Press Release – November 20, 2020
The Amelia Island Convention & Visitors Bureau (AICVB) is enjoying a “moment” in the spotlight, recently winning statewide, regional, and global recognition for its outstanding tourism marketing programs. During a two-day virtual event (Nov. 10-11), the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) honored the AICVB’s “Moments” campaign with a Silver SMARTIES North America Award in the Pivot Marketing category, and a global Silver SMARTIES X Award in the Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MR) category. Just days later, during the presentation of VISIT FLORIDA’s 2020 Flagler Awards (Nov. 19), the AICVB won a total of four awards, including a Henry Award, two Silver Awards, and a Bronze Award. The destination won its category-best Henry Award for mobile elements of the same “Moments” campaign, which was part of its welcome back marketing effort in response to challenges from COVID-19.
As the state’s annual tourism marketing competition, the Flagler Awards recognize Florida’s travel businesses and organizations that demonstrate outstanding tourism marketing efforts. Each year, the Flagler Awards honor many of the countless individuals and organizations that help position Florida as a premier travel destination and pay tribute to the determined efforts of those who help ensure the continued success of the state’s most important industry. The AICVB won a Henry Award for the “Moments Campaign” (Mobile Marketing), along with Silver Awards for the “Amelia Island Augmented Reality Experience Map” (Resource/Promotional Material-Consumer) and the “NYC Media Event” (Creativity in Public Relations), and a Bronze Award for its “Dickens on Centre Radio Spot” (Radio Advertising). The CVB has won at least one Henry Award for eight consecutive years.
SMARTIES X is the world’s first marketing award recognizing innovation. It is the highest achievement across the globe honoring and awarding outstanding innovation resulting in significant business impact for brands, agencies, media companies and technology providers. A highly competitive and coveted award, SMARTIES X was only awarded to three entries in the world in the VR/AR/MR category in 2020. Winners are among the best in the modern marketing community, putting Amelia Island in the company of mega brands such as the LA Rams and Cadillac in its winning categories.
“My team and I are delighted that this campaign was honored on a global scale. Amelia Island continues to push the envelope in the travel space, and we’re very grateful Starmark International has helped us innovate on a whole new level, especially this year,” said Amy Boek, Chief Marketing Officer at the Amelia Island Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The AICVB partnered with Starmark International to refresh campaign assets, craft strategic messaging and deploy new technologies, such as a Facebook augmented reality (AR) portal and chatbot. Fully integrated, the “Moments” campaign was able to sustain visitation and economic growth for local businesses, vacation rentals and hotels. In August 2020 alone, bed tax collections were up 25% compared to 2019.
“We are particularly proud of our latest win. It was so rewarding to help Amelia Island take 2020 into their own hands and come out on top,” stated Dale Baron, Executive Creative Director at Starmark.
Winners of the 2020 SMARTIES X and SMARTIES North America Awards were selected from among hundreds of submissions across more than 20 countries, and were initially evaluated by a Screening Council of more than 100 global marketing professionals. Shortlisted campaigns were then reviewed in virtual jury sessions by the MMA’s independent jury, which is comprised of some of the best marketing minds in the industry. A full list of winners is available online.
Learn more about Amelia Island at AmeliaIsland.com
AICVB is winning awards for MARKETING. We need to be winning awards for our unique culture, our rich history and its preservation, our abundant and diverse arts community, and the protection of our natural beauty and biodiversity via determined efforts to build up resilience. My concern is that too many of one will surely trample the other under for good. What if we stopped incessantly trying to increase marketing and tourism and simply held the current line? What accolades might we achieve if we widened our view of ourselves and our little barrier island? When it’s gone, it’s gone and it is all going fast. Worth a try I think.