Leveraging AdTheorent's customized machine learning-powered digital advertising tool, Visit New Hampshire was able to create a highly targeted and exceptionally effective campaign to drive new visits to the state during a post-pandemic period of heightened competition.
The travel and tourism industry faced unprecedented challenges during the pandemic, with economic uncertainty causing little to no travel demand. However, as summer 2023 approached, travel demand was expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels. According to eMarketer forecasts, 62.5 percent of U.S. internet users would conduct online travel research, and 88 percent of those researchers would book an accommodation and form of transit at least once; this marked the first time a majority of U.S. adults would be digital travel bookers.
As travel demand heightened, so did competition among destination marketing organizations around the U.S. Recognizing the opportunity to showcase New Hampshire as a premier vacation destination, Visit New Hampshire partnered with GYK and AdTheorent for its "Discover Your New" digital advertising campaign.
The campaign highlighted the state's unique seasonal attractions and encouraged travelers to discover a new way to experience New Hampshire through a machine learning-powered, full-funnel digital advertising strategy designed to increase destination awareness and engagement and ultimately drive visitation and in-market spend.
This was Visit New Hampshire's second year running the "Discover Your New" digital advertising campaign. In 2023, Visit New Hampshire sought to build on the previous year's success as a premier summer destination and boost visitation among potential travelers with high intent.
The 2022 campaign objective was focused on building awareness and consideration by leveraging AdTheorent's custom machine learning models to optimize impression delivery toward potential visitors most likely to take site actions.
In 2023, the campaign strategy shifted toward custom destination sales lift models to specifically drive visitation and in-market spend. Based on key insights gleaned from the 2022 campaign performance, AdTheorent's model optimizations led to a 315 percent improvement in engagement rate throughout the 2023 campaign. Lastly, AdTheorent introduced CTV and cross-device video as part of a full-funnel digital strategy to nurture potential visitors down the funnel from destination awareness to visitation and in-market sales.
Visit New Hampshire's primary target audiences included U.S. millennial and gen X moms (ages 25 to 54) with a household income between $100,000 and $149,000, as well as U.S. millennial and gen X women (ages 22 to 54) without children and a household income between $60,000 and $149,000.
The target audiences share a common interest in discovery and exploration through active and outdoor activities. However, their motives differ: The millennial and gen X moms seek to embrace pre-parenthood activities with their family or create new shared memories and family traditions, while millennials and gen X women without children aim to unplug, relax, and share adventure experiences with friends.
The Visit New Hampshire media and creative strategies worked together to engage the target audience across multiple touchpoints to drive potential travelers from destination awareness to visitation and in-market sales. The campaign leveraged connected TV creative to help build awareness of diverse trip types, from outdoor adventure to downtown culinary experiences and utilized QR codes for viewing sample itineraries. Interactive cross-device display and rich media allowed viewers to choose the attractions they were most interested in and built a more customized trip itinerary, leveraging behavior based targeting and strong CTAs to engage travelers with the highest likelihood of conversion.
The Visit New Hampshire digital advertising campaign utilized AdTheorent's machine learning-powered predictive advertising solutions and custom destination sales lift models fueled by non-individualized statistics to identify and reach consumers with the highest likelihood of conversion across a full-funnel mix of connected TV (CTV), custom rich media, and cross-device display and video tactics.
AdTheorent's custom destination sales lift model also analyzed first-party data signals indicative of outdoor enthusiasts and family travelers to identify and optimize impression delivery towards potential travelers with the highest likelihood of spending within New Hampshire.
To verify sales impact, Visit New Hampshire leveraged AdTheorent's Destination Sales Lift 360 solution to analyze sales data captured on actual credit and debit card transactions made within New Hampshire and compared spend of those exposed to AdTheorent's digital campaign against a control group. The study proved the AdTheorent campaign was successful in identifying potential travelers most likely to visit and driving in-market sales.
Visit New Hampshire relied on AdTheorent's advanced machine learning technology and privacy-forward solutions to achieve the Discover Your New campaign objectives. AdTheorent deployed a three-pronged approach to captivate potential visitors throughout the booking journey:
By leveraging AdTheorent's machine learning technology for precise audience targeting, Visit New Hampshire was able to achieve superior audience quality and campaign reach to drive conversions with high intent of visitation and in-market spending.
AdTheorent's Destination Sales Lift 360 solution demonstrated that AdTheorent's digital advertising campaign successfully achieved Visit New Hampshire's objectives and contributed to a record-setting season of visitation and spending for the state of New Hampshire, driving:
AdTheorent conducted a media overlap impact analysis which proved how implementing a full-funnel digital strategy was a more efficient and effective way to drive campaign performance. The analysis uncovered that those exposed to both rich media and video and display ads converted at a 233 percent and 44 percent higher rate than those only exposed to rich media and video or display ads, respectively.
The "Discover Your New" digital advertising campaign contributed to a record-setting season of visitation in New Hampshire, reaching over 4.5 million visitors, a 3.3 percent increase from the previous year. AdTheorent's advanced machine learning-powered solutions and custom destination sales lift models, drove increased performance and real-world outcomes for Visit New Hampshire. As a result, Visit New Hampshire was able to successfully identify, reach, and engage its desired target audience, and ultimately drive visitation and in-market sales.
