Utah Office of Tourism receives Adrian Award Recognition for Travel Marketing Excellence
Prestigious competition recognizes COVID-19 recovery campaign initiative and powerful storytelling
The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) honored the Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) with one silver and two bronze Adrian Awards for marketing excellence for its winning entries in the 64th annual Adrian Awards, the largest and most prestigious global travel marketing competition. For 2020, HSMAI redesigned the Adrian Awards to reflect the current travel landscape, with Focus Categories of Corporate Social Responsibility, Crisis Communications/Management, Recovery Strategies, and Talent & Leadership Development, in addition to traditional Adrian Award categories.
“Our goal is to support Utah’s great small businesses — guides and outfitters, hoteliers, restaurants, retailers and more — by telling the Utah story effectively,” said Vicki Varela, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism. “Our marketing aims to encourage responsible visitation, engage with our local communities and to help travelers understand how accessible a Utah adventure can be. Adrian honors affirm that we have created messages that resonate.”
Utah Office of Tourism travel marketing entries:
- Between the Mighty 5 — Silver. The integrated marketing campaign for consumers. Launched 2019 Utah’s five national parks, “The Mighty 5Ⓡ,” have been the subject of successful advertising campaigns in the past. Now the national parks experience a variety of constraints in the peak season due to the high visitation numbers. The question/opportunity facing the UOT and key partners including Struck and Love Communications was how to focus the emphasis on targeting travelers who would increase their length of stay, spend more, explore further and travel better. View.
- Small but Mighty — Bronze. Recovery strategy. Launched 2020 Along with most other travel and tourism boards around the world, the Utah Office of Tourism’s planned campaigns were put on hold in early March 2020 while the world seeked solutions to the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than have our marketing efforts go completely dark with the onset of COVID, the UOT, alongside key partners including Struck and Love Communications, quickly developed a strategic plan defined and guided by key measured indicators that outlined the path for all communications for the UOT across their paid media, social, public relations, community management, and website content platforms. In addition to promoting safe, well-prepared visitation, Small but Mighty worked to mitigate the economic loss for the tourism industry in Utah and set up the destination for a strong recovery when the time was right. View. / VisitUtah.com
- Guided By — Bronze. Multimedia or video series. Reporting in recent years found that the Utah Office of Tourism’s powerful storytelling “coincided with a steep increase in park visitation that has continued unabated ever since.” It was time for a new narrative, a story told straight from the subject matter experts closest to the land who could responsibly lead visitors down a different road. UOT’s “Guided By” series is anchored by long-form video content unified by an effort to encourage high-quality, well-informed travel to places less known. The UOT’s Sandra Salvas led the creation of the series along with 3 Strings Productions and KHNO Films. The series was designed to be inclusive and representative of a range of demographics and diversity of talent across our target audiences. View.
“Just like the red emerald, mined only in Utah, we strive to make our storytelling unique and transformational,” Varela said. “Thanks to the innovative work from our internal team at the Utah Office of Tourism and key creative partners for making this possible.”
The Utah Office of Tourism was honored during the HSMAI Adrian Awards virtual celebration on Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Winning entries are viewable in the winners’ gallery on the Adrian Awards website. Visit www.AdrianAwards.com for more information on the event and competition and to view the Adrian Awards Winners’ Gallery.
Contact: Anna Loughridge, 385-212-9325, aloughridge@utah.gov
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About the Utah Office of Tourism
The Utah Office of Tourism’s (UOT) mission is to elevate life in Utah through responsible tourism stewardship. We do this through marketing, stewardship and development. Marketing: UOT curates messaging that inspires visitation, supports local businesses and builds the Utah economy. Stewardship: UOT manages visitation statewide and supports the responsible discovery of Utah. Development: UOT partners with local communities to enhance and develop their visitor economies to benefit residents and visitors. Learn more at visitutah.com and travel.utah.gov
About HSMAI
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is committed to growing business for hotels and their partners and is the industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals and their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue through programs such as the Marketing Strategy Conference, Adrian Awards, and HSMAI ROC. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is a membership organization comprising more than 5,000 members worldwide, with 40 chapters in the Americas Region. Connect with HSMAI at hsmai.org, HSMAI Facebook, HSMAI Twitter, and HSMAI YouTube.