A Message from the Heart:

Ohio Travel and Tourism

While most states tourism efforts continued to promote themselves as vacation destinations, Ohio recognized that, while it lacked the kind of major vacation draws that tourism-centered states enjoy, its strategic location in the Midwest opened up an enormous opportunity to capture "getaway" travelers…those looking to spend just a day or two either as a mini-vacation or on their way to a destination.

Ohio's Innovative Travel and Tourism program was the first to be organized around the short-duration "Getaway" concept.

This strategy was embodied in the "Ohio, the Heart if it All" campaign, reinforced by an innovative 800-number (1-800-BUCKEYE) service offering travel literature, information and advice.

Through LMG programs like the first-ever Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism, we were able to coordinate and mobile Ohio's tourism industry behinds this effort.

One of the most innovative ways LMG helped communicate this message, however, was by a program aimed specifically at Ohio residents, to encourage them to travel their home state for their "getaways". Since we were promoting Ohio to Ohioans in Ohio, we reasoned that, with the right appeal and creative, we could secure large numbers of public service announcements on Ohio television and radio stations, thereby letting us focus our limited advertising dollars on out-of-state markets.

Over a two year period, we arranged for a number of prominent Ohio natives…from television, motion picture, music and sports personalities to astronauts…to volunteer their time and talents to the production of these commercials, which, by combining a heartwarming "hometown" message with built-in star appeal, received wide exposure.