Visit Crawford

Success Story

Our work with Crawford County demonstrates Bull Moose Marketing’s ability to create and implement a strategic destination brand that addresses complex challenges. Through research and stakeholder engagement, we developed the “There’s a Story Here” brand, complete with a website and tactical recommendations. This showcases our capacity to unify fragmented marketing efforts, leverage local culture, and deliver measurable results through innovative campaigns and stakeholder collaboration.

Need

The Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau faced several challenges identified by the incoming Executive Director. Current marketing efforts were fragmented and uncoordinated. With a growing shortage of hotel rooms, the CCCVB also had to contend with a corresponding decrease in hotel bed tax revenue. The bureau needed a clear direction for promoting the area and a brand strategy that focused on the destination’s strengths.

Approach

Because of the impending travel season, Bull Moose prioritized structuring marketing promotion strategy that would have a quicker impact. Through research and analysis, Visitor Personas were developed for tactical efforts to be built around. After COVID delays, Bull Moose next focused on the destination’s brand strategy, beginning with a series of stakeholder workshops, and interviews. Marketing performance analytics were also evaluated relative to Visitor Personas culminating in a guiding strategy.

Visit Crawford was suffering from an identity problem. Why here? Where here? These were questions we often received, but we had not presented ourselves well enough to properly answer them. Bull Moose jumped in and after conducting stakeholder workshops and research, presented a branding initiative to our stakeholder group that left everyone speechless. Had I not grown up here, I'd want to move to Crawford County!

Victoria Dickson
Executive Director Visit Crawford

Outcome

The final strategy focused on the unique stories associated with the county’s local culture, key natural amenities, and deep history under the umbrella tagline of There’s a Story Here. This required new creative assets encompassing a new website, mobile app, and digital content. (Work samples included.) The strategy was presented to stakeholders with tactical recommendations like the #theresastoryhere hashtag, a branding toolkit, and other materials. A promotion campaign was launch which included a digital campaign in NYC’s Times Square. A Brand Action Committee comprised of key stakeholders was recommended to guide further implementation of the brand through future signage and placemaking. To offset the loss of hotel tax revenue, the strategy recommended that the CCCVB position itself as a resource for local short-term rental (STR) owners and work with the county’s Planning Office on asset management. Alternate funding models were also presented.