Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?Northeast Florida’s Amelia Island hosted the 7th Annual “Dickens on Centre” Victorian Christmas Festival Dec. 9-12, 2021, in downtown Fernandina Beach, transforming historic Centre Street into a wonderland of Charles Dickens’ early Victorian era England. The highlight of the island’s seasonal celebrations, the festival is free to the public and features costumed characters, themed live entertainment, visits from Saint Nick, a variety of vendors selling handmade seasonal wares and treats, and much more. Signature Dickens on Centre Festival events include Dickens Dining Week, Dickens Illuminated Procession, Run Like the Dickens, Dickens After Dark and new in 2021, Dickens Enchanted Village. After cancelling the festival in 2020, Amelia Island’s goal was to create an event that would draw locals and visitors to enjoy a fun, spirited and memorable experience. But first, they needed to create a “buzz” among potential event attendees (and visitors) in the key markets of Fernandina Beach and Jacksonville, Florida; and the nearby Southeastern U.S. cities of Atlanta, Savannah and Charleston. Fun fact: Charles Dickens was one of the first authors to use the word “abuzz” in his 1859 classic, A Tale of Two Cities. “The court was all astir and a-buzz, when the black sheep – whom many fell away from in dread – pressed him into an obscure corner among the crowd.”

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)To raise awareness (or create buzz) about Dickens on Centre, a press release was distributed to media members in the key markets, which generated several immediate online articles as well as requests for individual press visits. Amelia Island was able to arrange 3 press visits, including one coordinated in just 48 hours over Thanksgiving! There were 9.9M impressions generated from the press release, pitches and press visits, within a month. Top placements included The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Southern Living, Savannah Morning News, Flamingo Magazine and various Amelia Island and Jacksonville, Florida publications such as The Florida Times-Union, 904 Happy Hour, WJXT News 4 Jax, 104.5 WOKV Jacksonville’s News & Talk, Fernandina Beach News Leader and Fernandina Observer. Coverage was achieved in the target markets, and Dickens on Centre was covered in a total of 31 print and online articles. Website traffic from marketing promotions generated 25,740 sessions to the main holiday landing page with 72% new sessions, 1.88 average pages per session and average duration of 1:43. Holiday landing page drove 8 newsletter sign ups for a value of $136. In addition, Dickens pages saw an incremental 18,500 sessions with 65% new sessions. Pages per session averaged 1.83 with over 2:00 minutes in average session duration. Dickens also saw great results on social media with both organic and paid posts resulting in over 536,805 impressions and nearly 75,700 engagements. The festival had a definite impact on overnight visitation this year. The RevPAR for the festival weekend was up 142% year over year. Most importantly, the festival provided $4,975,300 in economic impact to the local economy, a 32% increase from 2019. Eighty three percent of attendees were aware of the festival prior to attending and nearly 65% of festival goers were from off the island, a. 8.6 increase from 2019. Attendees gave the overall experience a 97.5% excellence rating with 90% planning to return.

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?The festival itself had a working budget of $250,000. But, thanks to the generosity of Amelia Island’s partner businesses, Amelia Island’s only PR expenses for Dickens on Centre were $410. These costs incurred from hosting three press visits: Josephine Johnson ($40), Celina Colby ($350) and Sarah Wyatt ($20). Additional expenses for marketing were around $65,000.

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?

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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?

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?

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

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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.

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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?

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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 TitleDickens on Centre, a Victorian Christmas Festival Reimagined

DivisionPublic Relations - SPECIAL EVENT

CategoryPublic Relations