Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Hooray! America’s Best Idea, Yellowstone National Park, which triggered the creation of our National Parks Service (NPS), turned 150 years old in March 2022. A flood of media coverage that launched billions of impressions, magazine covers & broadcast features. It was the best of times. Until…just THREE MONTHS later, an actual flood launched billions of completely different impressions. With most of the park located in the state of Wyoming, & as the state’s leading attraction it was now the worst of times for the state’s marketing team. Ugh!
In June 2022, unprecedented amounts of rainfall caused substantial flooding, rockslides, & mudslides within Yellowstone. Historic water levels caused severe damage to roads, & other critical park infrastructure. The combination of the stark visuals of streets being washed away plus the tantalizing link to climate change was too much for news desks to resist. Visitor cancellations began immediately, not just for June but for months ahead due to fears of flood damage impacting the experience. On June 17, an emergency call was held among the park, Wyoming office of Tourism & state marketing officials. Something had to be done to stent the cancellations. After all, the park is a critical gateway to the lesser-known locales in the state and the accommodations tax from Yellowstone’s hotels is a huge driver of funding for the state’s marketing efforts. Something had to be done to save the state’s tourism economy. Immediately.
Marketing goals included curtailing cancellations by:
1.) Driving guests and media to the NPS for the latest, most accurate information
2.) Communicating that a large & of the park was still open & accessible & that wildlife and attractions were unharmed.
3.) Getting the word out nationwide to drive new bookings & help fill the cancelled rooms
4.) Creating a robust, offense via a media program that combatted visuals of destruction with up to the minute visuals showing the park was open & unaffected
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)
Honestly, every single goal. Within weeks.
-Within days of the emergency call to action, the marketing team had scripted and shot fresh footage for a video news release (over the 4th of July holiday weekend, no less) including images of visitors on the ground that weekend saying the park experience was fantastic and lines were shorter. Current images of wildlife, Old Faithful and other important park features assured viewers that the park and its visitor experience had not been impacted.
-Reassuring, completely unscripted visitors quotations from the VNR included
“The animals haven’t paid any attention to the closures, they are out in force”
“We’ve seen more wildlife, because there aren’t as many cars”
Media coverage reinforced that:
-93% of all of the roads were available
-3 of 5 entrances were open
-Natural features were still available as they were pre-flood including geysers, wildlife, hot springs, the grand prismatic
-7 of 9 hotels were open
-Space was available at peak season
-Tours, restaurants, gift shops, facilities are open
-The Video News release was picked up across the country in 31 markets near and far including Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland, and Denver reaching 16.4 million viewers
-Other feature coverage included Fox News, Outside Magazine, AFAR and Travel and Leisure, all touting our messaging and visuals
-Despite the unprecedented closure in the immediate aftermath of the flooding and the torrent of negative visuals and news, the park closed out the season at an astounding 80% occupancy
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?
There was no budget for this program because no one anticipated this natural disaster.
The actual cost to film, edit, produce and distribute the video news release was $47,000 and the other media outreach was included with Wyoming's ongoing PR retainer.
Yellowstone was able to salvage the season with 80% occupancy after starting the season at 99%. There is absolutely no telling what that percentage would have been without this enormous effort that was put together in a matter of days after the flooding occurred.
Entry Title
America’s Best Idea in the Worst of Times
Division
Public Relations/Communications - RE-LAUNCH OF EXISTING PRODUCT
Category
Public Relations/Communications