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Monday, April 23, 2018

Sunday, April 15, 2018

ELY BRINGS NEW EXCITEMENT TO TAX DAY.

The small town of Ely, Minnesota, in a brave and bold effort, is attempting to single-handedly turn an historically unpopular day, Tax Day, into a celebration of all that Ely has to offer as The Last Great Pure Experience.

Earlier this month, Ely officials ended their ten-year tradition of April Fool’s jokes and campaigns citing the large number of brands, products and organizations that had followed its lead in turning April 1 into one of the most creative marketing days of the year. Citing a “Been There, Done That” attitude, they took a closer look at other days on the spring calendar and zeroed in on one of the most derided days of the year.

“After our success putting Ely on the map with April Fool’s jokes,” said Ely mayor Chuck Novak, “We were looking for another calendar challenge.”

“Rather than complaining about a day when we send a big chunk of our hard-earned money to the government, we thought we could turn that frown upside down, to borrow a popular phrase,” said Ginny Nelson, President of the Ely Area Tourism Bureau. “We thought if we could re-name the day, it could be a great springboard to launch our summer tourism efforts.”

After trying several different combinations of words, including:

Tricky Attempts at Xpressiveness
Toxic Affordable Xhibitionist, and
Transparent Athletic Xaminations,

the Bureau landed on its new “Today’s Another Xciting” Day in Ely campaign. Because every day in Ely brings the potential for a new and exciting adventure in an area surrounded by a million-acre wilderness playground and thousands of lakes, it felt like a perfect fit. That effort will launch with lawn signs throughout Ely and a one-day radio blitz in the Twin Cities.

Officials say that additional efforts, perhaps including some of the silliness associated with its April Fool’s campaigns, will find its way into TAX Day campaigns in the future.

Other than Ely-area accountants, who still aren’t convinced that there’s anything exciting or adventurous about Tax Day, residents say they’re hopeful that the town’s quirky and fun reputation will live on in the new campaign.

Check out past marketing campaign