Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Alaska is an awe-inspiring place rooted in living culture where memorable experiences are an everyday occurrence. The goal was to develop messaging to emphasize Alaska’s rich cultural heritage and outdoor product which makes it one of the most beautiful places on Earth, with endless opportunities for epic experiences year-round.
The AKA marketing and messaging campaign was born with three main objectives:
1. Position Alaska as a destination that is desirable to visit year-round, with natural beauty and outdoor activities available in all seasons.
2. Increase representation of Alaska Native Culture as a significant asset to the state, and one that visitors would be remiss to not experience firsthand.
3. Encourage visitation in all regions of the vast state of Alaska.
Playing off the state abbreviation AK and the common phrase AKA or “also known as,” the campaign, the goal of Travel Alaska’s messaging ad campaign is to inspire travel to Alaska in 2023, showcasing all-weather activities as well as educating consumers about Alaska Native culture. It combines the beauty of Alaska with the cultural significance of the people who live there, inviting all to experience the 49th state’s natural beauty and outdoor experiences year-round, encouraging them to easily visit all regions of the state on their journeys. Promising euphoric experiences, wild beauty, and a refreshing sense of realness, the campaign expresses that Alaska is like nothing you’ve ever experienced.
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)
Launching brand creative first in August 2022, imagery featured Alaska’s breathtaking scenery across the four seasons, with a focus on outdoor activity. In October 2022, cultural creative launched, highlighting the faces and iconography that make Alaska Native Culture unique to only Alaska.
The creative was distributed across multiple channels in various formats. Video was dispersed in traditional broadcast television and connected tv, as well as being the first destination to utilize addressable tv on Hulu with Innovid, which allowed the consumer to interact with video and imagery from all regions of the state. Content partnership campaigns with National Geographic, Smithsonian, AARP, Tripscout and Matador Network included published articles, email campaigns, social posts and on-site digital advertising. New social campaigns were launched on Travel Alaska’s owned platforms. Programmatic campaigns were launched using video, native and display advertising to audiences matching recent visitor research.
Smithsonian: overall tactic CTR 0.42% and 73% VCR
Nativo: CTA Rate performed 56% above benchmark
National Geographic: overdelivered impression goals by 192%, 617k social engagements, and 2.6 minutes average time spend on article
Hulu: VCR 97.6%
Innovid Interactive Living Room: 36k views – 126 QR scans
Matador: 3 million video impressions, Social native impressions overdelivered by 18.78%
TripScout: Average newsletter open rate 31.8%
Programmatic Media: over 570 million impressions, overall CTR: 0.05%, VCR: 78.40%
Owned Social: over 32 million impressions, LPV: 146,005, overall CTR: 0.85%, Video Thru-plays: 1.7 million
All campaign creative linked to either an AKA landing page or Alaska Native Culture landing page on TravelAlaska.com, capturing all traffic from ads and leading the visitor to other calls to action such as eNews sign up, vacation planner requests, itineraries, and partner travel deals.
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
Since launch in August 2022, all campaigns have returned significant increases on KPIs. Average visiton has increased 80.3% and visitor spending has increased 10.2% (Zartico). The Cultural Tourism landing page is now consistently in the Top 10 pages on TravelAlaska.com, and visitor profile studies show that 25% of visitors choose to experience a cultural tourism attraction.
In addition, visitors report choosing Alaska as a travel destination for its scenic beauty (64%), nature and outdoors (60%), and wildlife (57%), followed by adventure (41%), rest and relaxation (39%), and a bucket list trip (36%).
Entry Title
AKA Also Known As Alaska – Advertising Brand Campaign
Division
Advertising - Brand Campaign