Visit Rapid City is being honored for travel marketing excellence by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI).
Digital Edge is proud to support Visit Rapid City in its achievement of a Gold Adrian Award for its winning entry in the Integrated Campaign – Business to Business category.
The Winning Entry
With a softening of leisure travel, the hotel community in Rapid City was looking for a meetings campaign to grow group business interest and build the base with group business.
The Goals
When Visit Rapid City received state grant funds to dedicate to a meetings marketing campaign, the destination marketing organization expanded its partnership with its meetings marketing agency since 2015, Digital Edge, to strategically focus on positioning the destination in the drive market to grow meetings interest.
A regional campaign was created to target planners in South Dakota and nearby states and encourage them to take advantage of what they have in their backyard for meetings & conventions. It took a layered approach, creating awareness at the top and working to generate interest. The key qualitative goals were to drive real results for VRC’s group sales team and impact by growing regional group business, focusing on key regional group markets, leveraging an inside-out approach and showcasing benefits. The quantitative goals for the integrated campaign were 2.3 million digital media impressions, 942,000 social distribution impressions and 928 paid search clicks.
The Results
Visit Rapid City’s regional marketing campaign ran from August 2023 to December 2023, surpassing all quantitative goals. Digital media impressions totaled 4.04 million, 76% more than the goal. Paid search garnered 1,630 clicks, 76% more than the goal, as well as a click-through rate (CTR) of 9.95%, higher than the 2.41% B2B benchmark. Social distribution received nearly 1.68 million impressions, 78% more than the goal, in addition to CTRs of 3.82% on Meta and 0.61% on LinkedIn.
The ROI
The marketing campaign targeting regional group business had a big impact on group business in Rapid City. The campaign is credited with being a part of Visit Rapid City bolstering the destination’s hotel industry by hosting 50 meetings, resulting in 5,459 room nights in 2023 — the third-best year on record — and having an economic impact of more than $3 million. The campaign helped set the stage for the DMO to have a banner year in 2024, with projected business expected to bring 19,000 room nights to hotels and an even greater economic impact of $11 million.
“One of the BEST things about Digital Edge is how quickly they can integrate with your team. They are so well versed in the planner space that they can create high-impact strategies and campaigns that convert to RFPs, leads and new business for your destination.”
– Visit Rapid City President & CEO Brook Kaufman
“Congratulations to our partner of almost nine years, Visit Rapid City! We couldn’t be more honored to be a part of Visit Rapid City’s award-winning entry. But even more so, we are humbled by the meeting marketing campaign’s ability to bring in business and boost the destination’s economy.”
– Digital Edge Founder Mya Surrency
Read Digital Edge’s case study for a deeper look at the winning campaign.
This Adrian Awards year’s theme, Wish You Were Here, highlights the stories of the memorable and successful travel marketing and public relations campaigns, ads, earned media programs, and experiential and digital experiences that inspired the notion that travel is about more than just the destination, cultivating a passion for the journey and memories collected along the way.
“The Adrian Awards honors the creativity and vision that drives our industry forward, shining a spotlight on the marketing and communication leaders whose outstanding work truly inspires people to embrace travel and create unforgettable memories in the journey,” said HSMAI President and CEO Brian Hicks.
Winning entries will be viewable in the winners’ gallery on the Adrian Awards website following the February 18 Celebration. Visit adrianawards.hsmai.org for more information.
The HSMAI Adrian Awards
This Adrian Awards year’s theme, Wish You Were Here, highlights the stories of the memorable and successful travel marketing and public relations campaigns, ads, earned media programs, and experiential and digital experiences that inspired the notion that travel is about more than just the destination, cultivating a passion for the journey and memories collected along the way.
on the marketing and communication leaders whose outstanding work truly inspires people to embrace travel and create unforgettable memories in the journey.”
– HSMAI President and CEO Brian Hicks
The award winners — selected out of more than 800 entries submitted this year — will be formally recognized at the annual Adrian Awards Celebration on February 18, 2025, at the New York Marriott Marquis.
The Adrian Awards, now in their 68th year, are the largest and most prestigious competition in global travel marketing. For 2024, Adrian Awards are being presented in advertising, digital, PR/communications and integrated campaign categories. These include awards for digital creators, reputation management, affiliate marketing and broadcast integration.
Winning entries will be viewable in the winners’ gallery on the Adrian Awards website following the February 18 Celebration. Visit adrianawards.hsmai.org for more information.
About HSMAI
The Hospitality Sales & 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 Commercial Strategy Conference, Sales Leader Forum, and Adrian Awards. 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.
About Digital Edge
Founded in 2011, Digital Edge, a part of the Agital collective, provides cutting-edge digital marketing solutions, off-the-charts creativity, and meetings, sales and travel trade expertise for sales & marketing teams on the B2B side of travel & tourism organizations. The agency’s services for destination organizations, convention centers, hotels and beyond include strategy, creative, media, content, sales, research and video. Visit digitaledge.marketing to learn more.
