Is there ‘much more’ to Bermuda’s latest tourism advertising campaign?The new “Bermuda so much more” campaign has similarities to the US state of Maine’s “There’s more to Maine” campaign, not withstanding the two slogans and use of a similar font for the letter “M”. And, it cost “so much more” than Maine’s campaign.Both campaigns use similar style shots of the beach, coastal aerials, golfers teeing off, tourists dining out, and people jumping into the water and empty beach chairs — not unusual for a tourist type destination. And the Maine campaign does also show moose, nightlife and fresh-water fishing and lake scenes, which we don’t have.The Bermuda ads also feature unique shots of our historic attractions, local people, and pink beaches, and include original phrases along the theme of “so much more”, including “so much more green” for the golf shots, and “so much more I do” for the wedding shots.However, FuseIdeas, the Island’s new ad agency, developed both the new Bermuda campaign and its team also worked on the “There’s More to Maine” campaign, which drove a 14 percent increase in overnight visitors for that state.Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert had previously said Boston-based FuseIdeas would develop an “eye-catching campaign” that will “differentiate Bermuda” and incorporate “breakthrough creative” across channels. And FuseIdeas said it planned on selling “authentic Bermuda”.According to an industry blog, FuseIdeas’ preliminary pitch to Bermuda Tourism was for a beach-centred campaign aimed at upscale travellers, with slogans such as “First class means ... reclining seats” showing two tourists on lounge chairs on the beach, and “First class means ... early boarding: Expect Royal treatment”, showing two people with surfboards on a beach. The agency was one of 29 that submitted proposals.Commenting on the preliminary Bermuda pitch, an art and creative director with Fuseideas, Doug Campbell, who also worked on the Maine account, said on an industry website: “This was the preliminary creative submitted that got us into the finals and eventually led to us acquiring the account. Research showed a strong need for more air arrivals by upscale travellers. I had approximately 1.5 days from finding out about the RFP to submitting the work.”But ultimately the beach-centred “first class means” campaign was apparently changed to the current “Bermuda so much more” campaign showing more of our people, attractions and culture.Commenting on the Maine campaign, the industry blog says It was “built around the theme, There’s More to Maine” and “multiple images of Maine helped expand the image of Maine as a unique, authentic destination with an extraordinary variety of activities for all ages and interests”.FuseIdeas senior manager Steven Mason, who flew to Bermuda after his agency won the contract, supervised the Maine Office of Tourism while working for Swardlick Marketing Group just prior to joining FuseIdeas.Swardlick lost the Maine account in January. Fuseideas, which now holds the Maine tourism account, also last year acquired Maine-based Bright Matter Marketing and set up FeseIdeas Maine in Portland.The Maine campaign had a one-year budget of $3 million including media placement. Tourism reportedly has a $10 billion economic impact in Maine and generated $272 million in sales tax revenues.FuseIdeas has a one-year budget of around $13 million. Tourism had a total economic impact of $733 million in 2011.A spokesman for the Tourism Minister said the Ministry was not going to comment for this article.Are the two campaigns too close for comfort? You tell us below.