PCTC wins Eight Adrian Awards
In February, Ryan Hauck, Executive Director of the Park County Travel Council (PCTC)/Cody Yellowstone, traveled to New York City to receive eight Adrian Awards for the work done to promote travel to Park County.
Everyone with PCTC was over the moon, not only with the number of awards won but also that one was a platinum award. Not ever having been exposed to this level of the travel industry, it was hard to fully understand their enthusiasm. It was time to learn more.
What are the Adrian Awards?
This was the 68th year HSMAI (Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International) has recognized excellence in sales and marketing. The Adrian Awards highlight the best in advertising, public relations, and digital marketing within the travel industry.
Each year, marketing agencies and destination marketing organizations worldwide submit their work to be judged by 200 industry experts in hospitality, travel, and tourism marketing. Judges are asked to review 40 entries. Entries are not judged against other entries in their category, so it is possible to have multiple entries placed at the gold, silver, and bronze levels within a single category.
Each submission must include its goals, results, and return on investment. The competition is fierce, with hundreds of entries in various categories. The submissions are judged equally on their marketing objectives, creativity, quality, content, and the results generated from the marketing campaigns.
Park County Travel Council/Cody Yellowstone faced top competition from Hilton and Marriott Hotels and destination locations such as Austin, Palm Springs, and Hilton Head. Winning these awards is a big deal in this industry.
Awards Won by PCTC
The “WILD Forever” integrated campaign (meaning all components for that promotion) won both a gold and platinum award for the Business to Consumer category. In addition, it won a silver “Best of” award for digital and audio. Clearly, industry professionals see this as a standout campaign created by the teamwork between PCTC and VERB Interactive to promote this area. Wild Forever is the current marketing campaign and has been running since mid-March 2024.
The complete list of awards received is as follows:
- Women’s Hiking Retreat – Advertising, Influencer Marketing: Bronze
- Cody Yellowstone Social Media – Digital, Social Media/Social Networking: Gold
- Heartbeat of the Rodeo Social Campaign – Digital, Social Media Campaign: Bronze
- WILD Forever Audio – Digital, Audio: Silver, Best of Category
- Heartbeat of the Rodeo Video Series: Digital, Video Multiple Channels: Silver
- Heartbeat of the Rodeo Red Carpet Premiere – Public Relations/Communications, Special Event: Silver
- WILD Forever – Integrated Campaign – Business to Consumer: Platinum
- WILD Forever – Integrated Campaign – Business to Consumer: Gold
Heartbeat of the Rodeo was a social media campaign about local bullfighter, Dusty Tuckness. You can watch the four episodes on YouTube:
- Episode 1: Meet the Bullfighter
- Episode 2: Playing with Fire
- Episode 3: No Days Off
- Episode 4: The Spotlight
“These awards help to demonstrate that a small group of dedicated and talented individuals can accomplish significant things,” said Ryan Hauck, executive director of Cody Yellowstone, the marketing arm for the region. “Special mention goes to our staff and our digital/advertising agency VERB Interactive. Thank you so much for your continued efforts.”
More Transparency
PCTC has been criticized for the WILD Forever campaign and for using a marketing agency located so far away. These awards and the work done by their entire team show us what the tourism industry experts thought of that campaign and their work.
Understanding the importance of these awards and how they are determined helps give those of us not in the high level of the tourism industry an external gauge of the quality of work being done. Park County Travel Council is also working to do more outreach to the community through its bi-monthly reports. The first one can be read here.
Janet Jones
Owner of Cody Journal and SnowMoon Photography
Janet has a rich history in Cody with her grandparents moving here in the late 1930s. Her grandfather started Wyoming Well Service. Janet is a writer, photographer, graphic designer and webmaster. Cody Journal and Cody Calendar blends her skills and talents with her love of the area.