How to Raise Door County’s Chicago Profile

The county’s fast-growing silent sports scene is helping to make new impressions of the peninsula. Could such images, like this one from the Ride for Nature, move the Chicago needle? Photo by Dan Eggert.

Last week I wrote about “3 Myths About Door County’s Chicago Connection.” It’s clear Door county doesn’t have as strong a presence in Chicago as we think, but there are ways to change that, even with a small marketing budget.

Surely there are much better ideas out there than these, but after pointing out the problem, I better offer up some suggestions.

Myth Number 1: Door County has a strong Chicago marketing presence.

We don’t, but I also recognize we’re out-spent like a Herb Kohl Senate race opponent, with Michigan dropping nearly $30 million in tourism marketing to Wisconsin’s $15 million, and the Door County Visitor Bureau’s $2.3 million. That makes it hard to compete with Michigan’s television blitz, which is credited with increasing tourism spending by 8 percent and bumped hotel occupancy 7 percent in 2011.

The Visitor Bureau was able to allot just $65,000 for television ads in its 2012 budget, up from $50,000 in 2011.

But there are other ways to tell our story with video than in commercials. Telling unique Door County stories – not just pushing ads – with professionally produced video can spread on the web.

Jon Jarosh put the Door County Visitor Bureau ahead of the game when he began the Explore the Door video series in 2006, but people expect much more out of web video today.

Expanded, professionally produced video programs is part of the bureau’s 2012 strategic plan. Until that program comes to fruition the bureau could co-opt the work other businesses have invested in and share it with their massive audience on their home page, as well as through Facebook and email campaigns.

Brett Kosmider of Minneapolis-based Boreal Sky has produced great videos for organizations and businesses like the Door County Half Marathon, Door County Triathlon, Ride for Nature, Ministry Door County Medical Center and The Cookery.

The county’s fast-growing silent sports scene is helping to make new impressions of the peninsula. Could such images, like this one from the Door County Half Marathon, move the Chicago needle? Photo by Dan Eggert.

Chris Miller has produced videos for local businesses, as well community events like the Go Bo campaign that goes a long way in telling the world about the human side of Door County.

(Full disclosure, I’ve worked with both Kosmider and Miller on several projects, but not for compensation).

Some of the most successful Door County promotions were from the original guerilla marketers. Al Johnson calling Chicago radio stations with weekly weather reports (it was always beautiful on the peninsula) or Bob Collins of WGN plugging the Sister Bay Bowl fish fry on his show.

The Visitor Bureau tore a page from this book with the kayaks on cabs promotion in Minneapolis that created buzz.

There’s a tremendous opportunity for more of this courtesy of the NFL. Each year the Green Bay Packers play 5 to 10 of their games on national TV, at least half of those at home.

What would it take to entice the camera crew from those games to take a trip up the shore to Door County, or to get the blimp to take a swing overhead. Imagine the value of an image of Door County from the blimp, a ‘la the fantastic shot of the peninsula captured by National Geographic from the air back in 1969. From up high, our peninsula looks as beautiful as any Caribbean island.

“What an incredible look at Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula,” says Joe Buck in one of his only not annoying moments of the game, “one of the most beautiful places you’d never expect to see just minutes north of Lambeau Field.”

Former Packers President Bob Harlan has a home on the peninsula. His son Kevin, an announcer, visits as well. Maybe they would know how to make this happen?

It could be free, but it would be worth paying for the pub as well – particularly to run it when the Packers take on the Bears and the Chicago market is glued to the screen (obviously, it would have to be an early-season game before Jay Cutler gets a hangnail and the Bears begin their annual swoon, killing viewership).

Myth Number 2: Door County is the only quick and easy get-away for Chicagoans.

Door County first made its name when the week, month, or even full-summer vacation was the norm. Now vacations are shorter than ever, and trips to nearby destinations have a huge advantage on the peninsula.

The Visitor Bureau correctly emphasizes the promotion of three to four day vacations, but that message isn’t seen in the city. Small steps like attracting top youth camps for soccer, baseball and basketball, could entice parents to travel and open the door to a generation of childhood memories.

Partnering with the Packers to promote a day at Lambeau Field to start or end a Door County vacation could fill shoulder season nights and reach an audience with different primary interests. It would also break up a long drive.

Myth Number 3: Everyone in Chicago knows about Door County.

A small chunk of suburban Chicago knows about the destination, but we need to cultivate a new generation of visitors.

The Visitor Bureau has increased promotion of niche markets like silent sports in recent years, with plans to go further.

A “Discover the Door Peninsula” (or in certain suburbs, “Re-discover”) campaign with billboards or web ads featuring compelling images of the silent sports and music scenes could spark interest just as Michigan’s ads do.

Investing in new, young visitors is crucial to the future of the county’s tourism and resident base. Visitors in their 20s and 30s who visit Door County for Fall Fest, July 4th, or one of the silent sports events develop connections that bring them back for decades as they become the spendy visitors we so covet.

The third largest market in the country is just five hours down the Lake Michigan shoreline, and it has barely been tapped by Door County.

That’s not an indictment of what we’re doing, it’s a tremendous opportunity to do more.

Myles Dannhausen Jr. is the former news editor of the Peninsula Pulse and a Door County native. He is now a freelance writer living in Chicago.