Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Walton County relies on group travel, especially during non-peak travel periods, to support TDT collection, lodging and restaurant partners, and retail in the market. Group travel was significantly impacted by the pandemic. As revealed in a meeting planner survey conducted by the tourism department’s research partner, the importance of more intimate meeting types and team-building activities outside the boardroom increased post-pandemic. This shift in priority aligns with South Walton, Florida’s offerings and motivators now align with the destination’s leisure audience rather than being meeting-specific. The high demand for corporate retreats that offer quality time and team experiences presented an opportunity for the Walton County Tourism team to position the destination as a premier option for meeting planners from a unique angle.
These planners are driven by a desire to be a hero for their clients by delivering a prize location with the necessary amenities for a successful meeting. The South Walton story is beautiful and expansive, and can only be fully told through multiple conversation touchpoints with meeting planners. In addition to the paid media support and in-person desksides within the annual plan, the team needed an item to provide to planners that would have sticking power in order to place South Walton into their consideration set, inspiring them to plan a meeting in the destination.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
The interactive brochure featured a video player loaded with three videos highlighting the destination. The front cover, inside front cover, and back cover areas offered an opportunity to display destination information and attention-grabbing visuals. The high-end piece was built to break through the clutter and quickly highlight the team-building experiences that make South Walton the premier meetings destination.
Five hundred were initially ordered and have been used as follow-up pieces for meeting planner events and desksides at meetings shows.
Thus far, the Walton County Tourism Group Sales team has received two leads - one for a managers' conference with over 1,000 room nights and another for an annual meeting with over 500 room nights.
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
As a result of this mail-out, South Walton’s Group Sales team received two leads, totaling 1,700 room nights and a potential tourist development tax (TDT) collection of over $17,000. This is a direct return on investment since all tourism efforts are funded by TDT. Even more significant, however, is the potential economic impact of $568,425 that these leads could bring to businesses throughout Walton County.
Entry Title
South Walton Meetings Video Brochure
Division
Advertising - Group Sales/Travel Trade