How Capitalizing on a Special Event via a DMO Digital Marketing campaign can gain consumer insights for remarketing visitors to return

Tens of thousands of college football fans descend on Northeast Florida every year for the Florida vs. Georgia game. To capitalize on the rivalry event, the Amelia Island Tourism Development Council (TDC) tapped Digital Edge to create a digital marketing promotion to grow the DMO’s email list for targeted audiences, allowing them to remarket to them for return visits.

Also, based on the previous year’s booking patterns of the island’s accommodations, they needed to create demand earlier in the college football season to trigger more advanced bookings, allowing the hotel partners to yield manage (maximize revenue and manage inventory) more effectively during this high-demand event weekend.

Our Solution:

In order to meet Amelia Island TDC’s goals, we developed a digital marketing strategy for targeting, timeframe and integration. We created a sweepstakes where the winner received an Amelia Island getaway, which included tickets to the game, enticing the Georgia target market to participate. The design campaign components included:

• Promotional landing page
• HTML5 Display Banner Ads
• Paid Search
• Email including real time, dynamic features
• Social media ads

To help hotel partners manage inventory well before the high demand, we launched the campaign 60 days prior to the Florida vs. Georgia game. The campaign focused on demographic characteristics, spending patterns and sports travel special interest groups.

We set up a paid search campaign to target fans searching for information about the game or the team. To reach fans not yet searching for the game, we ran a display campaign using a combination of managed sports site placements and contextual keyword targeting, as well as those interested in Amelia Island tourism. We ran an additional display campaign that geo-fenced Georgia’s stadium during two home games as Amelia Island TDC was particularly interested in targeting Georgia fans, a big feeder market for them. We also created a Facebook ad to gain additional exposure from college football lovers in the major cities surrounding both universities. Lastly, we remarketed to existing Amelia Island email lists, using dynamic features, including live social feeds, video and a countdown clock to create a sense of urgency.

The Results:

Through the campaign, Amelia Island TDC grew their email list by 4,679 email addresses for remarketing for return visits. Within the first weekend of the campaign, area hotels immediately saw an increase in bookings, specifically, the Amelia Island Ritz Carlton saw a 75% increase in reservations 60 days out from the previous year.

• The sweepstakes ranked third for “Florida Georgia weekend” in organic listings.
• The paid search campaign had a 30% click conversion rate and increased converted clicks by 134% from the previous year’s campaign.
• The geo-fencing campaign had a 22.77% click conversion rate.
• The email campaign had a 23% open rate and 40% CTR.
• The Facebook ad reached over 28,000 people and resulted in over 1,500 clicks to the sweepstakes’ landing page.

With over 30 years of combined experience in hospitality and destination marketing, we successfully drive hotels stays and generate return visits to destinations by using the latest digital strategies and technology. Learn more about our work.