Think of somewhere charming — maybe a small town getaway where you can explore local shops, stroll with baby goats, and visit local wineries.
Now, think of something not charming. Maybe a crowded train car? Or doing your taxes? Or waiting for a (possibly lost) suitcase at the airport baggage claim?
These unconventional locations have turned out to be perfect places to promote ultra-charming Galena Country, cutting through the clutter to connect with their target audiences in surprising and unexpected ways.
From the tedium of tax season to one of the country’s busiest airports, see how Envisionit sprinkled moments of charming into the least expected places.
The birth of Welcome to Charming
First, a bit of background.
If you’ve ever been to Galena Country, we can probably guess exactly how you’d describe it. Charming. From the historic streets to the spoon carving classes to the antique tractor rides, Galena oozes charm everywhere you look.
This was the starting point of our Welcome to Charming campaign. The flexible, ownable concept is the perfect way to quickly encapsulate the essence and appeal of a small-town getaway.
Launched in late 2023, the Welcome to Charming campaign leverages bright colors, tongue-in-cheek copy, and vibrant photography featuring blissful travelers soaking in all that Galena charm.
Finding the charm in not-so-charming places
While the straightforward campaign blew away benchmarks, our creative team knew we wanted to take things even further and push the concept into new, unexpected territory.
The big idea — bring a variation of the ‘Welcome to Charming’ campaign into stressful, boring, and generally un-charming locations, where the juxtaposition of our message and the surroundings would help cut through the noise and let Galena’s charming-ness shine through.
So we thought long and hard about the least charming places in Chicago, and decided our first activation would target Chicagoans during their daily commute on the CTA, the city’s public transportation system. Late trains, crowded cars, unidentified smells — what could be less charming?
To make a big splash, we executed a full-on CTA takeover with ads plastered everywhere from inside stations to the train cars. The simple eye-catching creative boldly declared the unspoken truth — “This is Not Charming.”
In order to test what resonated most with the audience, we tested variations of the ad creative. One set included photos of Galena, while the other had no photos at all. In fact, there wasn’t even a mention of Galena, just a push to the URL visitcharming.com.
Not including the destination name in a huge OOH ad campaign? The risky move paid off. The creative without photos induced a higher number of website visits than the alternative ad set — likely because it built a sense of mystery and curiosity among the captive audience of train riders.
When commuters follow the QR code or link, they find themselves on a custom landing page showing off the best of Galena Country to inspire a visit to the most charming location in the Midwest.
We’re happy to report that the campaign drove thousands of views to the landing page, with high on-page engagement metrics as users welcomed an escape from their dreary surroundings.
Evolving the “Not Charming” concept
Building on the buzz of the first executions, the team planned some unique extensions to keep up the excitement and extend the campaign to even more eye-catching locales.
Our creative team brainstormed endless possibilities and landed on a few extensions based on seasonality and high-impact touch points in the Chicago market to continue connecting with our key audience in unanticipated moments.
Besides the CTA, can you think of another stressful place in Chicago? If you’re thinking of O’Hare Airport, you’re absolutely right. Keep your eyes peeled for some charming inspiration when you’re waiting for your bags — the perfect spot for reaching travelers who might be wishing they planned a road trip instead.
Taking the campaign online, we had to get creative to keep the contextual element of the campaign consistent. And as April approached, we thought — what’s less charming than doing your taxes?
Since most people loathe doing taxes, we took that insight and were able to create custom content in programmatic channels utilizing Page Context AI (PCAI) and keywords to reach users during this distinctly uncharming time of year.
We’ve loved the buzz generated around this campaign and can’t wait to see where we can take it next! Keep an eye out for Galena in even more not-so-charming places this year.
