Georgia Getaways for Georgia Tourism (2002). Following the tragedy September 11, 2001, leisure travel and tourism came to a virtual standstill. Travel and tourism Georgia’s second largest industry. The state, as well as counties and local municipalities, are dependent upon the tax revenue generated by tourism. Georgia Tourism needed a plan to quickly revive leisure tourism.
We created Georgia Getaways, a multi-media program that included online, broadcast and cable television and experiential (on site display, street teams), developed all of the creative and launched the entire campaign within 90 days from initial presentation. We wrote and produced a series of 13 two minute vignettes that ran on broadcast television and cable throughout Georgia. We created sponsorship opportunities for promotional partners Toyota and Best Western Hotels that allowed them to run :30 second television spots in within the vignettes. Best Western was able to highlight specific hotel properties that were located in the “getaway” destinations. We arranged exclusive display opportunities for Toyota vehicles in State of Georgia rest stops along major highways. Street teams in Toyotas wrapped with a custom graphic spread oput across the state and handed out over 200,000 tourism guides.
Georgia Getaways generated an astounding 5.8% increase in tourism spending in Georgia over the same period the previous year! Georgia was the only state in the nation to show an increase in tourism spending in 2002!
“Mike Ventura walked into my office in November, 2001, and boldly told me that he could not only maintain Georgia’s tourism traffic at this critical time, but could most likely increase it. He returned one week later with an in depth presentation showing targeted concepts and turn-key implementation by Ventura & Company.
I told my staff that if Mike’s organization could deliver 30-50% of what they proposed, at least we would have tried something (to turn the market). They did more than that! Within 60 days they had created and produced as multi-media campaign that included television, radio, interactive and experiential marketing elements.
In the period from March through June, 2002, when virtually every other state in the country suffered double digit declines in tourism revenue, Georgia was plus 5.8%. This was solely due to the efforts of Mike Ventura and Ventura & Company.”
— Janis Cannon, Deputy Commissioner for Tourism, GA Department of Industry, Trade & Tourism
Winner of a Prestigious PRO Award.
Georgia Getaways was honored by the prestigious PRO Awards as the national winner in the category Best Campaign for Generating Brand Volume in 2002.
Interactive elements included a custom web site that allowed visitors to print out specific weekend Georgia Getaway trips with detailed driving instructions and information about sites, restaurants and activities along the way, links to Best Western Hotels and special offers.
Click on these files to see some nice things that our partners said about us:
Kudos from Best Western Hotels