Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International

RETURN TO LISTING

Adrian Awards 2021

Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?

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)

Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?

Project Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the project and your company efforts to demonstrate good corporate citizenship in the areas of community involvement, environmental, or socially responsible practices.

Objectives and Goals: What did organization set out to achieve in undertaking this project in CSR? What were the goals you set to measure your success?

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.

Leadership: 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?

Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals and audience. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?

Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?

Situational Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the original initiative and how it evolved as conditions changed from pandemic to recovery.

With Mount Rushmore as its calling card, South Dakota is known for Great Places and Great Faces. In 2020, those places were a little quiet as audiences put a pause on travel. Cue South Dakota Tourism’s campaign “Great Places are Waiting,” a strategy to inspire travel even when it wasn’t possible. Now fast forward to 2021 – a year where COVID still presented challenges, but with a vaccine (and hope) on the horizon, we saw many travelers ready to hit the road again. As people began getting vaccinated and getting back out there, South Dakota Tourism needed a campaign that could evolve with them, adapting messaging and media strategies with consumer travel intent. Our team developed a red-yellow-green stoplight approach, using a mix of secondary research, travel intent studies and message testing to gauge travel sentiment. Through surveys and consumer feedback, we kept a pulse with travelers to pinpoint who was ready to travel, when and how far they would go. This research led to our evolved 2021 campaign – “Go Great Places,” a rallying cry for travelers to get back to doing, experiencing and memory-making when they were ready. The campaign placed a focus on safe outdoor recreation, monuments, and state and national parks, but our voice changed to one of action, sharing messages that encouraged people to get out and make new memories with the people they’ve missed – and who matter most. We targeted audiences with high travel intent, putting an added focus on empty nesters who were open to road trips and among the first vaccinated. We inspired travelers through high impact print, addressable cable, programmatic podcast placement, an interactive direct mail piece aimed at road trippers, and a new partnership with AARP focused on South Dakota travel content. Finally, we messaged to in-state residents, spreading a Travel Local message through direct mail, print and content partnerships to help people recognize the great places in their own backyard.

Goals: Clearly state your goals. What did you strive to achieve with this initiative and how did your goals change over time?

Though it’s tough to call anything in 2020 a win, South Dakota’s visitation and visitor spending results fared better than most states. So in 2021 we set our sights higher than ever, leveraging the “Go Great Places” evolution to capitalize on audiences’ anticipation and drive visitors, spending, bookings and revenue. So far, we’re seeing it pay off in spades. Through October 2021, numbers are not only better than 2020 – they’re topping 2019 milestones, which was a record-setting year for South Dakota Tourism. - Visitation from January through October is up 16% over 2019 with visitor spending up 14%. - State park visitation has increased by 36%, national parks are up 25% and hotel room nights have seen a 5% increase. - As for revenue, tourism tax is up 27% over 2019 with gaming tax revenue up 37%. Looking at marketing metrics, we’ve seen 2.2 million website visitors – a 13% year-over-year increase from 2020. Go Great Places has successfully positioned South Dakota as a great destination that’s open for adventure to new audiences across the country. These results reflect a picture of optimism, positivity and tenacity in South Dakota’s tourism industry that’s resonating with visitors and helping propel our state forward as COVID recovery continues.

Results: Which of your goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the initiative?

All told, we spent $1.3 million on traditional media efforts for this campaign. Though final 2021 visitor spending numbers were still being calculated and remain confidential at the time of this entry, South Dakota Tourism is currently on track to beat 2019 visitation and visitor spending records, which were 14.5 million and $4.1 billion, respectively. With the state pacing ahead of 2019 by 16% in visitation and 14% in spending, we’re projecting an impressive return on ad spend that’s even greater than past numbers, well over $1,000 in revenue for every marketing dollar spent.

Objective(s): What problems did the sales, marketing & guest satisfaction, or revenue optimization technology aim to solve?

Innovative use of technology: The extent to which new directions are charted or old challenges are resolved by using the technology in a new way.

Implementation & creativity: How was the technology implemented so that it was easy to use, solved a manpower problem, streamlined a function, or fueled recovery?

Results & Evaluation: How did the technologiy move the department or business foward to achieve goals, revenue or otherwise?

Goal: How did you demonstrate that you are committed to advancing diversity in your organization through your marketing?

Initiatives: Describe the promotion. What was your organization's message and how does it foster diversity? How was the target audience channel developed/pursued?

Results: Please describe how your organization was purposeful in advancing diversity through this initiative. Please describe the metrics you used to judge success. What were the forecasted and actual outcomes described in your Key Performance Indicators (KPI)? What impact did the initiative have on your organization and for your customers?

Goal: How did you demonstrate that you are committed to advancing diversity in your organization through your campaigns?

Initiatives: What was your approach to this campaign and how was the organization purposeful in advancing diversity through it? What types of data did you use to support your plan? How many locations were involved in the campaign? How did you effectively reach diverse audiences? What was the message?

Results: What metrics are you using to evaluate diversity (soft and/or hard metrics)? Were you successful at meeting forecasted goals? Was it limited to a specific promotion or across multiple creatives? What impact did the campaign have on your organization? How did this campaign change your brand’s perception amongst travelers?

Entry Title

Go Great Places

Division

Recovery Campaign Evolution - Recovery Campaign Evolution