Michigan spent $16.7M on ad blitz in fiscal year 2025

The state of Michigan spent $16.7 million on its Pure Michigan tourism campaign between fall 2024 and summer 2025, according to a document Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request.

The advertising campaign aims to bring people to Michigan to live, work, and visit.

The campaign spent $194,700 in fall 2024 on a regional and national winter brand campaign and on online search engine advertising.

It spent more than $2 million from January 2025 through March. The agency spent $1.3 million advertising on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, and others that target regional and national areas, Nick Nerbonne, the media and digital director of Travel Michigan of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., told CapCon in an email.

It spent $481,072 on a national summer brand campaign, $175,000 on a winter brand campaign, and $87,600 on paid search.

The economic development agency ramped up spending in the spring and summer of 2025. It spent $7.8 million from April 2025 through June 2025. That included $4 million on Amazon Connected TV, $1.4 million on a summer brand campaign, $1.3 million on national cable, and $771,602 on print advertising.

Pure Mi Spending FY2025 CapCon by mcclallen

The agency targeted a handful of cities with advertising. It spent $37,160 for residents of Atlanta, $37,122 on Chicago, and $26,432 on Nashville.

Summer 2025 Pure Michigan spending totaled $6.5 million. That includes $2.4 million on a national fall brand campaign, $2.2 million on Amazon Connected TV, $684,931 on national cable, $481,072 on a summer brand campaign, and $233,900 on U.S. paid search.

The spending campaign targeted three cities with advertising: $407,122 for Chicago, $37,160 for Atlanta and $26,432 for Nashville.

Since 2006, Michigan has spent more than $261 million on advertising that urges people to visit Michigan.

The fiscal year 2025 ads were seen in Alpena, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Marquette and Traverse City. The “Keep It Fresh” campaign highlighted water activities, family travel and other activities. Streaming services including Netflix, Amazon, Peacock, Hulu, and Disney+ hosted advertising that showed Michigan landscapes.

The spring and summer campaign reached into other markets, including Albany, Austin, Baton Rouge, Boston, Miami, Orlando, and Phoenix.

Marketing coverage included major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Chicago Magazine, Forbes and CNN.

The campaign boosted website visits to 9.5 million from October 2024 through September 2025, according to the document.

In 2024, more than 131 million people visited Michigan and spend more than $30 billion in the state’s economy, according to an MEDC report.

In Chicago, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. advertised via wrapped double-decker buses and rideshare cars.

The MEDC claims that the Pure Michigan program brings a return on investment but keeps the methodology and data used to calculate that number a secret, Michael LaFaive, senior director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told CapCon in an email.

“Inflation is a hot topic these days, but the state has been inflating its claims of Pure Michigan success since it first started running tourism promotion advertisements,” LaFaive wrote. “They claim that their 2024 advertising campaign returned $12.22 to every $1 spent. This is up from $2.11 in 2006, despite declines in promotion spending overall.”