VisitScotland has struck GOLD three times in top marketing awards for its North American work, including campaigns with major TV drama Outlander and men’s luxury lifestyle website, GearPatrol.com, which reached a total audience of more than 20 million.
A high-profile VisitScotland campaign encouraging millions of Americans to “give in to their kilty pleasures” and explore the country that inspired hit TV show Outlander, and an online partnership aimed at young male travellers “hungry for adventure”, have both scooped top marketing awards.
The national tourism organisation, along with its US public relations partner, Laura Davidson Public Relations (LDPR), has picked up two Gold Adrian Awards from HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International).
The ‘Partnership with Major Brand’ award recognises the partnership with production company Starz TV on the ‘Kilty Pleasure: Outlander’ campaign during the launch of the popular TV drama last year. Media coverage, including in The New York Times, Entertainment Tonight, NBCNews.com, Fodor’s, and Yahoo Travel reached an audience of more than 15 million.
The ‘Feature Placement Online-Consumer Media’ award recognises VisitScotland and LDPR’s team-up with men’s luxury lifestyle website, GearPatrol.com, on the “Hungry Men of America, Have You Met Scotland? Let us introduce you…” campaign. GearPatrol writers travelled to Scotland last winter (2014) and created 50 individual pieces for their website, including essays, videos, photo essays and recipes, which formed a ‘Scotland Travel Guide’ that has had more than 5 million page views.
VisitScotland’s gold rush continued in the 2016 Distinguished Dozen awards by Courier, the official monthly magazine for members of the National Tour Association (NTA), with Gold in the Overseas Destination Marketing Organisation Partner category.
The Courier’s Distinguished Dozen program, now in its fifth year, is voted for by NTA members and recognises the distinguished work of tourism organisations which go ‘above and beyond’ in their duty.
All awards are due to be presented at ceremonies taking place in February 2016.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “These three gold awards are testament to the hard work, dedication and creative talents of our North American team and partners. A huge amount of work is carried out by our team which focuses on making sure the right product is developed and delivered via each market’s optimal channels.
“In particular, we are thrilled to be recognised by our colleagues in one of our primary markets within the travel industry, as we look forward to the launch of several new air routes in 2016 which will make it even easier for our Canadian and US friends to come to Scotland.”
Laura Davidson, President of Laura Davidson Public Relations, said: “It’s been an incredibly exciting year for VisitScotland, and we’re thrilled to continue collaborating on award-winning work. As the North American media landscape evolves, our work with VisitScotland follows suit – targeting new media, brands and partners to create dynamic campaigns.
“It’s always a great honour to be recognised by our fellow colleagues and industry leaders. And it’s so nice to see the on-going popularity of Scotland in the US.”
Winners of the 2016 Distinguished Dozen awards will be introduced at a luncheon during Travel Exchange, the NTA’s annual convention in Atlanta on 2 February.
The Adrian Awards had more than 1,300 entries this year and winners were judged by experts in hospitality, travel, tourism and media. The campaigns will be recognised at the Adrian Awards Gala on 16 February where gold winners have the potential to be elevated to Platinum status (the top entries in each category).
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She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
