Partnerships & Integration Are More Important Than Ever [The Pocono Mountains Story]

In retrospect the solution should have seemed obvious, but as we all know sometimes the most obvious solutions are overlooked. The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau and its stakeholders were both facing the same situation: significantly decreased advertising budgets, expensive media markets and increased competition. Sound familiar?

How could their modest budgets be used in a way that truly made an impact? The solution, said David West, VP, Sales and Marketing of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, was to invite their stakeholders to buy into a fully integrated advertising campaign developed by Masterminds. After all, both the Visitors Bureau and the stakeholders had the same goals – maintain top of mind awareness for the Pocono Mountains as a getaway destination, and drive business to the variety of hotels and attractions in the area.

The umbrella campaign, “Life’s Greater in the Pocono Mountains,” targeted the hard-working middle-class audience in Philadelphia, NYC and NJ that needed an escape from the everyday. Stakeholders who were willing to split the advertising costs 50/50 with the CVB were given center stage on the advertising components of their choice, while the umbrella campaign promoted the strength of the destination as a whole.

Media channels included television, outdoor, transit posters, digital signage and one of the very first ceiling wraps to run on NJ Transit.

The campaign also included a social media component that supported the Life’s Greater campaign by giving Facebook fans a chance to literally make their own lives greater by winning a vacation to the Pocono Mountains. All they had to do to enter was submit a photo of themselves showing why they needed an outdoor escape and then get their friends to vote on it. The person with the most votes went on to win the Ultimate Outdoor Adventure Package to cure their “indoor-dom.” Prizes were donated by stakeholders.

To expand awareness for the contest and campaign beyond Facebook, digital outdoor and transit posters were used to feature the user generated content fans had uploaded when entering the contest. This made our fans the heroes and increased awareness for the contest and the brand.

RESULTS: The CVB and stakeholders each more than doubled the reach and impact of their advertising budgets. Inquirers and overnights stays were up while the CVB realized a 500% increase in Facebook fans during the promotional period. A similar strategy will soon be being implemented for the 2011-2012 winter season.