Butte.Elevated won the Montana Tourism Award for Marketing Campaign of the Year at the 2017 Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation. Presented by the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development, the award recognizes an outstanding tourism-related marketing campaign with a commitment to the promotion and development of tourism in Montana.
For years, Butte struggled to find its voice as a community. Through a spirit of collaboration and cooperation by local leadership, a new tourism marketing campaign for Butte, referred to as Butte.Elevated, was established with the vision to market Butte as the community of choice for tourists, businesses, and residents. The effort consisted of creating a shared vision and message about how to grow our economy and enhance our community. This primary messaging developed into three distinct messages being utilized to promote Butte around the nation. They include Live.Elevated, Work.Elevated, and Play.Elevated. Since its establishment in late October of 2015, the Butte.Elevated campaign has been able to completely change the dialogue in Butte from one of a “superfund site” to one of quality tourism opportunities and livability.
Efforts to best utilize the new marketing initiative have led to a large-scale adoption by community stakeholders, local government, and the Butte population. Utilization of social media has fostered a surge of interest with weekly Instagram adoption, blog posts highlighting the best of Butte, and tourism videos promoting Butte’s distinct outdoor recreational opportunities. Furthermore, the effort has grown into a community-driven campaign, with people of all ages seeking campaign involvement.
Butte.Elevated has been, and continues to be, an effort driven by the community as a whole, and not a small corporation or marketing firm. Butte.Elevated speaks to the ideals Butte residents hold to be true; Butte is a place to experience all Montana has to offer in a unique and heightened style.
The Butte.Elevated team is excited for the future and encourages the Butte community to connect with them in regards to joining the campaign and getting involved. Please contact Cooper Fisher, the Butte Local Development Corporation Marketing Director and Butte.Elevated Brand/Campaign Manager, at 406.723.4349 or cfisher@bldc.net for more information.