Included In This Email

Overview

The Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) is excited to share the finalized campaign plan summary for Southern Utah + in 2022. 

The four-season Southern Utah + integrated marketing campaign features Utah’s sought-after national parks, monuments, recreation areas and other public lands. It is anchored in and frequently filtered through UOT’s Forever Mighty responsible travel ethic. This campaign primarily covers the geography and culture south of I-70, though it may also extend to logical traveler experiences north into the San Rafael Swell and Carbon Corridor regions as well as part of the West Desert and Dinosaur National Monument. Click here to view the campaign map. 

Southern Utah + locations are conjoined to the rest of the state through drive-market access as well as flight-market access via Salt Lake City International Airport and McCarran International in Las Vegas. Itineraries often include stops and stays along the Wasatch Front.

Our goal in sharing this information across Utah’s tourism industry is to both inform and encourage partners to identify ways to align their own efforts within this strategy. Learn more about campaign specifics below.

Budget

In the February 11 meeting of the Board of Tourism Development, a motion was passed to approve the Fiscal Year 2021/2022 $4,528,488 budget for the Southern Utah + campaign. Significant changes for this year's budget include shifting investment away from National Cable advertising in favor of Connected TV. This offers the advantage of increased targeting and trackability. Also, new this year, the campaign’s Out-of-Home and a portion of the digital budget will be spent on in-state advertising to promote responsible travel. 

Campaign Strategy

Some key strategy updates will build on past successes and enable the team to achieve our goals. One of these updates is changing the audience we speak to from a broad general traveler to a more targeted ‘Red Emerald Ready’ audience. Inspired by the Red Emerald Strategic Plan, these travelers have shown a propensity to travel more slowly and thoughtfully, taking more meaningful trips. The campaign will also focus more on the bottom of the funnel—or “care” phase of travel planning—through retargeting to educate and prepare travelers before and during their trip. 

Goals

1. Increase Red Emerald Ready audience’s awareness of Utah’s promise to connect travelers to place, others and self.
2. Increase consumer engagement with Forever Mighty content and messages. 
3. Distribute visitation by responsibly promoting unique Utah products and cultural offerings, especially dark skies and our local communities. 

Flight Dates

The campaign launched on February 21, 2022 and continues through the end of July 2022.

Creative and Content

From December 26, 2021 to January 10, 2022, the Utah Office of Tourism ran a targeted Connected TV advertising effort. Several assets were distributed, including the new Slow Down spot created for this campaign. The new ad was the most successful in driving traffic to VisitUtah.com, accounting for over 30% of traffic. This spot will be one of the video assets used on Connected TV this spring. 

UOT’s Creative and Content team is currently developing additional content, including two more top-of-the-funnel ads and several retargeting ads, along with display banner ads, native articles, endemic hub development on TripAdvisor and other travel sites, long-form videos for YouTube, digital radio, out-of-home elements, landing pages and social assets that include native posts, ads, and ambassador and influencer partnerships. Be sure to follow our social media accounts @visitutah, subscribe to our YouTube channel and watch for additional newsletters highlighting new content soon.