Tourism Marketing Efforts for Amelia Island Earn Three Adrian Awards

Augmented Reality | Campaign | Realities | Tourism

Starmark was honored to see ourselves and our client Amelia Island recognized at the 2021 HSMAI Adrian Awards, presented by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International. In its 64^th year, the Adrian Awards spotlights excellence in hospitality advertising, digital marketing and public relations. The focus of this year’s awards was “Best Practices, Innovation and Community” — three pillars that were well-represented in our work this year.

Silver Award | Starmark: Digital Single Item Category

Already recognized for excellence by MarCom this year, the Augmented Reality portal the agency created for Amelia Island has earned a Silver Adrian award. This immersive experience was the perfect way to transport our audience to the destination and pique their interest in a stay. With a tap of the screen, mobile device users could open the portal from Instagram or Facebook and virtually “step through it” onto the beach as horseback riders galloped by, demonstrating one of the signature activities of Amelia Island. Accompanying post copy prompted them to learn more about the destination, linking to the campaign’s landing page.

Bronze Award | Starmark: Integrated Marketing

In the midst of a pandemic, Amelia Island needed to stay relevant and top-of-mind among prospects and loyalists. First on the agenda was creating the campaign: “Moments.” People were sheltering in place and missing that human connection. We knew we needed to highlight the quality time spent together on vacation by addressing our goal of building on the positive attributes of a small, low-density island with an abundance of outdoor recreation.

Running across owned, paid and earned media, the “Moments” campaign came vibrantly to life in billboards strategically placed to reach our drive markets, in full-page print ads in drive market pubs, and in digital banner ads to extend our reach even further. On social media, carousel ads, story ads and an Instant Experience ad were created for longer storytelling, with both couples and families in mind. In-feed creative on our social accounts was developed with :06 videos. A web chatbot campaign was created to generate personalized 1-1 conversations and position Amelia Island as a trusted source for travel planning while answering travel and safety FAQ.

Bronze Award | Amelia Island CVB: Crisis Communications

In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic created a seismic shift in the role of the Amelia Island Convention and Visitors Bureau (AICVB) from destination marketing efforts to a clearinghouse of information and operational support for hospitality businesses. This included a clear communication plan with and between consumers, businesses and local leaders; donations of financial support to those whose employment was impacted by the crisis, especially displaced tourism employees; and a coordinated distribution of hand sanitizer, masks and other PPE to workers and visitors in support of the emergency management center.

The AICVB provided social separation kits to comply with regulations. They also developed collateral pieces reinforcing safety protocols, speaking to both B2C & B2B, and launched a summer recovery marketing campaign using existing assets and highly targeted marketing efforts to keep small businesses afloat.

Prioritizing Results Plus Creative Excellence

In addition to our marketing campaign, we’re proud of the Amelia Island Convention and Visitors Bureau for all they accomplished in supporting their community.

As a result of our cohesive efforts, visitation on Amelia Island has been almost as high as normal, an especially significant achievement in a pandemic year. We credit this success to keeping our messages relevant, consistent and appealing and look forward to creating more stellar work for this and all of our clients.