The Wisconsin Department of Tourism is unveiling a new advertising campaign. Designed to promote winter vacation activities, both snow-related and otherwise, the new ads highlight the diversity of Wisconsin's winter tourism product offerings, including traditional outdoor activities like snowmobiling and skiing, as well as indoor, urban and cultural attractions.

Tourism Secretary Jim Holperin introduced the campaign during a news conference today, and stressed the travel and hospitality industry's role in Governor Jim Doyle's "Grow Wisconsin" plan. "With an economic impact of $3.4 billion, winter tourism is an important economic driver in Wisconsin, and through this campaign we are prepared to ensure its continued vitality, snow or no snow," said Secretary Holperin. "The ads beautifully reflect Wisconsin's urban and cultural diversity, and showcase the indoor activities and outdoor pursuits that make tourism one of Wisconsin's strongest assets in economic development."

Produced by the Department of Tourism's agency of record, Boelter + Lincoln, the new campaign features four print ads, two 30-second television spots and two 10-second spots. While both 30-second spots end by encouraging viewers to call the Department's toll free number or visit its travelwisconsin.com Web site, one also promotes the state's online snow conditions report.

The 10-second spots will be rotated based on weather conditions, with one ad specifically highlighting non-snow related activities and the other featuring snowmobiling, snowboarding and cross-country skiing. Slated to run from December 2003 through February 2004, the new ads will appear in daily newspapers and on television in Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee and Green Bay/Appleton; in winter-sports enthusiast publications (such as Minnesota Snowmobiling, Illinois Snowmobiler, Iowa Snowmobiler and Cross-Country Skier); and on various Internet sites (including Chicagotribune.com, Startribune.com, JSOnline.com, Lake-link.com and TrailLink.com).

The new campaign uses footage shot over the past three years in a variety of locations across the state, including Milwaukee, Minocqua, Wisconsin Dells, Wausau, Baraboo, Madison and Price and Oneida counties. The use of some existing footage also helped the Department of Tourism and Boelter + Lincoln keep the production cost of the campaign lower than in previous years.

For free Wisconsin travel-planning guides and information, the public can call the Wisconsin Department of Tourism's 24-hour, live-operated toll-free number at 1-800-432-TRIP/8747 or visit travelwisconsin.com. Visitors can also obtain guides and information at the 10 Wisconsin Travel Information Centers, which are located in select state-border cities.

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Media Contact: Lisa Marshall +1 608-267-3773 lmarshall@travelwisconsin.com