SITUATION
Recognizing a national travel trend (and the media coverage it generated), B+L helped client Wisconsin Tourism use two of the state’s oldest industries – cheesemaking and brewing – in a publicity campaign positioning the state as a leader in both culinary tourism and online travel content.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES
- Raise awareness of Wisconsin’s award-winning artisan cheesemakers and craft breweries; position them as travel destinations akin to California wineries
- Use related media coverage to drive traffic to www.travelwisconsin.com

IMPLEMENTATION
- Created multi-media web content on Wisconsin Artisan Cheese Tours and Craft Brewery Tours
- Pitched story on both initiatives as an exclusive to Associated Press
- Timed posting of content to coincide with the story releases on AP National Travel Wire

RESULTS (ARTISAN CHEESE TOURS)
- Each story was picked up by over 100 media outlets, including Yahoo News, MSNBC.com, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Tribune, Indianapolis Star, LA Times, Denver Post
- Estimated ad value was $4.3 million for artisan cheese, $3.6 million for craft breweries
- All articles included links to content on travelwisconsin.com; both web features got more than 10,000 page views