Influencers Replace Celebrities In Tourism Marketing

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/20/2026) Over three years, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Travel Michigan has spent $500,000 on 54 social media influencers, according to a Detroit News article, but marketing experts say this is the new normal.

MIRS verified that Michigan products and the state itself are being promoted on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. The influencers' spending ended up drawing backlash from Republicans like state Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford).

"Whitmer had to bribe influencers to say nice things about Michigan. I wonder how much she paid these people to say she's competent," Maddock said.

However, marketing is no longer ruled by television and Hollywood celebrities like Tim Allen, who was the voice of the Pure Michigan advertising campaign. In fact, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report found people are getting their news from social media more than anywhere else.

"I do think that the stereotype of the Hollywood celebrity product endorser is maybe even a thing of the past today because Hollywood does not create these mass media events like it used to," said Western Michigan University Associate Professor of Marketing Scott Cowley.

Cowley said news influencers aren't new and are supplanting the celebrity culture that would draw a crowd to a single event. Instead, the influencers are spread out over a larger reach, with a smaller amount of money that can be targeted to where people are watching.

"Companies are always trying to figure out where people spend their time each day. Who do they trust for information about things that they're interested in and potentially looking to buy? And who is going to deliver that information in a way that is interesting and memorable?" he said.

The answer to those questions has increasingly been social media influencers who are telling stories that people are engaging with on a regular basis.

Two such influencers from the United Kingdom, Jason Riley and Josh Cauldwell-Clarke, known online as Josh and Jase, will be making a second trip to Michigan starting July 24, and have set aside a full day to just talk with the news in the state.

The British influencers were in the state during the winter, and Riley attended the Pure Michigan Conference where he sat down with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

"Michiganders felt really special when they decided to come to the state and profile us in ways and in depth that they are not just giving to every other state," Cowley said.

He said it was something that combined the high social media reach, engaging storytelling and seeming exclusive treatment from those influencers that was giving the boost to Michigan as a brand.

Michigan Economic Development Corporation spokesperson Danielle Emerson said that Pure Michigan did not have a contract with Riley and Cauldwell-Clarke. She didn't know if the British duo had made contracts with regional or local tourism or travel boards.

Cowley said the product for tourism isn't tangible. It is the experience itself that is being sold.

"They're saying, 'Hey, look at this. This is beautiful. We think this is awesome.' They're not saying, 'You should come here.' It is more of an under-played sell," he said.

He said there are two big types of marketing, which are performance marketing and brand marketing. Brand marketing is used to establish the brand in the minds of people and use it as awareness as the "go-to" brand, which works well with tourism.

"It's incredibly important if you can do that long enough and consistently enough. There are a lot of tourism bureaus whose campaigns run too short to be really memorable and effective. I think that's what makes the Pure Michigan campaign so successful," he said.

He said the campaign has been running for a long time and that consistency needed to be maintained to continue to pay off. He said it also needs to be refreshed from time to time.

"If you want a successful marketing operation that balances your short-term and your long-term marketing needs, then you need a mixture of marketing that is about establishing the reputation and brand of an experience, coupled with short-term, 'come to this event,'" he said.

This is where the influencers come in, to promote the product, event or place.

"The nice thing about influencers is that they're advertising substitutes, and so companies can literally just plug them into the same slots that they might have used traditional advertising for, and in large part measure them in very similar ways, but often get better results because the content is so much more interesting," Cowley said.