For the 3rd time in 4 years, Explore Minnesota and Adventure Creative win BEST IN BROADCAST Mercury Award from the U.S. Travel Association.
U.S. Travel Association announced recipients of the 2024 Destiny and Mercury Awards at the 40th annual ESTO conference (Educational Seminar for Tourism Organizations), held August 11-13 in Columbus, Ohio. Winners were announced at a closing night awards dinner and presentation at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Repeating the successes of winning BEST IN BROADCAST in 2021 and 2022, Explore Minnesota and Adventure Creative were recognized for the third time in four years for a :30 broadcast spot, titled “The Magic of Summer,” which ran as part of the 2023 spring/summer Dream State campaign.
“The Destiny and Mercury Awards not only recognize creative achievement in destination marketing but also the outstanding effort to inspire visitation and promote travel in savvy and imaginative ways,” said Ellen Davis, U.S. Travel Executive Vice President, Business Strategy and Industry Engagement.
In a highly competitive environment in which traveler attention is fractured, storytelling that creates deep emotional resonance while still showcasing the experiences that can be had in Minnesota proves a winning combination. The integrated spring/summer campaign drove over $1 billion in visitor spending, with the campaign showing a $101 return on investment (ROI). That kind of fiscal performance is life-sustaining for tourism operators, people and companies in Minnesota.
“Instead of telling viewers and future visitors what they should do, our creative campaign used emotion to invite them to visualize the powerful vacation experience in Minnesota through another traveler’s eyes and memory. In doing so, we also made travelers aware of how they’ll be able to enjoy their favorite activities (and a lot of activities they might not have been aware of) right here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” said Lauren Bennett McGinty, Executive Director of Explore Minnesota, of the award-winning work.
Gina Nacey, President and Executive Creative Director of Adventure Creative elaborated on the award-winning creative concept, “We based the Dream State campaign on the core idea that there are trips and experiences that don’t just take you to new places, but transport you to what can feel like an entirely different world. There’s a real power in traveling to and around Minnesota and we wanted to tell a story that truly captured that magic.”
