Montana is counting on two words to lure tourists into the state starting this winter.
“It’s time” is the phrase being attached to the Office of Tourism’s new marketing campaign. The slogan will appear on billboards, and print and digital advertisements, that otherwise picture the state at its best: stars over Lake McDonald in Glacier Park; a bison under a lone tree in Yellowstone; a skier flying over snow-covered trees.
“It’s about seizing the moment,” says Daniel Iverson, public information officer for the tourism office. “Montana is a place a lot of people have heard of, and a lot have an interest in visiting, especially with two national parks and one of them, Yellowstone, being on a lot of people’s bucket lists.”
“It’s time,” Iverson says, suggests those trips be taken now, instead of some day down the road.
“It’s a message that’s both easy to understand and easy to adapt to different situations,” MTOT administrator Jeri Duran says, “whether it’s seizing the moment of a beautiful winter day in Montana or making the trip here a reality, not an idea.”
“It’s Time” replaces two previous slogans, according to Iverson. “Go deeper” was for winter campaigns and “Step Out of Bounds” was used for warmer months.
The state typically changes slogans every couple of years or so; the new one – from the team at the Bozeman marketing and advertising firm the tourism office uses, MercuryCSC – is scheduled to remain in place this winter, next summer and next winter.
“If it does well, it could be extended,” Iverson says.
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The new slogan will initially be featured on print ads in magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, Outside and Ski, while digital ads will appear on popular travel websites such as Expedia, Travelocity and TripAdvisor. The ads will include images from Montana’s 15 ski areas and the national parks.
The ads will point people to a freshly redesigned website, WinterMT.com. When the weather starts to warm up next spring, the focus will, of course, shift away from ski slopes and ski magazines.