Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?Connecticut has a perception problem. Despite a decade of attempts to shift perception, Connecticut still has a reputation of being old, boring, traditional, and stuffy. To finally move the needle, it was time to dramatically change the state's marketing by leveraging younger and edgier voices to tout our tourism offerings. Our goals were to: • Build the brand of Connecticut as dynamic, diverse, youthful, and inclusive by leveraging the authentic voices of people who actually live/visit here • Surprise residents and visitors alike with the vibrant mix of experiences Connecticut offers • Invest in and grow our relationships with Influencers as business constituents of the State • Drive traffic to CT’s owned platforms (social, web, email) so we can nurture relationships with our target audiences — without having to pay to access them each time • Gather more authentic images and content to add to our shared marketing database around key themes: Arts/Music, DEIB, Food/Beverage, Wellness, Outdoors, Family Fun • Ultimately, drive greater interest in living, working, and playing in Connecticut!

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)Our influencer program was a great success. We tapped into a diverse network of local influencers across many categories and integrated them into all our marketing efforts. We activated influencers at major events such as Sound on the Sound, Connecticut's biggest music festival, to create vibrant social media content. Influencers led segments on our weekly Fox61 TV show, Weekend Happenings, sharing events and activities in their category. We even cast relevant influencers in our TV spots and created billboards with influencers' social media posts. Overall, we: · Published 53 influencer content posts across Instagram, TikTok, and the brand websites · Activated 13 influencers · Spotlighted 147 partners and businesses · Generated 395,263 impressions · Generated 129,979 engagements

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?Budget $100k ROI $200k in promotion and assets

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 Influencer Marketing Program

DivisionPublic Relations/Communications - Influencer Marketing

CategoryPublic Relations/Communications