M2 pitched Visit North Platte a weird idea: What if Buffalo Bill had a hotline people could call in to get information and jokes about North Platte? What if it was interactive, where people could “choose their own adventure” to get details about different things to do in North Platte? What if we could update it for events or seasonal content? What if we promoted it with a “For a Good Time…” semi-guerrilla-style campaign?

The M2 team mocked up the campaign, created Buffalo Bill scripts, and presented it to the VNP board. The board thought M2 was crazy, but after the strategy and low cost of promotion were explained, they approved it.

When VNP gave the green light, M2 coordinated with the Buffalo Bill mascot and recorded and edited the phone call’s voice mail introduction, North Platte attraction highlights, and crazy Buffalo Bill stories. When the phone system went live, the entire M2 team put up window cling stickers, flyers, coasters, digital ads, a billboard, and sidewalk chalk stencils to get people dialing. In the week after launch, calls came rolling in.