Earlier this week, McCann Midwest’s award-winning “Pure Michigan” campaign was on the brink of dying due to a lack of government funding. Travel Michigan vice president George Zimmerman called for quick action, saying that if funding wasn’t resolved by today, “Pure Michigan” would not run its winter campaign. Luckily for Zimmerman and Governor Jennifer Granholm, the state legislature approved $10 million in funding to save the campaign early this morning, $15m less than what Granholm and Zimmerman asked for, but enough to allow “Pure Michigan” to present its snowy wooden glens and frozen lakes to the rest of the country for the next few months.
Of course, this sudden emergency funding might have something to do with “Pure Michigan” winning Best in Show on Wednesday at the “2010 D Show” (mentioned in yesterday’s Morning Stir), an awards ceremony dedicated to honoring the best in creative advertising out of the Detroit area. The awards show also honored McCann Midwest’s “May the Best Car Win” campaign for GM.
While we applaud Pure Michigan’s knack for winning awards and its ability to stay afloat due to 11th-hour government spending decisions, we have to wonder, if the campaign really did help bring $1.3 billion to Michigan businesses and $93 million to state taxes, then why was it so hard getting the state legislature to pony up the $35 million to keep the campaign going for another year? Also, what percentage of that $10 million is going into all-things-Michigan narrator Tim Allen’s pocket?