Right Now commercial? Okay, you don't get to leave until you hear the commercial today.

Actually, if you're a member of our target audience, we're almost impossible to miss. According to our calculations, our target audience should hear our message at least four times during the launch or on average, once a week.

The point of a media campaign is to reach people again and again until you convince them to do what you want them to do. Here's what we wanted people to do this spring and summer. After seeing or hearing or reading our ads, we wanted them to be so intrigued by the possibilities of travel in Illinois -- Right Here, Right Now -- that they would either pick up the phone and call 1-800-2Connect to talk to a live travel counselor or visit our web site at enjoyillinois.com. And when they made that contact, we wanted them to ask for our newest tourism publication, the Illinois Weekend Adventure Guide, a 144-page directory to 29 great getaways throughout our state. It's free and it's full of great ideas about trips that are no more than a few hours away -- like a tour through the French Colonial region in southwestern Illinois, a winery tour at any of the 18 wineries that have sprung up around our state, the Lake Michigan Circle Tour or a trip through Amish country.

Year after year, when we do the follow-up research on a campaign, we find that what most people remember is the TV ad. We use TV to create an emotional response, to paint our message in broad strokes, and if you're an Illinois resident, to make you proud that Illinois is your home. We built on those impressions with a radio buy, zeroing in on some of the surprising experiences that Illinois offers. With newspaper, we hone our audience's curiosity a little more precisely. This year we have a series of 14 newspaper ads -- some highlighting Chicago destinations, other focusing on downstate -- but all incorporating a surprising fact about Illinois designed to make you say ... Well, whaddayaknow?

We got very strategic with this part of our campaign, focusing in on activities that we thought would bring us the highest return for our investment.We went to the research to determine which opportunities -- if properly showcased -- were most likely to encourage people to travel. Right here. Right now.

Do you know the number one activity for travelers in our state? If you said shopping, take a bow. Here's the ad we used to drive shoppers to our premier shopping destinations. "Right here. Magnificent Mile. Downtown Chicago. Right Now, 460 stores, 236 restaurants and that one perfect outfit are waiting to be discovered during a 10-block stroll. Whether you're shopping for Italian suits or American Girl Place dolls, Chicago's famous Magnificent Mile has it all. Hundreds of world-class stores, restaurants, and attractions like Navy Pier and DisneyQuest. Not to mention nearby Woodfield Mall and Gurnee Mills. To customize your own shopping spree, call 1-800-2Connect right now and order your free Illinois Weekend Adventure Guide."

Then, to take this campaign one step further, we carried our message to an interactive format, which allows us to get very, very specific about all the great things there are to see and do in our state. The Magnificent Mile experience was just one of four that we identified for an e-mail push as part of our campaign. If you'd rather get your information by talking to someone, I invite you to call our live travel counselors at our toll-free number and get some guidance on great ways to enjoy our wonderful and diverse state.

Just one final note. You might have noticed this past year that Chicago and Greater North Michigan Avenue didn't really need our help. This town set a new record for hotel occupancy with an 87.9 percent occupancy rate. The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau does a great job of filling the city's hotel beds with business travelers attending functions at McCormick Place. In fact, Chicago last year topped the list for domestic business travel. More than 11 million Americans came to Chicago last year for business -- more than any other city in the U.S.

But there's a growing sentiment that the city's strategy for keeping hotel beds filled is going to have to change. Mainly because there's a tidal wave of empty hotel beds heading our way. By the end of 2003, assuming the Adam's Mark's 1,300 beds are constructed, there will be 3,454 new hotel rooms in the city -- a 41 percent increase in the supply over just a five-year period. As I said, it's a tidal wave, but we can see it coming and there's still time to prepare. While CCTB can continue to build the numbers of business travelers coming here, Jim Reilly is at the forefront of the people are who saying, the real answer to keeping our hotels healthy is by promoting leisure travel in Chicago in a way it's never been promoted before. So, I'll leave you with that food for thought.

One final advertisement. If you're interested in learning more about the Illinois tourism industry, I welcome you to join us next February at the Governor's Conference on Tourism. It's still in the planning stages, but I hope we'll be making an announcement very soon about the exact dates, location and educational lineup. In the meantime, I hope that each of you is able to walk away today with a better appreciation of our new theme line ... Right Here, Right Now. Thanks.

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(c) 2001, Institute for Tourism Studies, Roosevelt University