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Lighten Up, North Dakota

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

The North Dakota Tourism center is in the middle of implementing a 10-ad, $1.8 million dollar advertising campaign to get more people to choose North Dakota as their vacation destination. The campaign has print ads in the visitor's guide — pictures of people hiking, couples, and, of course, nightlife. Guess which one local North Dakotans flipped out about?

Yes: the nightlife. Apparently there were so many negative comments about the nightlife ad (pictured above) that the ND Tourism director took it down. The ad, as you can see, has all of the people dressed moderately in a normal after-dinner setting. What are the people so angry about? The copy. The copy reads "Drinks, dinner, decisions. Arrive a guest. Leave a legend." To be honest, we thought the copy was a little boring. But from the articles we have read about the outcry, it seems like the people of North Dakota are vehemently against any kind of copy that resembles sexual innuendo.

The ad was done by Odney Advertising, and the president said that it was meant to be a little fun and flirty, which at first glance it is.

With most glances, it is.

Canadians are the biggest target audience for the ads, because Manitoba residents travel down to Grand Forks and Fargo for the weekend. The AP piece brought in examples of travel advertising gone wrong, like the time Las Vegas attempted to make itself look like a family town. The expert said it backfired because being family friendly (which it is, actually) isn't the image that most people associate with Las Vegas.

It brings us to think what image ND residents do want the state to portray to the rest of North America. Before seeing the ad, we didn't think the women in North Dakota could wear dresses, at least without being covered with fur coats. The portrayals of North Dakota in popular culture don't make it look like a fun place to be, either. Leave it to people who need to head south to land in North Dakota.

The outrage of this seemingly harmless ad shows that there is a discrepancy between the Tourism Department and the residents of ND about how North Dakota should be promoted to the public. It is important to know how residents feel about their city or state, because putting out an image that is not entirely accurate will create an influx of visitors expecting the wrong thing and a whole bunch of disgruntled residents. That's a recipe for an unnecessarily large re-branding campaign. Then, if the image that the residents want to display still turns out to be different than what ND wants to portray, now you know that there is work to be done at home as well.

All in all, the ad is harmless, and the people of North Dakota are crazy to think that a silly ad like this is going to cause woman-chasing Canadian men to flock to Fargo. Take it down a notch.

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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