Marketing Objectives:
Clearly state your marketing goals.
What did your company strive to achieve using this piece or program?The overarching objective was to drive visitation to Hilton Head Island, in addition to its member organizations and partners that provide accommodations, dining, experiences, services, and other local attractions. To this end, the marketing objectives included: Creating a fresh new aesthetic reflective of Hilton Head Island’s refined brand image Building a web platform that would be optimized for mobile, as well as using updated technology to stay current with industry trends Improving content organization and navigation to support an exceptional user experience Strategically showcasing high performing content, such as trending blog posts, throughout the site Delivering strong value to local partners in terms of driving traffic to their respective websites, while creating better engagement with their site content and improved opportunities to manage their own content—from listing information to the events and offers they provide

Target Audience:
Who was/is the target audience?
Characterize the composition, size, and location of your target audience.Hilton Head Island’s primary audience is affluent, between the ages of 25-64, and looking for a relaxing and fun vacation in the U.S. They skew strongly towards women (Hilton Head Facebook fans are 77% female, and 82% of engaged users are female). Geographically, marketing efforts are focused on reaching potential guests in key northeast, midwest, and southwest markets in the U.S. Hilton Head Island also wants to reach audiences who are interested in beach-oriented getaways, family vacations, artistic and cultural experiences, and luxury travel. Another key Hilton Head audience is sports enthusiasts interested in golf, tennis, biking, and outdoor leisure activities.

Research, Planning, and Implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign? Describe how you planned and produced the creative asseets with the mobile canvas in mind.A third-party, website-user intercept survey was conducted, focusing on conversion and ROI. The survey results were combined with the website’s overall objectives to inform the development of the user experience, content, and design. A content audit of the site was done to determine what pages to edit, optimize, or remove. To inform the contemporary design, wireframes were developed to illustrate how the user would access all conversion touchpoints, and how the website experience would render across devices. Employing the required code and functionality, these strategies were brought to life on a Drupal 8 CMS. Integrations included Doubleclick for Publishers to support partner ad content, Ungerboeck’s API to enable listing categorization through Hilton Head’s CRM system, enhanced filtering of partner listings, an events module, and an improved Partner Portal that enabled partners to better manage their submissions of events, offers, and listing details to the site.

Message:
What is the key message intended for the piece/campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?Voted #1 Island in the Continental U.S. for three consecutive years at the prestigious Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards, Hilton Head Island is a popular, award-winning destination. Its position as “America’s Favorite Island” is reinforced through this stunning new website, which showcases Hilton Head’s natural beauty, outstanding accommodations, exquisite dining experiences, and much more. The new website balances practical, logistical information with inspiring content that engages visitors—drawing the deeper into HiltonHeadIsland.org and moving them along the path to purchase. Throughout the site, partner ads are integrated to promote local member organizations, while heightening awareness and engagement directly with their key audiences.

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.• 32% Increase in ad click-through rate YoY • 20% Increase in new user sessions YoY • 52% Increase in blog sessions YoY • 281,319 Goal completions (since launch)

Project Analysis:
Please provide a brief background on the project and your efforts to preserve the destination’s natural, cultural and historic heritage.

Objectives and Goals:
What did organization set out to achieve in undertaking this project?

Creativity and Innovation:
What new and innovative ideas did you incorporate in either your method of outreach or in the implementation of the project that you think could inspire others committed to sustainability in the tourism and travel industry?

Communication:
How did you communicate your actions to the public, the media and other key stakeholders and what was the aim of the message?
How did you generate publicity in order to build awareness of, or support corporate values on your sustainability initiatives.

Results:
How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve?

Leadership:
Please list the individual in a leadership role responsible for the project and how would you characterize their commitment to promoting preservation and sustainability best practices in the travel and tourism industry?

URL #1:https://www.hiltonheadisland.org/

URL #2:

URL #3:

DivisionDigital Marketing

Sub-categoryDigital Single Item

CategoryWebsite User Experience

Entry TitleHilton Head Island

Innovation Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the project and why you feel it fits the definition of innovation, what the breakout implications are and how it was an industry disruptor.

Sources of Innovation: Did the innovative project result from chance, from research, from inspiration from outside the industry, or from some other source?

Goals and Objectives: What were the goals of the innovative project, and were they met? Were they tied to a business plan? A larger campaign? Or to get specific result (such as views, shares, influencer engagement, or bookings)? And what obstacles did you encounter in the execution of the project and how did you overcome them?

Classification

Situational AnalysisWanting to capitalize on its recognition as the #1 Island in the Continental U.S., Hilton Head Island required a modern, immersive, and conversion-focused platform capable of effectively inspiring and persuading travelers to experience all that the region has to offer. With a contemporary, mobile-first design, the new platform needed to inspire, educate, and persuade users to visit Hilton Head, while incorporating additional elements to engage users as they traveled around the region. The platform also needed to collect invaluable consumer data to fuel ongoing digital marketing campaigns and on-site personalization opportunities. Hilton Head’s website is the single-most important touchpoint next to the destination itself. As such, it was essential that it increased exposure and engagement for Hilton Head through intuitive navigation, captivating copy and imagery, and strategic positioning of promoted content and information about member organizations and local businesses.

Research, planning, and implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign?
Describe how you planned and produced the creative assets with the mobile canvas in mind.

Message:
What is the key messages intended for the piece/ campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?
What helped you breakthrough on mobile?

Results:
What original goals did you achieve and how?
How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign?
Entrants should provide quantifiable metrics tied to real business results (eg brand lift, leads, or bookings generated).

Results:
How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve? Please be as specific as possible and share the full impact of your efforts in CSR. Understandably, maintenance is another major part of CSR. If you have continued to actively and consistently work on your CSR process; please add those actions to your results description.

Leadership:
To keep your CSR efforts thriving, you need momentum and passion, which has to come from the top. Please list the individual in a leadership role responsible for the project and how would you characterize their commitment to promoting corporate social responsibility in the travel and tourism industry?