Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:

1. Tourism organization launches quirky marketing campaign that it touts as "highly creative and very different for the category";
2. Campaign launch creates controversy among the locals when what's portrayed in the ads doesn't match up with their own self-perceptions;
3. Campaign goes on to win awards from the advertising and tourism marketing communities;
   
4. Everyone remembers the ads, but very few people express a desire to visit the sponsoring destination; and
5. Campaign ends up getting pulled once everyone realizes it's done little to increase visitation.
   

If you said " Bahamavention", you're partly right.

But the exact same scenario is now playing itself out in New Mexico.  They've has launched a tourism marketing campaign that plays off the state's connection with UFO's in Roswell, alien encounters and Area 51.

The campaign was first unveiled back in April amid much fanfare (I wrote about it here).  But in recent weeks, the residents of New Mexico have started to take notice and they're not happy (google "New Mexico tourism campaign" and you'll see that the controversy around the ads has now gone national).

Last week, the Alien campaign won a Gold Adrian award from the American travel industry.

So far, the campaign has reached stage 3 in the scenario outlined above.  Will it go on to stage 4 and 5 or will the campaign actually succeed in driving visitation to New Mexico?

Tourism officials are claiming that the campaign is driving interest in New Mexico in the markets in which the ads air.  IN tourism circles, "interest" can mean everything from "we've noticed a slight spike in our website visits" to "all our hotels are now fully booked", so it's difficult in these early days to judge success.

But if the lessons of Bahamavention hold true, the alien campaign may be short-lived.  Both campaigns focused on category benefits: co-workers in need of a vacation, a destination offering the generic benefit of a relaxing holiday, etc.  And in both cases, the scenarios play out in an anonymous indoor location, with images portraying the actual destination simply tacked on to the end of the ad.

From a strategic standpoint, the Alien campaign may be slightly more on-strategy than Bahamavention.  New Mexico wants to position itself as a "land of enchantment":

Aliens, it can be argued, are about fantasy and can certainly inspire wonder.  But the UFO industry is fairly concentrated in a few small and iconic areas of New Mexico and isn't something that the tourism industry as a whole can benefit from.  While the aliens can grab attention, it's difficult to see how New Mexico's rich culture, heritage and non-alien-based attractions can really benefit from the association with intergalactic travelers.  Can you use something that doesn't exist and can only be experienced within the confines of a "tourist trap" to market the breadth an depth of the New Mexico tourism experience?

Only time will tell.