Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?It was fall of 2021. For the first time since 2019, travelers could enjoy fall activities while vaccinated. We knew it was the perfect opportunity to attract visitors to a New England state, but there was one problem: Connecticut isn't known for its foliage. Despite having the longest foliage season in New England, Connecticut was not top-of-mind for leaf peeping like Vermont or New Hampshire. The campaign goal was to drive visitation to Connecticut during fall — and visitation to our website. So, we needed to show them why they should visit. We wanted visitors to think of us for our foliage — and go far beyond that. Connecticut is more than just the colors of our leaves; here you can experience so much more, from the blues of the shoreline and the greens of corn mazes to the purples of sunsets and golds of craft beer.

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)We successfully met our goals, tremendously increasing visitation and our online presence. We generated: • 115 million impressions across tactics (110% more than fall 2020, and 22% more than fall 2019) • 450 million PR impressions • 220% times increase for in-state audiences in conversion from viewing marketing to visiting specific attractions over 2020 • 460% times increase for out-of-state audiences in conversion from viewing marketing to visiting specific attractions over 2020 • Substantially outperformed all other New England states in website traffic: o With over 1 million visits to the site between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, Connecticut’s CTvisit.com generated: ? 53% more traffic than Rhode Island’s state tourism site ? 167% more traffic than Vermont’s ? 235% more traffic than Maine’s ? 478% more traffic than New Hampshire’s ? 2,905% more traffic than Massachusetts’

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 total budget / total actual cost was $1.4 Million. Of the revenues we can attribute directly to marketing, we can determine a positive ROI for the entire campaign, though we know it’s very conservative: We know 10% of those who visit the site visit the state within 4 weeks. Using that as a base, and a very conservative estimate of spending per visitor, we can confidently attribute at least $20 million in sales to the campaign tactics that drove site visitors within 4 weeks.

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 technology move the department or business forward 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?

Entry TitleCTVisit Full Color Connecticut

DivisionIntegrated Campaign - Business to Consumer

CategoryIntegrated Campaign